As a real estate agent working in the Oakland/East Bay area, it's been truly amazing to witness the changes in the market over the past five years. From the bubble to the mortgage meltdown, the journey has been interesting indeed. It's safe to say that even if you have been in real estate for 30 years, you likely know about the same as a newer agent. The reason is because of the dramatic shift in how the market operates due to the "mortgage meltdown". When I started in real estate in 2004, I hadn't heard the term "short sale" and I knew what foreclosure was but I saw very few examples of people getting foreclosed on. Fast forward to 2011, and literally two out of every three sales in Oakland is a short sale or a bank owned foreclosure. Sellers who have equity are forced to compete with the relatively low asking prices of short sales and foreclosures which is causing many with equity in their real estate to wait it out in hopes of a better market.

Another reason why things have changed is technology. It used to be that all listings were in a huge book that agents literally had to thumb through in order to search for listings. Today anyone can go a google search and look at the same listings that us Realtors have access to, with detailed neighborhood and mapping info. The consumer has more access than ever before, however with all the complexities involved with purchasing distressed real estate the services of a competent Realtor are more important than ever. Navigating a short sale or foreclosure is an entirely different ball game compared to a traditional sale.

This is more true for short sales than foreclosures, as short sales are an entirely different animal compared to any other type of sale. The mindset of a short seller is much different since there is no profit involved with the sale. This means that the asking price is often significantly under market value, because the agent needs to get offers in quickly in order to get the process of lender approval started. Typically if you see a house listed at certain price and there are no other offers on the table, then you can get that property at or below the current asking price..this is logical. However for a prospective buyer of a short sale, this is not the case. Since a short sale is dependent on lender approval, the asking price means nothing at all if the short sale lender(s) don't agree to it. So you can have a scenario where you make a full price offer on a home with no other offers and you may or may not actually be able to purchase it! This is just counterintuitive, and it's on us real estate professionals to help educate our clients and the public about these types of differences. I would say that out of all the changes that have happened, this is the most significant and is the reason why short sales can take so long to get done.

One thing is clear..this market will be with us for a while so we all need to be as educated as possible in order to make the best decisions..whether you are a Realtor or not.