As of February 2012, the Real Estate inventory as a whole in Shasta County, California, & accross the nations is down more than 22% from the previous 4 years. A big reason is because banks are taking a lot longer to foreclose on homes due to taking their time to accuratly and legaly foreclose on homes.  

Low Inventory is always good for a real estate recovery but this low inventory could be descised.  Banks are starting to negotiate with Real Estate Investment Trusts (REIT) to purchase huge bulks of inventory.  These REIT's will then rent the homes or sell the homes.  Some of the REIT's will keep the homes for at least 5 years before putting them back on the market.  If this were to continue the real estate market could recover quicker than most have expected.  

Another reason for the Low inventory is the Big Banks are taking longer to foreclose on properties.  In early 2011 the big banks got thier hands slapped because of illegally foreclosing on properties and forging signatures on thousands of properties in order to foreclose quickly.  Now banks are all being monitered by the attorney generall.  They are now required to properly document and abide by the foreclosure laws.  This means hiring more employees to handle all the paperwork.  This precedure is slowing the inventory down because of the length of time & the paperwork involved...

Buyers in this currrent market are getting frustraded because of the amount of offers on the properties they are interested in.  Especially because buyers have been taught by the news and other influences to offer way less because the banks are herting and need to sell the property.  The problem is the $80,000 - $180,000  homes coming on the market in Shasta County have multiple offers coming in .  Especially if the home is move in ready.  

I understand that a buyer wants to feel they are getting  a really good deal.  As long as the inventory stay's down and the demand for the properties stays high the buyer will have a hard time not getting a really good deal if they can win the bidding war.

If you are a buyer and are looking to get Pre-approved or have questions I would love to help guide you through this process.  Pete Metz & Megastar Financial is an approved lender in California.  We do home loans for FHA, USDA, VA, Conventioanal, & Investment FInancing.