By: Mark Wisterman

Whoever “they” is says that everything happens for a reason.

That must be why it has been over a month since we visited regarding the weekly state of the Lake Oroville real estate market. In all honesty as each week came and went, and because I am certainly not a professional blogger by any means, I struggled to find the words I thought were needed to summarize each week’s activity. Especially given the fact the not much was different from one week to the next.

But just like “they” said, I now think I know the reason. Over the past 5 weeks in the Oroville real estate market we have seen a widening gap between  Lake Oroville area home’s original asking price and the price at which it actually sells.  To see this trend more clearly here is the “Reader’s Digest” version of my weekly Lake Oroville homes sales report.  Here is what I think you can take away from this information, especially if you are a seller:

1. The widening gap between between original list price and the final sales price of Oroville area homes shows that some agents have demonstrated an “irrational exuberance” in pricing homes for their sellers when valuations bounced off the overdone drop in values.  Remember that many agents will purposely recommend an inflated price to get the seller to list the home for sale and then go back in a couple of weeks to convince the seller that the price needs to be reduced.

2. The inventory of homes is NOT loosening up as many homeowners, who would like to sell their Lake Oroville homes, still owe more on their mortgages than their home are worth. It is my belief that we will not see any significant increase in Lake Oroville area homes on the market until values get back to 2005-2006 levels, which, for many Oroville homeowners, could be more than a couple of years from now, or, the banks release more homes onto the market. ( if they actually have any to put on the market). Whether it be one or both of these things that occur, once it does, the rate that values have been increasing over the past 6 months will be a thing of the past and may actually back track somewhat. In other words, putting your home on the market now ( if you are able to) may be the best time to do so.

3. Based on the activity level in my office, the lack of an increase in the number of “Pending” sales is the a result of a shortage of quality, reasonably price homes on the Oroville market. As a homeowner who is considering the possibility of placing your home on the Lake Oroville real estate market you should seriously consider your price-point. It is easy to get wrapped up in the hype that you can promptly sell your home even if you price it a little high, because “you can always come down when an offer comes in.” But remember this: Quality, experienced, knowledgeable buyers agents will not show obviously overpriced homes to their clients and they won’t waste everyone’s time by writing an offer on one either. They will just patiently wait on you to reduce your price and then make a offer even lower than that.