Whats Happening in the South Bay Real Estate Market?

As a father of two small kids and a Professional Realtor, I find myself attending a lot of "kids birthday parties." Currently, my son has just turned three, so we have been going to lots of three year old fiestas. While watching my son bounce in bounce-houses, and execute art projects, after the conversation about the current weeks football opinions dies down, conversation inevitably moves to "what do you do?" At which time, I answer, I am a Realtor. The next question 99% of the time is "Whats going on in the market?"

My very short answers to this question are usually, "its crazy" or "depends where you are looking." These responses are usually met with some type of facial expression that looks like distress, confusion, fear or frustration. If my son has not harmed himself or another by this point, and the conversation continues, I try to place a positive or neutral spin on their response and ask them a few follow up questions.

This often times leads into a full conversation of their recent Real Estate related experiences or the recent experience of a close friend or loved one. Then, as a person who actually makes a living working within this field, I pick up on the subtle clues told in the stories, as to why the situation described did not work out positively.

Negativity and drama are the themes people enjoy focusing on and discussing. You rarely hear stories of simple, 30-day traditional home buying transactions these days, where the homebuyers or sellers had a painless transaction and moved on with their lives. You hear lots of first hand accounts of failed short sales, foreclosures, and deals that did not get completed due to uncooperative lenders.

The truth is, the answer to the question "Whats Going on in the Market?" is, "It Depends."

Most importantly, it depends on WHERE you are looking at Real Estate and where the people live that are experiencing the stories you are hearing.

Believe it or not, some areas are performing rather normally, what ever that is. What I am trying to say is that the volume may be down in some areas, but the values may be holding or increasing even...like any other market, Real Estate is tied to supply and demand, and in some areas demand is still healthy.

The Truth is "Whats Happening in the Market?" does not really affect you directly. When you are just one person, looking for one home, your individual experience may be completely different than the experiences of others in the market, whether they are in your specific real estate community, the same county or the the same state.

The best way to determine what is going on in the market is to take a look at the inventory sales data for the specific areas and neighborhoods you are looking for property in. You may find that it is a Sellers market, which is the opposite of the majority of the country, if the inventory is low for a particular price range. You may also find that area to be performing similar to the general statistics you hear in the media.

The truth is, if you can find the right property, at the right price for you, it doesn't matter "Whats Happening in the Real Estate Market."

Matthew Hoffman is a professional Realtor who lives and works in the South Bay of Los Angeles, California. Visit Matthew online at http://MHoffmanHomes.com. Contact him today for any of your Los Angeles area Real Estate needs.