I don't have to wait to read it in the paper - housing is starting to stabilize!!!  I am beginning to see prices going up along the coast (especially in Huntington Beach), Short Sales are being sold in record times, banks are actually approving these sales in a few short months, versus the 6 months to a year it used to take.  I'm having trouble finding homes that don't have offers within the first few days of going on the market.

When a good short sale hits the market, it has offers that day and goes into backup within a few short days. I have a few buyers that see a home and are ready to write up an offer and I'm informed the home already has 4 offers on it and they aren't taking anymore.

Buyers - get smart.  By the time you see it online, it more than likely is already in Backup Status.   I have many buyers that searched online for months and when they found the perfect home they wanted to see inside, I had to tell them regretfully that it was already sold - or backup or pending, no longer available.  If you have an agent, that agent will find that home for you and get an appointment for you to see it that day, making you the first person to get an offer in.  But also get smart in the fact that if you are really ready to buy, and an agent, or yourself, finds that home - see it immediately, don't think about it for a few days or it may be gone.

I've been working the Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Fountain Valley and Westminster area - along with Irvine - and really good condition, priced right homes are flying off the market. 

Of course, when we find a home that is a conventional sale, it is gone before anyone gets a chance to even look at it. 

So don't anyone tell me that things aren't changing.  Of course, I am aware that we are in for another wave of foreclosures.  Loan Mods are not working, as the public is led to believe, and therefore those homes that are trying it will go on the market in Short Sale Status very soon.  I would rather help someone stay in their home versus selling it and so would the banks.  It keeps the neighborhood values up, keeps families in homes they've had for years, but if this isn't a possibility, I'd rather help the homeowner move out with dignity than being escorted by a Sheriff.