Release the Hounds…and the Inventory Too

Westcoe Realtors, Riverside California…A brief post here before we all head off to the weekend, where perhaps we can restore the sanity that is slowly drained from those of us in the real estate business by the amazing things we deal with during what passes these days as a normal week.

Today…big item in the business section about housing sales were down this month nationally after 3-4 months of steady increases.  There are lots of theories offered as to why, and the more politicians and “experts” talk, the less sense they make.  What a shock.  The answer is simple…

…TURN LOSE THE INVENTORY.

We have been posting here for months that the over 50% reduction in available housing inventory due to State and Federal Foreclosure moratoriums has reeked havoc with the amount of homes available for sale.  Say what you want, but if you go to your local store to buy milk, and none is on the shelf, doesn’t it stand to reason that your milk sales will go down?  Call me crazy, but it is really that simple.

As we have said before, in our Riverside area, there are thousands of properties in some stage of the foreclosure process…but where are they?  They are certainly not on the market for sale.  Trust me…we could absorb all the inventory that is waiting to sell if we could only find it…our demand by buyers is that strong.

So…when will we see all these homes hit the market?  If you can answer that question, then be sure to buy a lotto ticket…because no one seems to know what is going on.  All we in the real estate business can do is wait and wonder…and offer simple explanations in place of the complicated one’s spouted in the press about why housing sales are down.  They are down because there is nothing to sell.

Take care, and have a good weekend.  I am going to try and locate my sanity.