Things are different. Community banks now offer competitive loan products and good old FHA financing is now viewed as downright attractive. Non-purchase lending activity has skyrocketed, Appraisers have new stricter appraisal forms and non-profit housing organizations are now knee-deep in redevelopment of REO properties.
With all of these changes opportunities abound at the extremes of the market, which today offer the most inventory. If you take a look at an On Market Snapshot statewide of single family homes from April 2009 and compare it to April of 2005, the low-end (under $300K) and the high-end (over $1M) have the largest percentage increases of inventory, see chart below.
Realistically, opportunities are there for anyone with an actual need for a home. What will the future hold? Quite simply - a majority of homeowners with very low interest rates unable to use their homes as no fee ATM machines or liquidate. What exactly will that market look like? I'll have to think about that.
