In the past couple of days there has been lots of discussion with clients regarding a recent blog post of mine about multiple offers, as well as the article in the paper from last Sunday’s Chron (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/29/MN3K16M9RT.DTL) . 

It appears that if people aren’t running, they are confused.

These discussions have prompted me to delve into Oakland’s inventory under $100k.  Here is what I found:

Parameters: All Oakland, all active, all pending, all single family residences
352 Active + Pending listings

Active: 178
Average days on market active: 80
Average list price active: $67,915

Pending: 174
Average days on market pending: 56
Average list price pending: $77,243

So what does this tell me?  Let’s look at the DOM for both the active and pending.  One could conclude that since half of all properties are pending, and all pending properties have a lower DOM than average, then the good houses are being swept up fast.  Now, one could also argue that because these properties consist of bank-owned, short sales, and traditional sales, the short sales could easily be pushing the average DOM up.  What this also tells me is that because the pending properties have a higher list price than the actives that it is not necessarily the low, low end houses that are being purchased. 

Here is what has sold over the past 2 months in Oakland:

Number of Solds: 179
Average days on market: 59
Average list price: $79,042
Average sales price: $72,457

You must be wary of what the newspapers are reporting.  If you are looking for deals in Oakland be prepared to compete with multiple offers and you would be best to have all cash.  You also need to be prepared to buy it now; if you like the house and it works for your needs, don’t wait for further price reductions.  If you aren’t in a multiple offer situation, rather than wait for a reduction, submit your offer at a lower price.  Otherwise you will most likely miss your opportunity.