It’s always nice when the press calls you for your insight and expertise. I got such a call last week from the San Diego Union Trib – see article here.
Here is the text of the article attributed to yours truly:
There are two housing markets in the region, said Peter Toner, a broker with Prudential. One is distressed properties, which are selling briskly. And the other is non-distressed properties, which aren’t selling much at all.
Some distressed sellers are offering great deals. Toner said a 1,500-square-foot house in North County purchased for $498,000 four years ago is now listed at $289,000 as a short sale. With a short sale, the lender must agree to accept a price that is usually less than the outstanding mortgage.
“The market is quite fragmented at the moment,” he said. “I will tell you that foreclosures can be bought, and if a foreclosure comes on the market and is aggressively priced, everybody jumps off the fence.”
Toner said the weakening economy is beginning to take a toll on neighborhoods that until now have been relatively unscathed by the foreclosure crisis, particularly along the coast.
“I think it is spreading a bit,” he said. “It just has taken longer. The people on the coast weren’t quite so involved in the dodgy loans.”
» Posted by Peter
