Top 5 reasons why more homes aren't for sale creating a tight real estate inventory

There are several factors causing the low inventory of single family homes for sale in today's market forcing many homebuyers to get in line to buy a home:

1. Many homeowners are underwater (have negative equity) and don't qualify for a hardship short sale so can't afford to sell their homes.

2. There is a large number of short sale homes "under contract" waiting (and waiting) for an answer from the Sellers' lender(s).  These long delays caused by sellers' lenders clog up the pipeline as the homes languish in short sale purgatory.  For example, a recent analysis of single family homes under contract in Wesley Chapel, revealed 195 short sale single family homes under contract and only an average of 17 short sale Wesley Chapel homes closed (SOLD) per month in 2012.   (In 2012 an average of 40 single family homes closed per month in Wesley Chapel that weren't Short Sales and there are only 85 under contract.)

3. Many homeowners who are not underwater choose not to sell in today's market due to low values. Low values are exacerbated by low and often times unreasonable appraisals not reflecting current values.

4. Tighter lending rules mean that some homeowners may not qualify for another mortgage after they sell, so they sit tight.

5. Due to the robo-signing debacle, the inventory of foreclosures on the market is very low. Look for this log jam to start clearing this summer.

There is a very low inventory of homes that are priced reasonably and NOT short sales (non pre-foreclosure homes that can close quickly and don't require 3rd party approval) so they are in very high demand. Multiple offers and bidding wars take them off the market FAST.  As a note, five out of the last six contracts I wrote on home purchases for buyers ended up with multiple offers on all the homes!  A number of these homes were on the market less than a day with offers above list price!

So, if you are interested in buying a home in the New Tampa or Wesley Chapel market, and want to close within less than 6 weeks, you may have to get in line to make an offer and move quickly with making aggressive offers!

If you would like to search single family homes for sale in New Tampa or Wesley Chapel, click on the provided links or give me a call (813-505-7460) to set you up with a custom e-mail home search.