Last week everyone was wondering how to know when a bottom shows up. This is a big 'ol hint.

The banks primary goal is to unload these properties,to do so quickly, and getting the best possible price while doing so. They are doing this because the best possible price HAS TO recognize the factor of time delays to closing and in many cases as being more critical than the price itself (within limits).

"Because they often pay cash and buy several houses at once, investors are attractive to banks trying to shed dozens of foreclosures, he said."

Concepts of "fairness" don't really apply.

Oh, I'm not complaining about the "unfairness" of homes going to investors rather than traditional buyers. It's just the worrisome idea that buyers are making bids on homes they haven't even seen in an effort to buy ~something~. Perhaps that won't cause more problems down the road, but desperation buying did add fuel to the frenzy in the bubble years.

On the other hand, people have been complaining for a while now that banks aren't moving quickly enough to move foreclosures into the hands of new buyers. Sounds like that's turning around in Phoenix, at least!

From the article, it looks like those are large scale investors buying those homes rather than your typical father/son flipper operation. I heard of a similar thing happening in Detroit earlier this year where foreign investors where coming in and buying properties. When prices get low enough, the money will come. And it's going to take a while for that to happen in this area. Prices aren't nearly low enough for that behavior.

I am a Realtor in Baltimore_Washington Metro area, and we do see mulitple bids sometimes - usually on bank-owned properties. While there are sometimes 6,7,8 or more offers on these properties, I don't think it is similar to 2005. There are several reasons, but I think the biggest is because lenders now have much more strict underwriting guidelines for potential buyers. That's not to say there isn't plenty of loan money to go around (someone with credit scores in low 600's and with 3.5% downpayment can still buy a house). The lenders are being more careful about who they lend money to - which is a good thing.

However, people will still make bad decisions when buying real estate (by the way, there are still plenty of "father/son flipper operations" buying investment properties, actually these buyers are often more savvy than the "large scale" investors because they tend to know the local markets of where they are buying better). Hopefully, the difference now is that more buyers who find themselves in a bad real estate deal will have the ability/want to hold onto the property and make the best of it. History shows that chances are their investment will eventually become a good one if they hold onto it long enough.

As a Buyer's Agent, I have come across multiple offers more and more in this market, as I believe Sellers are finally getting realistic about pricing.

I have written three offers for three different buyers on three different properties in the past week (5 multiple offer situations in the past month). My first two offers were not accepted, as the seller had received a stronger 2nd offer within 24 hours of receiving our offer. Both of these properties were on the market less then 7 days, which tells me the pricing was right on. The Sellers are getting it; the Buyers are the ones that need to step up now. All Buyers want a discount...unfortunately it is hard to discount an already discounted home.

As for my third offer, I am still waiting to hear back, but I am hopeful to get this one.

I tried to buy a bank-owned property a few months ago -- great credit, sizable deposit, but the bank wouldn't even accept a bid because my mortgage pre-approval letter wasn't enough documentation of my worthiness. They pretty much expected me to already have way more documentation than the lenders I was working with were prepared to give at that stage of the process. It all seemed very skewed towards investors.

Of course, the joke was on them. The 5 bids they told us they received must have come in low -- the house finally sold for $20 or $30k lower than asking (I was prepared to pay more!)

Simple solution-foreclosed properties can be purchased in the first 30 days on the market by an buyer who will occupy the property.