Even though the housing market is in the best shape since the financial crisis, it would seem that first-time home buyers are still being left out to dry by wealthy investors, according to The M Report.
Most first-time home buyers need help through financing methods to put down payments on a home purchase. Now, though, investors who offer cash deals to sellers are swiping these homes from under the feet of first-time buyers.
Economists says that the real estate market is in an unstable transitional period at the moment.
A report from Realtor.com stated, “While the foreclosure starts rate is back down to where it was before the crisis, cash and investor buying in some cities remains far above historical levels. That creates difficulty for buyers of low-price homes because more buyers are competing for fewer properties.”
Even though the share of homes purchased through all cash transactions all-cash fell by 2.6% percent during October of 2015, amounting to about 22.9% over the year, this still meant that one-third of all home sales were paid for completely in cash.
“To plan for a move, buyers should begin sorting through their things and throwing away, donating or selling what they no longer need or want as early as possible. You don’t want to pay to move things you don’t want to keep,” said Daniel Parascand, Owner, Reliable Delivery.
However, as the Los Angeles Times reports, a new real estate website called Skupit, is looking to give buyers a leg up over investors.
Michael Kiaman, a former real estate agent himself, launched his website last month that not only offers buyers to browse through listings, but also to make an offer on the spot for free.
“We’re connecting the discovery [of a home] to actually placing an offer,” said Kiaman.
As an added bonus, because the buyers will have no need to hire a “side agent” to assist them with searching or making an offer, the listing agents will receive higher commissions, making first-time home buyers even more attractive.
John Maseredjian, vice president of JohnHart Real Estate in Glendale where Skupit is headquartered, believes that the industry has not taken advantage of technological advancements.
“Technology has been held back for so long, [Skupit] is a step toward a more efficient manner,” Maseredjian said.
Skupit currently only has listings local to Los Angeles, but the developers plan to have residential movers going across California within the year and then the entire U.S. in the next two years.