With multiple offers and over bidding now the norm, some buyers have asked me if we’re in a new housing “bubble”.  These frustrated buyers, after losing out multiple times, want to throw in the towel and give up.

Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal had this chart from the just released Case-Shiller study.  It shows where current price points are in relation to the high water mark of a few years ago.

Looking at the LA region, even though price points are currently rocketing up, there’s still a long ways to go before reaching previous price point levels.  And with interest rates so incredibly low, many buyers (and investors) believe today’s prices are still “cheap”.

With an extremely limited inventory for entry level homes, competition and heavy over bidding will still be the norm I believe through the summer months.

The LA Times recently ran this article stating that homeowners who have received a loan mod are still vulnerable to defaulting on their loan.

Specifically, the article stated that “at the end of the first quarter of 2013, the (Treasury Department’s TARP Program) report found, nearly half the oldest of the HAMP modifications, from the third and fourth quarters of 2009, were going back into default.” The article goes on to give specific statistics of these “re-defaults”.

We’re coming up on the middle of 2013. What many homeowners are facing – and maybe don’t know – is that the benefits of the 2007 Mortgage Debt Relief act were extended only to the end of this year under the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012. If and unless Congress extends it (doubtful I think at this time), homeowners doing a short sale (or losing their home in foreclosure) in 2014 will be 1099’d without the benefit of the current IRS debt forgiveness.

If you’re struggling to keep up with your loan mod payments, consult your tax adviser sooner vice later to see what tax implications you may be facing next year – if worse comes to worst.

Listed below are the April real estate charts for sold prices and the number of homes sold.

This data is taken from the Ventura, Oxnard and Camarillo MLS.

Even though there’s been an increase in home sales in April, there’s still a lack of inventory in entry level homes. That continues the trend of multiple offers for homes that are priced competitively. Distressed home sales (short sales and bank owned) are thinning out, which is adding to less inventory for sale. However, certain segments (like beach homes in Oxnard) have good inventory levels and aren’t seeing the intense bidding that’s occurring for more modest priced homes.

The percentage of single family homes that were distressed sales in the month of April are:

Ventura – 18%      Oxnard – 29%     Camarillo – 16%

Sold prices – Single family homes in Ventura, Oxnard, Camarillo:

• 12 month graph

Sold prices – Condos in Ventura, Oxnard, Camarillo:

• 12 month graph

Numbers sold – Single family homes in Ventura, Oxnard, Camarillo:

• 12 month graph

All data is taken from the Ventura, Oxnard and Camarillo MLS.