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Are you looking to buy a home in Elk Grove? Have you ever wondered if you can get a better deal on a bank owned home, short sale, or private party sale?

I ran some numbers to see if I can answer this question!

Just a quick lesson for those of you who do not completely understand the three categories... let's review them for a minute.

Elk Grove Short Sale: These transactions involve a sellers who owes their bank more than their home is worth. The buyer makes an offer to the seller, then the seller has to obtain a short sale approval from their bank. This means the bank agrees to release the lien (mortgage) on the home, even though they will not be paid back in full.

Elk Grove Bank Owned Home: These homes have been foreclosed on and are now owed by the bank and are more than likely vacant.

Private party sale: These are homes that are NOT bank owned or short sales. They are private party sales, probate sales, bankruptcy sales and other non bank owned or short sale transactions.

The first item we are going to look at is how long on average bank owned homes, short sales, and private party sales stay on the market before they are sold.

It makes sense that Elk Grove short sales lead the pack having the most average days on the market of 154. The short sale process can take months to get an approval back from the bank. This makes sense that short sales take much longer to closes escrow than the other two categories. Elk Grove Bank owned homes are in 2nd place at at 47 days on the market and private party sales are at 42. This is because these homes are ready to sell today as opposed to a short sale.

Next... let's look at average cost per square foot for an Elk Grove home based on area sales.

If you compare on average the cost per square foot of a bank owned home, short sale listing, or private party sale... the best deals on average is the Elk Grove bank owned home. As you can see, you can get the cheapest square foot cost for a bank owned home... but a short sale gets you pretty much the same deal. Normally, there are issues with the condition or maintenance for these homes... which provides a discount in price. Elk Grove private party sellers are selling their homes as quickly as banks, but are netting more on average! That is great news for those looking to sell an Elk Grove home or investment property!

Finally... let's look at how many months of inventory we have left in the Elk Grove Real Estate Market.

If you look at all the single family homes currently on the market, it would take us an average 2 months to sell every last house currently for sale in Elk Grove.

I thought it would be fun to check the absorption rates for each of our three categories (bank owned, short sale and private party sale). What is the absorption rate? The absorption rate tells us of the available homes for sale in Elk Grove, how many were absorbed (purchased) by buyers.

Again the bank owned homes win again! Over 70% of the bank owned homes that were available to buy in June 2010 were sold. When you compare that to figure to a short sales at 41% and private party sales at 46.8%... Elk Grove bank owned homes are certainly getting snapped up almostv2 times as much as short sales and private party sales.

In conclusion, bank owned homes provide you on average the best price, but as you can see there is more competition for these homes based on the absorption rate.

Be prepared to move quick when a new bank owned home comes up for sale... because other buyers will be.

Expect to pay more for Sacramento private party homes for sale, but remember they are often in much better condition than a short sale or bank owned home. Keep in mind these are averages and every neighborhood will reflect different numbers, but it will give you a indication of what is going on in our Elk Grove Real Estate Market as a whole.

If you are looking to buy or sell a home in Elk Grove, please call me and we can discuss how I can help you navigate through our historic real estate market!