Best Real Estate Deals Are Properties on "Hold" Status

Everyone from real estate agents to home buyers are talking about the low inventory of housing in Southern California and how frustrating it is to find a suitable property at a reasonable price in today's real estate market.  A lot of times these hidden gems may be out there but not visible on the open real estate market and hidden from being seen anywhere on the Internet.  Sometimes the best deals are those that are on "hold" status for one reason or another.

A real estate agent will put a home "on hold" for a wide range of reasons.  Sometimes seller's will have some kind of an emergency come up and still want to sell the home but are unable to cooperate with showings during a short period of times.  In other cases we see a lot of short sale and bank owned properties come on the market at record low prices and the real estate agent who represents the seller get inundated with calls, emails and offers from potential buyers to the point where it's too much too soon.  These agents will put the home "on hold" so they can sort through all the offers and stop the incoming calls and emails on the property.  We see this a lot from short sale agents with properties that are priced to sell.  This can be a frustrating process, especially if you are interested in the property and then all the sudden the home disappears from the radar.  Real Estate agents often don't search these homes since they can be difficult to contact the agent who is overwhelmed by too many offers and agents trying to contact them.

What happens a lot is the storm of inquiries dies down and then the real estate agent has time to see what kind of offers that they have on the table.  Just because a property is on hold doesn't mean that the property is no longer for sale.  Working with an agressive agent that is also well connected with other agents can sometimes break through that barrior and connect with the agent who has the listing.  This is one of the best kept secrets that a lot of agents don't like to talk about it because it works if you know how to handle it.

Take for example this home located at 773 Baracuda in Laguna Beach as pictured below.  The home features 3 bedrooms, 2 baths with 3,000 square feet of living space and is priced at $961,000.  The contemporary home was built in 2002 is a Mark Singer design.  Absolutely beautiful home and a great price for the large square footage.  The property is a short sale and Bank of America has picked this price.  The property came on the market for just a very short time and then was placed on hold.  If you search the Internet the home is no longer being advertised for sale but is still in our Realtor database as a hold status property.  There are other homes just like this home that have been placed on hold for one reason or another.  If you are really serious about buying a home make sure you real estate agent searches these homes as well and you may find the perfect home and not have all the competition of other buyers.