Yesterday, I wrote how friends of mine lost a house in Central New Jersey in a bidding war, because the other buyer offered to pay cash for the house.
Thanks to the abundance of distressed and foreclosure properties on the market, scenarios like this are taking place more often across the U.S., as bargain seekers and first-time buyers try to take advantage of seriously discounted home prices.
Steve Howe writes in his Minnesota First Time Home Buyers blog that in his area, he's seeing homes with as many as 10 offers from homebuyers. "People are finally getting off the fence about buying into a down market, and realizing that they are getting a great deal on housing with these prices and interest rates," he says.
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times reports that Phoenix's housing market has hit bottom and is in a "quasi boom" as first-time homebuyers and investors scramble to pick up foreclosures and seriously discounted houses. The competition for these homes can be tough -- one couple interviewed in the story has bid on -- and lost -- 13 properties. Median resale home prices in Phoenix peaked at $268,000 in June 2006 and are now at $120,000, the Times says.
In fact, the market is getting so heated that "more homes are selling at any time since 2006," the Times says. Hints of an upswing have also been noted in Washington, D.C., and in Sacramento, Calif., the Times notes.—Lauren Baier Kim