patrick.net

So i'm in the market for a home in the next year or two... My fiancee and I are in no huge rush, but we are getting married next summer 2010...

I've been interested in Short Sales recently in Los Angeles.. Been seeing some nice houses up for short sale for ages on REDFIN...  The asking prices on the cream of the crop in areas like Calabasas, Hidden Hills (Woodland Hills), Tarzana, in nice neighborhoods with great school districts are higher than I want to pay, but historically pretty great deals. I'm talking $649K for a 5 bed/ 3 bath with a pool in UPSCALE neighbhorhoods.. not ghettos...  High priced yes... But not ridiculous all considering....

My sweet spot would be $400-500K for one of these cream of the crop homes...  The type of home you could easily live in for 30+ years and raise a family.  If it were a 3bed/2bath home I'd say the sweet spot would be $300-$400K as long as it's an excellent school district.

So my plan is to make a list of all short sales I'm interested in... Put in a low-ball offer on all of them in my "sweet spot" range and play wait and see...

in the coming months do you think banks will start being more willingly to peruse these low ball offers?  We have excellent credit, good jobs, but not a very large down-payment... It's increasing a few thousand every month we save renting.. But most likely will only have $25K to put down NOW.. By middle of next year more like $35K (plenty for an FHA loan.. but not a traditional 20 percent loan)... what with wedding /honeymoon in the near future.

Since we have time on our side... Would you say sticking to "upscale" short sales is the way to go?