Peer Pressure Not to Buy?

From the Sacramento Business Journal:

Rather than drop prices to entice buyers in less time, John Leonard slashed prices on 22 new homes he built in West Sacramento to sell them in a day -- he hopes in less than an hour. Leonard is owner of Leonard Development Co. Inc. of Sacramento, and he's hired a public auction company to sell homes in his River's Side at Washington Square project quickly.

He's not being forced to sell. The project is still current with its loans. But people simply are not buying them. "There isn't permission for people to buy a house. People's peers, parents and family won't let them feel good about buying. Everyone says, 'Wait a little longer and the prices will come down,' " Leonard said. "The carry cost on the project is not insignificant. We decided on the auction to expedite the sales."
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Hundreds of people have toured the homes, but no one is willing to pull the trigger and buy one. Leonard chose to go the auction route to force the issue. "I wanted to take an aggressive approach to make people come out of the woodwork," he said.

From the Modesto Bee:

Sellers are eager to make deals, and buyers are in control, but there's nary a real estate sign in sight.

Welcome to the new and used vehicle market, where many Northern San Joaquin Valley dealers are experiencing the same slowdown seen in housing. What happens in auto sales often follows housing markets, dealers said. And that's especially true now, they said, because fewer people can refinance their home loans and use the money to buy a car or truck. "That was driving the market," said David Hillier, who owns Hillier Ford in Escalon.
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When housing prices were soaring, many homeowners took equity out of their homes, by refinancing or getting a second mortgage. They often would use the money, which is tax deductible, for vehicles and other big-ticket items.
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Edmunds.com spokesman Chintan Talati said consumers are taking a break on buying vehicles, just as they're stepping back on buying houses. "Housing is such a large part of everything," said Talati, adding that vehicle sales have slumped the most in places where housing has slumped the most -- such as California.
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[Jorge] Elizalde [owner of El Tio Auto Sales] said he's also noticed that -- perhaps because so many housing loans have failed -- banks are hesitant to give car loans. So he's financing more loans himself.

Also from the Modesto Bee:

Home sellers are not automatically turning up their noses at offers that come in far below their asking price these days as prices stagnate and the inventory of homes for sale remains elevated. Realtors and other experts in the Northern San Joaquin Valley said they're seeing more offers these days that come in well below the asking price. Sometimes, sellers are accepting them.
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There's a real risk the offer will insult the seller to the point that they'll refuse to counter, Realtors say, and the seller easily could make the assumption that the buyer isn't committed to making a deal..."When you're making the offer, if you justify that offer with outside data, then it's much less likely to be perceived as being an insult or (the buyer) not as serious," he [Jon Boyd, president of the National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents] added.
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Buyers even may write a letter to the sellers to make their point, as they did when the market was hot and they aimed to stand out from the crowd, [Dick] Gaylord [president-elect of the National Association of Realtors] said. That way, they can detail what they like about the house but express their fear of future dropping values.
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But sellers shouldn't take a low bid as the equivalent of a slap in the face, said Chad Costa, a Modesto Realtor. "The first reaction is to say, 'how insulting,' and I say that it's just how the market is right now," said Costa, with Re-Max Executive.
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Stan Lynam, who recently retired as a Realtor after 22 years, including 10 in Modesto, said sellers who receive several low bids may opt to pull their house off the market. He said a client recently reduced the asking price by as much as 15 percent, and still got few nibbles. So the client decided to wait it out.
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Valley realty experts...acknowledged that what's a low offer now could be right in line six months from now if prices keep falling.

From the Sacramento Bee:

Never mind that many people will be on a final summer road trip or making eggs and bacon at mountain campgrounds this weekend. Real estate agents will be holding open houses over Labor Day weekend, even if foot traffic is less than a regular weekend. Over the three-day Memorial Day weekend in May, agents hoped high gas prices might keep people closer to home and cruising open houses. With gas prices lower now, agents like Mona Gergen, a specialist in Sacramento's Pocket neighborhoods, just hope it's not awfully hot Sunday for traditional 2-4 p.m. showings.
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What's definitely not hot this summer is home prices here (especially if you're selling a house). The nation's gold standard for measuring rising and falling prices lists five Central Valley metro areas and Reno among 10 regions with the most depreciation. The report for April, May and June was released Thursday by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight. It measures sales prices of the same houses over time. Once-booming El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento and Yolo counties ranked ninth nationally with a 6 percent decline in home prices from the same time in 2006. Bigger decreases were seen in Yuba and Sutter counties, Modesto, Stockton and Merced, which led the country with an 8.65 percent decline.