The Fredericksburg housing market is still a Buyer's market, due to the increased amount of short sales and foreclosures (REO). Funding is still around for those who qualify. Our office has an increase in first time homebuyers and CASH investors. The majority of our buyers fall into one of these categories. We are not seeing alot of "upgrading" buyers, due to their current homes being underwater and not being able to sell them. Prices continue to come down, not drastically, but enough to cause investors to re-evaluate their spread when identifying a potential property to purchase.
Commercial Real Estate has started to go in the direction of potential short sales and some in pre-foreclosure. Balloons are coming due and some banks are not open to refinancing these properties. The performance of the building, in terms of tenant income, is fine. The current appraisals and the amount owned on the property is significantly different, and the owners do not have the liquid capital to offset the difference in order for the bank to refinance the property. Thus, causing some upset in the commercial market in our area.
