Foreclosures and short sales still seem to dominate the market. David Brown, the head of the Dallas office of Metrostudy, Inc. commented in a Dallas Morning News article that “One out of four pre-owned homes sold so far this year [2009] was a lender selling a foreclosed home. The market cannot recover until those get flushed through the system.” That is what we are finding in this market also. Unfortunately, this is frustrating lenders as they try to preserve value while trying to get these homes out of their inventory. It also frustrates the buyers who are racing to beat the April 30 deadline for the government’s $8,000 tax credit for first time home buyers and $6,500 credit for current home owners. In addition there seems to be a number of homes that have not been posted for foreclosure as lenders try to work through government mandated loan modifications. This process, in my opinion, is probably delaying the inevitable and more foreclosures will continue to impede the recovery of the housing market in the near future. Although builders are putting up some homes in anticipation of last minute buyers seeking the tax credit, new home inventories continue to fall as that market weakens and lenders tighten the builder’s funding. To top that off, lender requirements seem to get more restrictive on a daily basis. The cost of purchasing a home using FHA financing will increase on April 1. In the meantime, there is good news. We have some great properties for sale and interest rates are still at all-time lows. So if you are staying put, it’s once more a great time to refinance, and if you are buying, rates can’t get much lower.