There is a distressed market segment of foreclosures and short sales, but that needs realistic pricing to function as well. Overpriced listings don’t attract offers and unrealistically low offers don’t result in accepted sales contracts.
The question for the seller is; “Do I price my home higher than is realistic, acknowledging I’m going to get beat up when the offers come?”
The buyer’s question is; “I’ve found the home I really like and it seems priced well, should I make a low ball offer?”
For the seller, if you’ve priced your home well, you needn’t accept bad offers. Leaving a little negotiating room has always been wise but pricing too high by building in too large a buffer will preclude offers coming in the first place. You’ll end up lowering your price, possibly several times and settling for a sale at a lower price than if you had priced the home correctly in the first place. By pricing competitively when your home is fresh on the market, you maximize your advantage versus stale and/or overpriced listings. Testing this market by pricing high and thinking, “we can always come down”, is a disastrous strategy. It will cost you thousands after you’ve missed the real buyers for your home and the vultures start circling.
For buyer’s, unless you’re one of the aforementioned vultures who enjoys shopping the picked over remains of the market, new fresh listings are still the best opportunity to find a good home at a good price. If it’s priced well and offers the amenities you want, don’t treat the seller as if they have a stale overpriced listing. I’ve seen buyers, even in this market, lament “the one that got away” because they procrastinated or tendered a low offer and waited for the sellers to come down significantly, only to have someone else buy the home they really wanted. This is still a good market for good homes that are priced right.
If you enjoy playing the market, either as an unrealistic seller or as a low ball buyer, you’ll probably end up playing with each other. As a seller, you’ll end up in the picked over pile of stale listings in a declining market. As a buyer, you’ll be picking over those listings. So, you need to ask yourself, “Which market am I in?”

More Cincinnati real estate information can be found at RealCincy.com

The first school was built in 1832. The log cabin structure was called the Mt Pleasant School. The Baptist and Methodist congregations shared the log cabin for services, alternating Sundays. The second school was built in 1850, known as the Mt. Vernon School.  Union School was built soon after.  Highland High School open the fall of 1915.
Visit http://www.fortthomas.kyschools.us to read about the award winning Ft. Thomas school district.

If you are considering calling Ft. Thomas your home, you need to know that you aren’t just making a “sticks or bricks” purchase, but entering into a nurturing community. There are activities for long time residents and new comers alike.  Many of the activities are held at the Tower Park, including this October’s Jack O-Lantern Trail Walk. Bring out the kids, dressed in their trick or treat costumes, to enjoy a walk with 1000 Jack
O-Lanterns and luminaries lighting the way.  Popular Tower Park has three shelters for picnics, walking trails, tennis courts, and sand volley ball.

One of the highlights of any town is its independents restaurants. Be sure to visit:

• Vito’s Café – Italian Style Trattoria. Entertainment provided by talented graduate students from local music schools….Singing & Serving Nightly!
• Midway Café – Catch the games on the two big screen projection TV’s and eight wall mounted TV’s. Burgers, Nachos, Mexican, Excellent Appetizers
• Warner’s Restaurant – Casual dining. Family Restaurant

Give me a call or send me an email if you would like to receive homes available in the Fort Thomas area.  I’ll be sure to include all active listings, including photos and a mapping function so you can map the home to schools, shopping, hospitals and main highways.

More Cincinnati real estate information can be found at RealCincy.com

Life is good for first time home buyers who have good credit and a down payment.First time home buyers now represent about 46% of new and existing homes buyers according to HouseHunt’s “Current Market Conditions” random survey of member agents.   This is 7 points higher than the fourth quarter of 2007.   This makes sense, because first time home buyers do not have to sell a home to buy a home.  In addition, price declines and lower interest rates have made homes more affordable. 

Life is ok for Cincinnati home sellers when their home is properly priced (yes a lower price than just last year) and it is in good condition.  In Cincinnati we continue to see homes that are in very good condition with a good price sell quickly.   It is a buyers market, but buyers are buying homes.  

Life is rough for new home builders and for sellers who can not afford to reduce their price.

The good news in the Cincinnati Real Estate market is the inventory of homes for sale continues to drop. In April of 2007 there were 16,347 homes for sale in Cincinnati.  In April 2008 there were 15,519 homes for sale in Cincinnati.  So there was a 5% drop in the number of homes for sale.  This is a good trend and it will hopefully lead us into the market bottom. Many sellers are just pulling their listings from the market and waiting it out.

The bad news is the number of homes sold also continues to drop.   January to April of 2007 there were 1,968 homes sold in the Cincinnati market.   January to April of 2008 the number of homes sold in Cincinnati dropped to 1,635.  This is a 16.9% drop in the number of homes sold – ouch.   There are many reasons why there are fewer buyers.   Common reasons include:

• Buyers can’t sell their existing home to buy a new home
• Buyers are waiting till the market turns around.  Human nature is to sell when the market goes down and buy when the market is going up.   Yup – not very smart, but it is the way the world works.
• Credit is still tight or non-existent for people with poor credit and no down payment
• Foreclosures continue to weigh down the market

I will post May’s numbers as soon as I get them.

All the Cincinnati Real Estate market number are from the Greater Cincinnati Multiple Listing Service Monthly and Yearly Updates.

More Cincinnati real estate information can be found at RealCincy.com

The magic sauce is affordability – read monthly payments.  Since the peak, home prices have fallen 10% to 15% while incomes have continued to grow.  Kick in the fact that interest rates are down 70 basis points and we have the makings of a bottom.   

There is still a lot of inventory, but the inventory levels are starting to go down (see Part 2).  If prices start to stabilize, we should see foreclosures level out and start to decline because fewer homeowners will be underwater.

Will we see a rapid recovery?  No Way!  Remember we are talking about finding a bottom.   We may still have a few rough quarters to go through.   It may take years for the Cincinnati real estate market to fully recover.   It may take parts of Flordia a lot longer!  

In 5 years when we look back we will remember idiot phrases like “Home prices never go down” along with “The Real Estate Market will continue to drop another 30% beyond 2008 levels”.   The truth is we live in a world of business cycles.   We have to live with boom markets and bust markets.    At the end of the day we all need a home to live in and affordable credit makes the entire market work.   The Credit Crisis is easing and homes are affordable – so we should be entering a market bottom.

This is the third installment in the Are We At The Market Bottom series.  You can find the previous articles at:

1. Are We At Market Bottom
2. Are We At Market Bottom – Part 2

More Cincinnati real estate information can be found at RealCincy.com

If you look at the number of single family homes and condos listed for sale in the Greater Cincinnati MLS in March 2008 and you compare it to March since 2000, a good trend appears – homes for sale went down. 

I flipped the chart over.  Does this look like a potential bottom?

It looks like a potential bottom to me.  Lets hope this trend continues.    I will keep you up to date.

Remember

• If you are selling a home – Clean it, repair it, stage it and price it right.  Also make sure your home is getting massive exposure on the Internet – most home buyers are starting their search in the Internet.   For our listings we even create a web site just for the listing!  Check out this example:   http://www.1274morten.com/ !
• If you are buying a home – now may be the time to start moving.   Deals are out there and rates are great.

Good luck

Source of the map data is the MLS of Greater Cincinnati Monthly & Yearly Updates

More Cincinnati real estate information can be found at RealCincy.com

In Cincinnati we have homes that are brand new and homes that are 100 years old. Every home, no matter the age, has problems. Even if your home is brand new, you should have it inspected. You would be amazed at what a good home inspector will find wrong in a brand new home.

When your home inspection is over the inspector should give you a detailed report (often this report is 5 to 50 pages long). Don’t freakout. Again, all homes have problems. Every home has things that need to be repaired. That is why Lowes and Home Deport stay in business.

Most inspectors will rate a home’s problems by severity or cost. Focus on the big ticket items. You can ask the home owner to fix the problems before closing or pay for the repairs. If the home seller agrees to fix the problems, ask for a receipt by a qualified contractor. Many home owners think they can make the repair themselves and many times they can. As the home buyer you want to make sure the job is done correctly though.

Here are the Top 7 Inspection problems we see on the home inspector’s final report:

1. Electrical and Wiring problems – The leading small problems include outlets that are not grounded, non-GFI outlets in the kitchen and bath, and open splices (two wires that have been spliced together but not placed inside a box). Larger problems include service upgrades, service panel upgrades and aluminum wiring problems.
2. Wet Basement – Most problems with water in the basement are actually problems with water outside of the basement. Gutters that are clogged, soil that flows to the home instead of away from the home, downspouts that pour water right down the foundation wall, etc. All of these problems will cause water in the basement. Most water problems can be solved first with keeping the water away from the basement then by a sump pump or french drain.
3. Termite or other Insect Damage – Last year was a really good year for termites (bad for our homes). Termites are a fact of life in Cincinnati. It does not matter where your home is located or how much it is worth, termites like the wood all the same. All homes should be treated on a scheduled basis. If there are active termites, ask for a treatment and have any damaged wood replaced.
4. Plumbing Problems – Older homes may have problems with an old cast iron stack or water pipes made from galvanized metal. Newer homes have copper or plastic water lines and PVC waste stacks. Small problems will include small leaks and pressure problems.
5. Roof Issues – Small problems include missing shingles and flashing problems. Larger issues will be a roof that needs to be replaced. A new roof can be expensive, so watch out for a roof that is “near the end of its useful life”
6. Brick or Masonry work – Over time the mortar between bricks needs to be repaired and older bricks need replaced.
7. Windows – A good inspector will check all the windows.  We see cracked windows, bad caulking, windows that don’t stay up (yes a inspector should open a window), leaking windows and insulated windows with a broken seal (the inside of the window looks foggy)

I can not stress enough “Get a home inspection from a certified home inspector”. I am not a qualified home inspector, I am a Real Estate Agent. Don’t rely on your agent to be your inspector. If you are selling your home, make sure the major items are repaired before listing your home. In this tough real estate market in Cincinnati and you could scare off a buyer when they see the problems you live with every day.

You can lean more about home inspectors and how to find a certified home inspector through the American Society of Home Inspectors (http://www.ashi.org/). Ohio does not require any education or certification before someone starts a home inspection business. So make sure your inspector is actually qualified to advise you on the largest purchase of your life!

More Cincinnati real estate information can be found at RealCincy.com

Over the past few months we have noticed the best homes (homes priced right and fixed up) are selling in weeks, not months.  It has frustratred several of our buyers to see the home they wanted to buy go under contract before they put in an offer.  If you need to buy a home and find one you like, you should think about putting in an offer sooner versus later – it could be sold out from under you.

Homes that are over priced or not fixed up are just sitting there.  Just sitting, no offers, very few showings.

I think once we have a bunch of news articles that say we are going up, then we will go up.   In fact, there are so many buyers sitting by the sideline that if they all enter at once we could have a nice bounce (no, not a boom, but a bounce)

Here is one bit of good news – according to CNN Money, Cincinnati is one of the areas where home prices should start going UP.

“The city’s manufacturing-heavy economy should benefit from the falling dollar. Commercial building is up, and high-end developments are moving in. ” http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/real_estate/0804/gallery.best_buy_home.moneymag/3.html

If you are buying a home, I hope you plan on living there more than a year or two.  In five or six years, it will not matter if you purchased a home at the exact bottom.  What will matter is did you buy at a good price and with low interest rates!   Remember – Mortgage rates will impact your monthly payments more than a $5,000 dollar swing in the home price.

More Cincinnati real estate information can be found at RealCincy.com