I have a very brown thumb, but I love to see what other people can do with their garden.   I have been in many homes in Loveland and there are some really nice gardens.  This is a great chance to get out and see what other people are doing with their garden.   The tour will  take you through nine beautiful gardens selected throughout the Loveland area.  You can pick up the 68 page full color tour guide for $10 per person or $20 per carload.   The tickets are for sale at the  Loveland Early Childhood Center on Loveland-Miamiville Road.

2007 was the first year for the tour and it should be a lot of fun.  According ot organizers, last year  more than 350 people took the tour.

According the the Community Press, the 2008 Loveland Garden Tour benefits Granny’s Garden School, LIFE Food Pantry, Loveland Relay for Life and The Loveland Stage Company.

So get out and tour the gardens in Loveland Ohio!

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.

According to the Greater Cincinnati Multiple Listing Service, on May 26, 2008 there where 124 homes for sale in Indian Hill.  The prices ranged from $249,500 to $6,900,000.  In 2007 the average sales price was $1,171,846.  This year Randy and I have taken motivated buyers through many of the homes for sale in Indian Hill.   The homes are fantastic and look great - but it is a buyers market!  The high end homes are not moving very fast, but they are selling.   On May 26, there where 19 homes pending (under contract, but not closed).  So there are buyers out there, but not enough for the current inventory levels.

Parks - Indian Hill has over 10  fantastic parks for  residents to enjoy.  There are tennis courts, baseball and softball diamonds, soccer and lacrosse fields.  In 2002 the Village acquired a former gravel site, called Grand Valley.  Located in Camp Dennison, the 350 acre site has been the focus of a reclamation project to restore wildlife and natural beauty.  As a resident, you can get a pass to the park where you can walk the trails, go fishing or just watch the wild life.  

Schools - Indian Hill has four public schools (primary, elementary, middle and high school). Indian Hill’s high school was ranked 48th in the nation by U.S. News and World report.   The State of Ohio has rated Indian Hill’s public school as excellent for the 2006 - 2007 school year.

Good Indian Hill Links

As a seller, you look at your home as the place where you live.    To sell your home quickly, you will need to understand how a buyer will look at your home.  Home buyers use emotion, not facts, when looking at a home.   A home buyer is buying a dream, a lifestyle.  The home buyer needs to see their dream or lifestyle in your home.  

What do I mean by this?  When a buyer sees your kitchen, they are dreaming about the big family get together.  They are thinking about Sunday morning with the kids.  They are not thinking about how YOU live in the home.   

How do you sell a dream?   It is called home staging. Home staging is not decorating.  When you decorate a home you are personalizing the home for you.  When you stage a home you are de-personalizing the home so others can see their dream (not yours) in the home.

Look at your home, does it look like a model home?  Are there lots of family photos around?  Is the kitchen counter covered with stuff?    Is your furniture arranged so you can use the room or is it arranged to show off the room?  Are mirrors used to make your rooms look bigger?  Is all the “clutter” and extra stuff removed?  Everyone loves a model home because they can picture in their mind their family being happy in the home. How do they do this? Model homes are staged and sparsely decorated!

As an Accredited Staging Professional, I help my clients through the staging process.   Staging Professionals are very good at making your home inspire other people’s dreams. We often find the cost of staging a home is less than the first price reduction.  Recent statistics from www.stagedhomes.com prove the point: 

• Average days on market for staged homes is currently 31.8 days
• Average days on market for Non-Staged homes is 160 days

So you want to sell your home quickly for as much money as possible?  Then hire a Real Estate Team who can work with you to properly price and professionally stage your home.

To cover home owner’s floor risk, Congress established the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).  This program is intended to address both the need for flood insurance and the need to lessen the devastating consequences of flooding.   If you do not have flood insurance, chances are you are not insured for a flood.  

It is easy to see the risk of flooding for your home.   The National Flood Insurance website will tell you your flood risk for your home.   I put my Cincinnati home into the  the National Flood Insurance web site and and it said I am located in a low to moderate risk zone.   This is a risk zone where a major flood has a 1% chance of occurring.   

What is the risk of your Cincinnati home flooding?   Go to the web site and check it our for yourself - It is a free service.   The web site also has lots of great information about floods and flood insurance. 

It also looks like the larger homes are not selling as well.  The average sales price dropped from $170,625 in April 2007 to $152,471 for April 2008.  This is a combination of fewer more expensive home sales and an actual drop in the price of a home.  

On the other hand, the Months of inventory has continued to fall.   We started 2008 with 13.31 months of inventory and now we are down to 9.49 months of inventory.    New builders have fewer homes on the market and home sellers are slow to add their home to the inventory pile.  2008 will be a rough year, but homes are still selling.  Make sure your home is priced right, fixed up and has a fantastic marketing plan.

 
Cincinnati real estate stastics are from the Multiple Listing Service of Greater Cincinnati.

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

The U.S. Green Building Council has released 45 ideas we all can use to go a little greener.   Here are the the top ideas I am going to try and do:

1. Lint - Yes the lint in your dryer can build up and waste energy.  Clean out the lint filter every time you use the dryer.
2. Manual Labor - Little things can add up.    Why not use a manual can opener or a whisk instead of an electric mixer.  What about a good old broom instead of the fancy shark.
3. Good Day Sunshine - On hot days, close the window coverings on the south and west sides to keep your home cool.  In cooler days, open the same window coverings.  
4. Washing Machine - You can save $30 to $40 per year in water heating costs by washing and rinsing your clothes in cold water.  Also, wash with full loads, not half empty loads.  I have tried this and the clothes look just as clean when washed in cold water.  
5. Put your Computer to Sleep - Update your computer settings so it goes into sleep mode when not used.  This can save from $25 to $50 a year.
6. Solar-Powered Attic fans - The name says it all!  Actually, any powered attic fan will save on your cooling bill!  

I am also looking into saving rain water from my roof to use on the lawn.  I will let you know how that experiment goes.   Our team is working with a construction contractor to provide our home buyers and sellers with a green checklist.  Look for a post on this topic later this spring.

Some of the ideas took just seconds to implement, others are a little harder to do.  We can mail you the 45 Ways to Green the Not-So-New House Report.  Just send an email to info@realcincy.com requesting the 45 Ways to Green the No-So-New House and we will send you the report right away!

You can find more green ideas on the energy star web site.  Energy Star is the US Government organization to help us save energy.   They have ratings on appliances and home improvements.  Check out the site, you may learn that buying a new Deep Freeze will quickly pay for itself!

The top reasons why people love Loveland include: 

• Historic Downtown - Downtown Loveland is a quaint walk in the past.   Shop, eat ice cream and visit the historical sites.   Downtown is a destination for many in the area.
• Character of the land - Unlike much of Ohio, Loveland has hills and trees.    If you like land with character then you will like Loveland.
• Loveland Bike trail - If you enjoy biking, the Loveland bike trail is for you.    The Loveland Bike Trail has over 70 miles of flat, paved bike trail that runs along the Little Miami River.  The bike trail follows an old rail road line from the days of steam railroads.  The trail runs through historic Loveland where you can get ice cream and coffee.   The trail is lots of fun for the whole family.
• Loveland Castle- For three dollars you can visit Chateau Laroche historic Castle.  There are lots of events and things to do at the Castle.  Check our their web site for the latest events.
• Loveland Museum - You can learn about the history of the Loveland area at the museum.  Located in historic Loveland, the museum is sponsored by the Lovaland Historical Society.  
• Schools - You can read about Loveland schools on their web site http://www.lovelandschools.org/.   Loveland Public School District was rated Excellent by the state of Ohio for 2006-2007.  You can read the report here http://www.ode.state.oh.us/reportcardfiles/2006-2007/DIST/044271.PDF 

Years ago Loveland was known as a resort area, where the wealthy had summer homes.  It is interesting to note that the city is named after James Loveland, who operated a general store and post office near the railroad tracks downtown.   Take a day trip and visit Loveland  -  you will enjoy your time there.

If you want to learn more about Loveland or any area of Cincinnati, just send an email to info@realcincy.com and ask for a free copy of the “Insiders Guide to Cincinnati”.  This 418 page book is a fantastic resource for both travelers and people moving to Cincinnati.  The book costs $18.95, but we will send it to your for free.

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