How do you know if your housing market has reached the bottom?

November 20, 2008

All markets are different. During the next few years, some housing markets will turn around faster than others. How do you know when your particular market has reached its bottom? If you wait until others pick over the great deals, you'll miss the bottom.

Keep a track of how many properties are listed from month to month. Once you start to see a reduction in inventory then that may mean that buyers are starting to buy. There could be two reasons whey inventory is reducing – overpriced homes may be taken off the market and sales volume could be picking up. You can find out this information from your local real estate agent.

Keep reading national and local newspapers. If your local media reporters are now starting to interview experts in your market and asking questions like, “Have we reached the bottom?” then that might be a sign that there may be a shift.

Talk to your friends and co-workers. How are they feeling about your local economy and housing prices? Are they more optimistic now than they were 3 months ago, or even last month?

Consumer confidence will be a big part in the housing market turning around.

Be on the lookout for mortgage interest rates stabilizing and mortgage companies start to ease lending restrictions.

One of the biggest indicators is when prices have stopped dropping. The secret is to buy before they start to inch back up again!

I’m not suggesting that you wait till the absolute bottom of your market to buy. You have to look at a home as a place to live, not an investment. Only you can determine what an affordable monthly payment is relative to the value of the home you are purchasing. There are individual homes for sale that can be bought at the bottom of your market, even if homes in general have not reached that mark.

Talk to a trusted real estate agent – we can help!

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Local Information for Carmel, IN

Latitude: 39.972917 -- Longitude: -86.107877

Other Area Cities: Carmel Fishers Lawrence Meridian Hills Noblesville Rocky Ripple Williams Creek Wynnedale Zionsville Indianapolis

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Carmel is a city in Hamilton County, Indiana, United States. The population was 37,733 at the 2000 census.but has been growing very rapidly and the current 2005 population is estimated to exceed 60,000. It is considered to be a suburb (or edge city) of Indianapolis and is characterized by a relatively large number of roundabouts. Until the late 1800s, the settlement where present day Carmel now sits was called Bethlehem. Today, the plot first established in Bethlehem is marked by a large clock tower, donated by the local Rotary Club in 2002. The Monon Trail is a bicycle trail that is part of the Rails-to-Trails movement. It runs from 10th near downtown Indianapolis through Broad Ripple and then crosses into Carmel at 96th Street and ends at 146th Street. In the future, it is planned to run all the way to Sheridan. In January of 2006 speed limit signs of 15 to 20 mph have been added to sections of the trail north of 96th Street which is the county line with Indianapolis. -- Source: Wikipedia.com

Indiana 2000 Census Population Profile Map

	Carmel	Indiana	United States
Population	37,733	6,080,485	281,421,906
Median age	37.2	35.2	35.3
Median age for Male	36.3	33.9	34
Median age for Female	38	36.5	36.5
Households	13,597	2,336,306	105,480,101
Household population	37,212	5,902,331	273,643,273
Average household size	2.74	2.53	2.59
Families	10,571	1,602,501	71,787,347
Average family size	3.16	3.05	3.14
Housing units	14,107	2,532,319	115,904,641
Occupied units	13,597	2,336,306	105,480,101
Vacant units	510	196,013	10,424,540

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