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 Cincinnati, OH

Latitude: 39.13616 -- Longitude: -84.503088

Other Area Cities: Cherry Grove Forestville Glendale Groesbeck Kenwood Lincoln Heights North College Hill Northbrook Norwood Reading Springdale Mason Hamilton Oxford Cincinnati Blue Ash Bridgetown Cheviot Amberley Covedale Deer Park Finneytown Forest Park Madeira West Chester White Oak Woodlawn Wyoming Mariemont Sharonville Loveland

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Cincinnati is a city in southwestern Ohio, in the United States of America, that lies on the Ohio River. It is the county seat of Hamilton CountyGR6. As of 2005, Cincinnati's population was 308,728, making it the third largest city in Ohio and the 55th largest in the United States. It has a much larger metropolitan area, commonly called "Greater Cincinnati", which covers parts of Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana. As of July 1, 2005, the U.S. Census Bureau esimates that the Cincinnati-Middletown-Wilmington Combined Statistical Area has a population of 2,113,011 (making it the 20th largest in the country) and is growing at a rate of about one percent annually. Greater Cincinnati is the 25th largest metropolitan area in America. It is home to major-league sports, including America's first professional baseball team, a National Football League team, and the historic Cincinnati Masters. -- Source: Wikipedia.com

Ohio 2000 Census Population Profile Map

	Cincinnati	Ohio	United States
Population	331,285	11,353,140	281,421,906
Median age	32.1	36.2	35.3
Median age for Male	30.7	34.9	34
Median age for Female	33.7	37.5	36.5
Households	148,095	4,445,773	105,480,101
Household population	317,849	11,054,019	273,643,273
Average household size	2.15	2.49	2.59
Families	72,496	2,993,023	71,787,347
Average family size	3.02	3.04	3.14
Housing units	166,012	4,783,051	115,904,641
Occupied units	148,095	4,445,773	105,480,101
Vacant units	17,917	337,278	10,424,540

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