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 Fresno, CA

Latitude: 36.781549 -- Longitude: -119.792113

Other Area Cities: Fowler Clovis Madera Fresno

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Fresno is the sixth-largest city in California and the county seat of Fresno County. With a 2005 California Department of Finance estimated population of 464,727 and estimated metropolitan area population of 1,002,284, it is the largest city and second largest metropolitan area in California's expansive Central Valley. Fresno is located at 36°47' North, 119°48' West. Its ZIP Code is 937xx. Fresno serves as the economic hub of Fresno County and California’s Central Valley. While the unincorporated area and rural cities surrounding the City of Fresno remain predominantly tied to large-scale agricultural production, the City has been undergoing significant economic transformation. -- Source: Wikipedia.com

California 2000 Census Population Profile Map

	Fresno	California	United States
Population	427,652	33,871,648	281,421,906
Median age	28.5	33.3	35.3
Median age for Male	27.4	32.2	34
Median age for Female	29.6	34.4	36.5
Households	140,079	11,502,870	105,480,101
Household population	419,465	33,051,894	273,643,273
Average household size	2.99	2.87	2.59
Families	97,923	7,920,049	71,787,347
Average family size	3.57	3.43	3.14
Housing units	149,025	12,214,549	115,904,641
Occupied units	140,079	11,502,870	105,480,101
Vacant units	8,946	711,679	10,424,540

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