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 Bossier City, LA

Latitude: 32.517651 -- Longitude: -93.691397

Other Area Cities: Bossier City Shreveport

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The area of Bossier City dates back to the 1830s when it was the Elysian Groves Plantation of James and Mary Cane. Steamboat loads of cotton, corn, and sweet potatoes were shipped to markets in the south and east, from the plantation port known to many as "Cane's Landing." During the American Civil War, several companies of local Confederate soldiers left Cane's Landing aboard steamboats for the distant battlefields. During the war, the riverfront was protected from Union invasion by the artillery embankments of Battery's Price, Walker and Ewell. The Confederate Fort Smith stood near what is now Bossier High School and protected the area from an eastern invasion. Many, many early settlers passed through the region on their way to the wild west. By 1850, over 200 wagons a week were passing through Bossier City. Some of these settlers stayed, attracted by the fertile soil and lush river valley. -- Source: Wikipedia.com

Louisiana 2000 Census Population Profile Map

	Bossier City	Louisiana	United States
Population	56,461	4,468,976	281,421,906
Median age	32.1	34	35.3
Median age for Male	30.2	32.6	34
Median age for Female	33.9	35.3	36.5
Households	21,197	1,656,053	105,480,101
Household population	54,766	4,333,011	273,643,273
Average household size	2.58	2.62	2.59
Families	14,894	1,156,438	71,787,347
Average family size	3.09	3.16	3.14
Housing units	23,026	1,847,181	115,904,641
Occupied units	21,197	1,656,053	105,480,101
Vacant units	1,829	191,128	10,424,540

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