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!

This is an inactive RePage. If you are Garry Murphy and wish to reactivate this page, please visit www.RePagesOnline.com for instructions.

Local Information for Grand Rapids, MI

Latitude: 42.960476 -- Longitude: -85.65828

Other Area Cities: Grand Rapids Comstock Park Cutlerville Grandville Wyoming Walker Kentwood Rockford Hudsonville Jenison

Enter our Photo Sweepstakes and Win $200 for your Grand Rapids photos!

Click on Photos to Enlarge. To see all Grand Rapids area photos Click Here.

Submit your photos of Grand Rapids and become eligible to win $200. Click Here for details.

Over 2,000 years ago, the Hopewell Indians occupied the Grand River Valley. Around 1700 A.D., the Ottawa Indians moved into the area and founded several villages along the Grand River. The Grand Rapids area was first settled by Europeans near the start of the 19th century by missionaries and fur traders, who generally lived in reasonable peace alongside the Ottawa tribespeople, trading their European metal and textile goods for the fur pelts. Joseph and Madeline La Framboise established the first Indian/European trading post in West Michigan, on the banks of the Grand River near what is now Ada. After the death of her husband in 1806, Medaline La Franboise carried on, expanding fur trading posts to the west and north. La Framboise, a mix of French and Indian descent, later merged her successful operations with the American Fur Company and retired, at age 41, to Mackinac Island. -- Source: Wikipedia.com

Michigan 2000 Census Population Profile Map

	Grand Rapids	Michigan	United States
Population	197,800	9,938,444	281,421,906
Median age	30.4	35.5	35.3
Median age for Male	29.4	34.3	34
Median age for Female	31.7	36.6	36.5
Households	73,217	3,785,661	105,480,101
Household population	188,106	9,688,555	273,643,273
Average household size	2.57	2.56	2.59
Families	44,370	2,575,699	71,787,347
Average family size	3.24	3.1	3.14
Housing units	77,960	4,234,279	115,904,641
Occupied units	73,217	3,785,661	105,480,101
Vacant units	4,743	448,618	10,424,540

Visit US Census