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!

As of 12/01/09 the John Dean RePage is ranked at 6,468 with 50 points.
The monthly top RePage owner will receive a cash prize. Help this agent by bookmarking this site and posting it to blogs and other Web pages and encourage others to visit.

Local Information for Ocean City, NJ

Latitude: 39.265371 -- Longitude: -74.593814

Other Area Cities: Ocean City Absecon Cedar Grove Egg Harbor City Linwood Margate City Middletown Northfield Pleasantville Somers Point Ventnor City

Enter our Photo Sweepstakes and Win $200 for your Ocean City photos!

To see random photos for other cities Click Here.

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

Ocean City is a city in Cape May County, New Jersey, United States. It is the principal city of the 'Ocean City Metropolitan Statistical Area' which encompasses all of Cape May County. As of the United States 2000 Census, the city population was 15,378 in the winter months. In the summer months, the town's population can (and often does) swell over 110,000. Ocean City is known as a family seaside resort that has prohibited the sales of alcoholic beverages within its limits since the city's founding in 1879. Ocean City is a very popular vacation area in South Jersey. More families flock here than other New Jersey beaches because of its laws regarding the sale of alcohol. The Travel Channel rated Ocean City as the Best Family Beach of 2005. -- Source: Wikipedia.com

New Jersey 2000 Census Population Profile Map

	Ocean City	New Jersey	United States
Population	15,378	8,414,350	281,421,906
Median age	47.8	36.7	35.3
Median age for Male	45.4	35.5	34
Median age for Female	50.3	38	36.5
Households	7,464	3,064,645	105,480,101
Household population	15,089	8,219,529	273,643,273
Average household size	2.02	2.68	2.59
Families	4,007	2,154,539	71,787,347
Average family size	2.71	3.21	3.14
Housing units	20,298	3,310,275	115,904,641
Occupied units	7,464	3,064,645	105,480,101
Vacant units	12,834	245,630	10,424,540

Visit US Census