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 West Dover, VT

Latitude: 42.856099 -- Longitude: -72.564186

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Brattleboro is a town in Windham County, Vermont, United States. The population was 12,005 at the 2000 census. Brattleboro was chartered on December 26, 1753, and is located in the southeast corner of Vermont. The town is situated along the Connecticut River, at the mouth of the West River.[1] It is the headquarters of the Holstein Association. The town's most densely populated area is downtown at the very bottom of the valley. Because of the area's very hilly terrain, and relatively little flat land, residents have had to build houses practically on top of each other and on steep grades. This topography has helped to create the chic and urban atmosphere of the downtown area that its residents love and tourists admire. -- Source: Wikipedia.com

Vermont 2000 Census Population Profile Map

	Brattleboro	Vermont	United States
Population	8,289	608,827	281,421,906
Median age	39.2	37.7	35.3
Median age for Male	37.2	36.6	34
Median age for Female	40.9	38.7	36.5
Households	3,729	240,634	105,480,101
Household population	7,855	588,067	273,643,273
Average household size	2.11	2.44	2.59
Families	1,894	157,763	71,787,347
Average family size	2.83	2.96	3.14
Housing units	3,958	294,382	115,904,641
Occupied units	3,729	240,634	105,480,101
Vacant units	229	53,748	10,424,540

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