Norma Palazzolo's Real Estate Blog | Anderson Township, OH | Homes for Sale, Condos for Sale, Buying a House, Real Estate Market, Foreclosures

Inside Real Estate
Let Me Help You!
(513) 827-8332
Follow My Blog
RSS
normapalazzolo
Norma Palazzolo
Real Estate Specialist

    ABR®: Accredited Buyer’s Representative
    e-PRO Certified
    SRES: Senior Real Estate Specialist

Direct: (513) 827-8332



Company Info

Coldwell Banker West Shell


Real Estate Tools

Schoolsschools

Communitiescommunities

Calculatorscalculators

Archive for June 2009

Almost Half-Million First Time Home Buyers in First Quarter!

Saturday, June 20th, 2009

Some 455,000 first-time buyers took advantage of low prices and interest rates to close transactions in the first quarter of the year, latest NAR statistical data show. Anecdotal evidence suggests the first-time buyer tax credit played a role in bringing out buyers, too. Other data show that the large number of distressed sales continues to hold down prices, with 134 of 142 markets tracked by NAR showing price declines for the quarter. Total state sales activity for the quarter put sales on a 4.59-million unit sales pace. (Article from Ohio Assoc. of Realtors)

This is Great News! First time buyers buy homes from the “first tier” buy-up buyers-people who want to purchase larger more expensive homes to fit their family needs. This in turn enables the next tier of buyers to sell their current properties and move up. This is the traditional way the real estate market moved. The number of foreclosures and distressed sales has given the first time buyer an opportunity but has not benefited the buy up buyers. We are beginning to see that trend level off and the “old market activity” start to move again. This is the action we need to see sustained in order for the real estate market to stabilize and move back to its traditional workings.

Anderson Township Foreclosures–Good News!

Tuesday, June 16th, 2009

As of this week, 1 million new foreclosures have been filed in 2009, according to estimates by the Center for Responsible Lending, a nonprofit research and policy organization dedicated to preserving home ownership.

A new foreclosure starts every 13 seconds–nearly 6,500 a day.

“It’s easy to think, ‘Well, that’s tough luck for the families that lose their homes.’ The truth is that foreclosures are costing neighboring families hundreds of billions of dollars and dragging down the entire economy,” says Michael Calhoun, president of CRL.
Calhoun called on lenders and loan servicers to utilize the tools offered by the U.S. government to keep people in their homes.

Source: Center for Responsible Lending (06/01/2009)

While this article in factual, locally we are seeing the number of foreclosures being sold on the rise. That is Good News! This means that families are purchasing these properties, rehabbing them and thereby helping the re-establish neighborhood home prices. As the inventory of foreclosures decreases the market for non-distressed properties increases and neighborhood pricing will return to more normal levels. This is indeed “Good News”!

The Benefits of a Great Realtor®

Monday, June 8th, 2009

Realtors® do more than just help you search for a home. They provide indispensable advice during the entire home-buying process. Here are three ways that your Realtor® will protect your interests in the steps toward buying a home.

1. Finding Your Ideal Home – If you’ve already searched for a home for several months, you probably have chosen a few properties that you really like. Your Realtor® will help you sift through your choices to ensure that the property you think you want is really going to serve you well long-term.

As an added bonus, an experienced Realtor® has a knack for sniffing out things like dishonest sellers, lemon houses, and bad deals. Buying a home can present many pitfalls for the inexperienced buyer and having the expertise of a professional will provide peace of mind and ensure that the process goes smoothly.

2. Preparing the Real Estate Offer – You may already be aware of the basic steps toward owning a home, but there are some finer details to drafting and presenting a real estate offer to the seller. A Realtor® guides you in how to prepare your offer and helps you to draft a competitive set of terms that will increase your chance of being accepted by the seller. Some considerations include how much to offer for the home, when to close on the deal, what costs will be paid by each party, and if the seller will add improvements to the home before closing.

3. Closing the Deal – Once a seller has accepted your written offer, there are many steps that must take place before the house will be transferred to you. Since a real estate professional has been down this road many times, they will be able to guide you during the major phases of the closing process.

Although an objective third party may draw up all the paperwork and hold the escrow funds until closing, your Realtor® acts solely on your behalf. Don’t hesitate to voice your concerns or ask your professional lots of questions to ensure that you get the optimal benefit from the home-buying experience.

And for your best benefit, work with a Realtor® – a member of the National Association of Realtors®. We are held to a higher standard of ethics and know how to represent you in order to help you obtain you dream home in this truly challenging market.

I am happy to receive you calls and referrals. Please call me for assistance.

Anderson Township Had The Highest Rate of Sales

Monday, June 1st, 2009

This is another week of really high activity. In my office, we have all been so busy that we have not been able to help each other as each of ran out of time but not work. This is a Good Thing – a Very Good Thing!

We learned that Anderson Township had the highest rate of sales of any area in the Cincinnati MLS – again A Very Good Thing! Anderson is now a mature community with not much new construction, except in the very high-end properties. This means that first time buyers are active, freeing up the “first rung” properties so that those sellers can finally move up the their next house, and on and on up the ladder. This is the first time we have seen this in a couple of years and it makes everyone happy and feel more secure about the future of local real estate. It also shows that lenders are actually lending.

According to the media, that just was not happening when we all knew better. Now it is evident. Not only are they lending, they are lending at very good rates. FHA financing is available to qualified buyers with a minimum down payment and they can ask the seller to contribute to their closing costs. Those items plus the still very large inventory of available homes in most price ranges makes for a really nice market.

Something for everyone to be aware of is that prices are down about 20% from this same period last year. Most sellers are understanding that. It means that what they may perceive to be loosing on their sale they will make up on their purchase. It all evens out eventually.

You may notice that I am pretty optimistic about all the above. Yes, I certainly am. I have been very busy these last few months helping sellers and buyers and I have seen first hand that all this information is really true and the System Is Working!

If you are interested in talking about buying or selling real estate, please give me a call. I can help to educate you so that you too can move forward in this volatile market.

Keep those referrals coming – I truly appreciate them.

Market Recap

  • Avg. Sales Price: $243,439

  • Avg. Days on Market: 70

Free Market Alerts

Get local reports delivered to you

 
Recently Asked Questions
    Ask Me a Question

    Do you have questions you need Answered?

    market alert newsletter

    Get free market reports delivered to you. » Sign up today

    - Copyright © 2010 Inside Real Estate, LLC

    Inside Real Estate does not endorse the agents on this site, and does not guarantee the content submitted by the site's members. Blog and page entries, content, and other information contributed by agents that are members of the site are accountable to the particular agent.