Cincinnati, OH

Click here for a chart comparing the old and new credit!

Great news for home buyers in the Greater Cincinnati Ohio area. The tax credit has been expanded with some new and exciting changes. Now buyers can still continue to purchase homes with confidence that they will be able to still get the tax credit after November 30th. As long as they have a binding contract in effect by April 30, 2010 and close the deal by June 30th, 2010.

Congress voted yesterday to extend and expand the program. The house vote was 403-12 in favor of the bill. The Senate approved the vote on Wednesday night in a vote 98-0. Now the President must finalize the bill with his signature this weekend.

There are some income restrictions and other rules so make sure to visit our link above and read the details. You can also call us to get an explanation. These credits only apply to single family home purchases.

In the meantime, refer to this NAR-provided link for more information.

If you have any direct needs or questions, please don't hesitate to call me directly at 513-478-3794. I can also refer you to a lender to get a great interest rate on your home.

Have a great day!
Derek Tye

Derek Tye has been an influential Realtor in the Greater Cincinnati Ohio Market for 5 years. For more information about our Greater Cincinnati Ohio Real Estate services we offer please call us at 513-732-2720 or visit our website at www.CincyOhioHomes.com . Don't miss our Testimonials!

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BusinessWeek.com, working with Cyberhomes, a real estate marketer identified the best 25 locales in the country where the price of homes is moderate and schools are A-rated. According to their studies, buyers will pay a premium, work multiple jobs, pinch pennies and endure long commutes in order to have a home in a top-rated school district.

Top ranked schools chosen by the magazine were in communities in Vandergrift, Pa; Lake Worth, Fl; Middletown, Md; Longmont, Co; Rancho Santa Margarita, CA; Louisville, Co; Nassau-Suffolk, NY; Cincinnati; Nanuet, NY. and Clayton, NC.

Specifically, the area of Cincinnati identified is zip code 45248. The school district serving this population is Oak Hills, one of the Excellent rated schools by the State of Ohio. In this neighborhood, the median home price is $155,000.

There are certainly other excellent-rated school districts in the Cincinnati area that have very reasonably priced homes. Give Mary or Saralou a call to investigate other neighborhoods and how they compare to zip code 45248.

Mark your calendars for a fun, family time on November 8th from 1-3 pm in Ault Park. This Amazing Race-style event, sponsored by the Cincinnati Parks, incorporates nature education into the activity right in the middle of the Hyde Park and Mt. Lookout areas. Specifically designed for the family with 5-12 year olds, everyone can plan to learn a lot on the Park's trails while having a good time together.

You should meet at the fountain and park rangers will send a family out on the trails every five minutes. For each trip through the woods, you will need to complete certain activities and show those as part of determining winners. Typical activities might be finding a certain kind of leaf or searching for a fossil in the creek.

Small prizes will be awarded. Not only will you learn about nature, best of all, the event is FREE!

Reservations are required so that the Park has enough staff on hand and prizes for the winners. Call 513-761-4313 to set it up for your family!

Pending Home Sales on a Record Roll

For the fourth month in a row, the local home sales activity was up from one year ago. Comparing September 2008 to September 2009, 10.55% more homes were sold this year.

Our inventory of homes available has shrunk over the past year from 9.74 to 7.4 months of inventory. The National Association of Realtors says that six months of inventory is a balanced market.

The graph below shows this year's activity.

On a national basis, contract activity for pending home sales has risen for six straight months, a pattern not seen in the history of the index since it began in 2001, according to the National Association of Realtors®. In the Midwest the index slipped 2.0 percent to 88.1 but is 8.1 percent above a year ago.

Nationally, the Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in July, increased 3.2 percent to 97.6 from a reading of 94.6 in June, and is 12.0 percent higher than July 2008 when it was 87.1. The index is at the highest level since June 2007 when it was 100.7.

The typical mortgage payment now takes less than 25 percent of a middle-income family's monthly income to buy a median priced home, with payment percentages so far in 2009 being the lowest on record dating back to 1970. Seems like that statistic alone points to a compelling case to buy NOW!

NAR estimates that about 1.8 to 2.0 million first-time buyers will take advantage of the $8,000 tax credit this year, with approximately 350,000 additional sales that would not have taken place without the credit.

NAR's Housing Affordability Index stood at 158.5 in July, below the peak set in April but is still 36.0 percentage points higher than a year ago. The HAI is a broad measure of housing affordability using consistent values and assumptions over time, which examines the relationship between home prices, mortgage interest rates and family income.