Alison Moss - Cincinnati Real Estate

Cincinnati Real Estate: National Foreclosures hit 1.9 million in first half of 2009

It is a fact that there were 1,905,723 foreclosure filings – default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions in the first six months of 2009. That represents an increase of 9% from the previous six months (July – December 2008) and 15% increase over the first 6 months (January – June) of 2008 according to reporting service RSI media.

Sadly a portion of the foreclosures appearing in recent months are due to the overall economic slowdown and subsequent job loss being experienced in almost every industry. Small local companies cut back staff as the economy slowed and those staff, unable to find new positions, found themselves unable to pay their previously affordable mortgage. he 10 states with the highest foreclosure rates were Nevada, Arizona, Florida, California , Utah, Georgia, Michigan, Illinois, Idaho and Colorado. While the Cincinnati real estate market has seen price and sales volume declines, this is top 10 list I am glad Ohio is not on.

Outside Magazine Ranks Cincinnati in Top 10 Town 2009

Outside Magazine recently ranked Cincinnati as a top town to live in. The magazine cites a number of factors including a number of economic, entertainment, and sports related features that helps put Cincinnati at #9 in the poll. Jay Stowe says, Cincinnati boasts “cool architecture, genuinely awesome independent restaurants, and neighborhoods full of affordable, eclectic houses—and one of the country’s biggest Oktoberfests, where people willingly don lederhosen and do the Chicken Dance totally unironically.”

Should I Buy Now? Reasons to Buy Cincinati Real Estate This Year!

Recently I have been getting a number of questions from my prospective clients about buying a home in this economic climate. They have legitimate questions and I wanted to share my general thoughts and industry research with all of my readers:

Will Home Prices Get Better If I Wait?

Over the last year the average home price in the Greater Cincinnati area has fallen by about 13%. As an agent I am seeing more buying activity, and that active buying is shrinking the number of homes in our inventory. With less supply and stable demand home prices will go up. Although it will be a slow recovery a Baylor University economics study showed that 8 or 10 economists polled believe that home prices will rise in the next 5 years.

Will Mortgage Rate Be Lower If I Wait?

Rates are at 50 year lows. Interest rates are fluctuating between 5% and 6% which is a substantially lower than the 15% interest rates of the 1980’s. I wrote a previous post about the buying power that small changes in interest rates can have on a 30 conventional loan.

Will There be More Houses to Chose From If I Wait?

There are currently 14,182 homes for sale in the MLS of Greater Cincinnati. One year ago that number was 16,680. Two years ago it was 17,880. The difference was that we were in a sellers market and there were eager buyers, easy mortgages, and fast sales. Activity was high because people were moving up. With the economy in its current state people are staying in their homes, hence the lower inventory. There will be different houses if you wait, maybe not more.