It’s Tuesday, so this must be the Tuesday Open House.

What is Tuesday Open House?? Well, it’s clearly not an “open house”. Open Houses don’t sell homes… good internet marketing does… but it seemed like a good title for this weekly blog post.

It is my way of throwing the doors open on the RealEstate-Ink.com blog and offering up a few quick articles and facts on real estate for the West Chester, Liberty Township, Beckett Ridge, Mason and Fairfield Township, Ohio areas. It is not intended to be all about homes for sale, but it will be about that some of the time…

The Union Centre Bash:  There have been a number of questions recently regarding the Union Centre Bash and when it was, etc.  So after a little research I found that it is no longer called the Union Centre Bash, but is now known as the Union Centre Boulevard Blast.  It is scheduled to be August 13 -15, 2010.  According to an article in the Journal News that I found online the “Blast” will be more of a regional draw, employing some best practices from similar showcases across the country.  The direction of The Blast will be directed at families, adults, teens and children with multiple activities happening at the same time, “sort of like what you’d see at a state fair.  You can reach the entire article online here >>Union Centre Boulevard Blast

New Listing: 5466 Sugar Maple Run, Liberty Township, Ohio.  Check out this new listing in Falling Water subdivision in Liberty Township, Ohio.  This is a terrific two story home located on a private,  wooded lot and features a finished, walkout lower level, island kitchen w/ adjoining morning room & hardwood floors and much, much more!  >>See all of the details including interior photos, video tour on LowryTeam.com

Searching for foreclosures or short sales?  Get a list of all of the foreclosed (bank owned) homes and short sale homes listed for sale in our area for free.  Don’t pay for a list of foreclosures, short sales or distressed properties and don’t pay a subscription fee to any website for one either.  These are homes that are listed for sale and you can have the information on these homes for sale, for free and without any obligation by just clicking here >>Request your list of foreclosures and short sale homes for sale here

Homes Sales Graph West Chester & Liberty Township

2010 Home Sales in West Chester & Liberty Township, Ohio:  The tax credit is over and now is when we find out if the homebuyer tax credits for both the First Time HomeBuyer and the move up homebuyer have had an impact on home sales overall.  The key thing to watch moving forward is the unit sales numbers each month for West Chester & Liberty Township compared to last year.  As can be seen on the graph, the last couple of months have seen home sales above last years totals.  The real indicator of the housing market’s recovery will be what happens moving forward with home sales.  Clearly the homes sales in West Chester & Liberty Township Ohio picked up when the tax credits were in effect, but what remains to be seen is; Will the home sales in the next few coming months remain at or above last year’s numbers so that the total sales numbers for the year remain above last year?  If the sales remain stable and we can stay at or above last years sales numbers, then we would have to judge the tax credits to be a success in stablizing the housing market.  If the sales numbers in the few months are not able to be sustained and in fact fall to levels below last year, then all we will have accomplished will be to move sales up into the early months of the year from the later months (July, August, September) and we will not have really improved the West Chester & Liberty Township housing market in the long term.  What you can see on the graph is a steady increase in the home sales from January through May of this year in a much more dramatic peak than in the last two years indicating that there clearly was an impact from the homebuyer tax credit incentives.  We will continue to monitor the home sales numbers and we will see where we go from here.   >>You can read my 2010 1st Quarter Real Estate Market Report here

Our facebook fan page of the week is: West Chester Farmer’s Market  You can find information on the Farmers Market, the products that are available there through the summer and more.  As of this writing their page has 129 fans, so I ask that you check out their fan page, become a fan and invite your facebook friends to do the same.

While you are on facebook checking out the West Chester Farmer’s Market fan page, please visit and become a fan of our facebook page:

Relocating To West Chester, Liberty Township Or Mason, Ohio??  Request Our Free Relocation Information Package By Clicking Here!

Check Out My Feature Homes For Sale In West Chester, Fairfield and Liberty Township, Ohio

What is a Market Snapshot? A Market Snapshot is a detailed real estate market report providing you with information on homes for sale and recent home sales in your  West Chester, Liberty Township, Beckett Ridge, Fairfield Township, Monroe or Mason Ohio neighborhood.

Detailed information on each home is included on an interactive map as well as statistical data, all of which comes directly from the Greater Cincinnati Multiple Listing Service (MLS).

Get your West Chester Real Estate Market Update delivered right to your inbox:

Thinking of buying a home in West Chester, Beckett Ridge or Liberty Township, Fairfield Township, Monroe or Mason Ohio?

Visit My YouTube channel at: www.youtube.com/LowryTeam

Check Out My Feature Homes For Sale In West Chester, Fairfield and Liberty Township, Ohio

I am pleased to present my 1st Quarter 2010 Real Estate Market Report for West Chester, Beckett Ridge and Liberty Township, Ohio. In this report you will find detailed real estate information and statistics. The source of this information is the Greater Cincinnati Multiple Listing Service. By seeking out and understanding the trends in our market place we are better able to forecast the upcoming market conditions. Any thoughts and insight into what may occur in the future are solely my opinions and forecasts.

I am very focused on providing the best information possible and to being the real estate expert in our West Chester, Beckett Ridge & Liberty Township, Ohio area. Please let me know if you have any questions regarding any of this information. So let’s get started:

SALES:

There were 189 homes sold in the 1st Quarter of 2010 compared to 195 homes sold in the 1st Quarter of 2009. This represents a decrease of 3.08%.  If you simply leave it at that, it doesn’t look too bad.  However, if you dissect the market a little, you will see that things can look a little different depending on the price range.  Also, we must keep in mind that in the 1st Quarter of 2010, sales with out question have been supported / propped up by the goverment’s tax credit incentives for both 1st time homebuyers and repeat buyers.  We did not have these incentives in place in the 1st Quarter of 2009, thus one could surmise, pretty easily I think, that the percentage decrease would have been quite a bit larger if not for the tax credit incentives.

Below, you will see the sales broken down by price range, which paints a picture of several different markets within the West Chester and Liberty Township, Ohio real estate market:

AVERAGE SALE PRICE:

The average sale price in the 1st Quarter of 2010 for the West Chester and Liberty Township Ohio markets was $223,139 compared to $207,772 in the 1st Quarter of 2009, which constitutes an increase of 7.40%. So, let’s talk about what this means and what it doesn’t mean. First, it does mean that the average price of all of the homes that sold was quite a bit higher, 7.02% higher in fact.  However, what this doesn’t mean is that the value of our homes rose by 7.40% in this period. This average sale price is affected quite a bit in this case by the fact that we saw a pretty good increase of sales of higher priced homes compared to the market as a whole. This occurred while we had a decrease in the percentage of sales closed in all of the ranges under the $400,000 range, thus causing the average to be higher.

So, is this good news or bad news? Really to be honest, it is no news. To know the value of your home and just how much the value has fallen you need a detailed, analytical analysis of the current market value. You cannot draw a conclusion from market averages, and certainly not from what you read in the newspaper, Cincinnati Enquirer, USA Today or otherwise.

SUPPLY OF HOMES FOR SALE:

The oversupply of homes for sale is where the pricing pressure comes from. Too many homes for sale in relation to how many are selling is a critical indicator to monitor as we watch for signs of market stabilization. At the end of the 1st Quarter of 2010 we had 720 homes for sale in the West Chester, Beckett Ridge and Liberty Township, Ohio marketplace compared to 743 homes for sale in 2009. Meaning we have not seen a huge reduction in the amount of homes for sale. With a current inventory of 720 homes for sale, based on our current rate of sale we have just under 7.39 months worth of inventory for sale. Meaning if we continue to sell homes at the current pace and no new listings come on the market, it would take us just under 7.39 months to sell them all compared to a 7.75 month supply one year ago. So, relative to the pace that homes are selling, we have seen a small reduction in the inventory of homes for sale.  However, just like unit sales, these numbers can vary greatly by price range as you can see below.

INTEREST RATES:

At the end of the 1st Quarter of 2010 interest rates on a 30 year fixed rate mortgage were hovering around a range of 4.95% – 5.05% which is largely the same as they were just one year ago. We have seen interest rates start to increase in the last few weeks though.  Just two weeks ago that thirty year mortgage was right around 4.75%.  So in the last two weeks rates have increased approx. .30%.   This is still a very clear example of the extreme value of today’s interest rates.

TOP 10 SALES:

The top 10 sales of the 1st Quarter of 2010*:

*These sales are not necessarily those of Eric Lowry and the Lowry Team.

Summary:

What is a Market Snapshot?  A Market Snapshot is a detailed real estate market report providing you with information on homes for sale and recent home sales in the West Chester, Liberty Township, Beckett Ridge, Fairfield Township, Monroe or Mason Ohio home.

Detailed information on each home is included on an interactive map as well as statistical data, all of which comes directly from the Greater Cincinnati Multiple Listing Service (MLS).

 Thinking of buying a home in West Chester, Beckett Ridge or Liberty Township, Fairfield Township, Monroe or Mason Ohio?

Visit My YouTube channel at:  www.youtube.com/LowryTeam

 Check Out My Feature Homes For Sale In West Chester, Fairfield and Liberty Township, Ohio

I am pleased to present my 2nd Quarter 2009 Real Estate Market Report for West Chester, Beckett Ridge and Liberty Township, Ohio.  In this report you will find detailed real estate information and statistics.  The source of this information is the Greater Cincinnati Multiple Listing Service.  By seeking out and understanding the trends in our market place we are better able to forecast the upcoming market conditions.  Any thoughts and insight into what may occur in the future are solely my opinions and forecasts.

I am very focused on providing the best information possible and to being the real estate expert in our area.  Please let me know if you have any questions regarding any of this information.  So let’s get started:

SALES:

There were 294 units sold for the 2nd Quarter of 2009 compared to 364 units sold in the 2nd Quarter of 2008.  This represents a decrease of 19.23%.  If you simply leave it at that, it looks pretty bad, however if you dissect the market a little, you will see that things can look a little different depending on the price range.  Below, you will see the sales broken down by price range, which paints a picture of several different markets within the West Chester and Liberty Township, Ohio real estate market.

AVERAGE SALE PRICE:

The average sale price in the 2nd Quarter of 2009 for the West Chester and Liberty Township Ohio markets was $214,898 compared to $231,621 in the 2nd Quarter of 2008, which constitutes a decrease of 7.22%.  So, let’s talk about what this means and what it doesn’t mean.  First, it does mean that the average price of all of the homes that sold was quite a bit lower, 7.22% lower in fact.  However, what this doesn’t mean is that the value of our homes fell by 7.22% in this period.  This average sale price is affected quite a bit by the fact that a much larger percentage of sales occurred in the under $250,000 range, thus causing the average to be lower.  So, is this good news or bad news?  Really to be honest, it is no news.  To know the value of your home and just how much the value has fallen you need a detailed, analytical analysis of the current market value.  You cannot draw a conclusion from market averages, and certainly not from what you read in the newspaper, Cincinnati Enquirer, USA Today or otherwise.

SUPPLY OF HOMES FOR SALE:

The oversupply of homes for sale is where the pricing pressure comes from.  Too many homes for sale in relation to how many are selling is a critical indicator to monitor as we watch for signs of market stabilization.  At the end of the 2nd Quarter of 2009 we had 729 homes for sale in the West Chester, Beckett Ridge and Liberty Township, Ohio marketplace compared to 924 homes for sale in 2008.  This represents a huge reduction in the amount of homes for sale.  With a current inventoryof 729 homes for sale, based on our current rate of sale we have just under 7.5 months worth of inventory for sale.  Meaning if we continue to sell homes at the current pace and no new listings come on the market, it would take us just under 7.5 months to sell them all compared to a 7.6 month supply one year ago.  So, because the pace of sales has fallen so dramatically, the level of inventory is really the same on a relative basis.  However, just like unit sales, these numbers can vary greatly by price range as you can see below.

INTEREST RATES:

At the end of the 2nd Quarter of 2009 interest rates on a Thirty year fixed rate mortgage were hovering around a range of 5.30% – 5.40%.  Just one year ago at the end of the 2nd Quarter of 2008 interest rates for the same mortgage were 6.25% – 6.50%.  This is a very clear example of the extreme value of today’s interest rates.

TOP 10 SALES:

The top 10 sales of the 2nd Quarter of 2009*:

*These sales are not necessarily those of Eric Lowry

Summary:

The West Chester, Beckett Ridge and Liberty Township real estate market remains challenging, yet full of opportunity.  Clearly the value of homes in the area has fallen over the past couple of years and frankly, in certain price ranges, the values are likely to fall farther.  I would expect in the market overall for the rate of decline to slow, however, only when the supply of homes for sale drops and the number of buyers increases, will prices stabilize.  It will take a number of years to return to the values that we once experienced.  Exactly how long will be determined by the overall economy including the unemployment rate and of course how long interest rates are able to remain low.  This is a great market to buy a home and is particularly good for 1st time homebuyers. It is also very favorable for homeowners looking to move up to a larger home.  Any loss experienced on the selling side should be more than made up for on the purchase side.

Your comments and questions are always welcome!

Wondering what your home is worth in today’s real estate market?  Request a market analysis here!

 Check Out My Feature Homes For Sale In West Chester, Fairfield and Liberty Township, Ohio

1st Quarter 2009 home sales compared to 1st Quarter 2008 for West Chester and Liberty Township, Ohio

In the 1st quarter of 2008 244 units were sold vs. 195 units in February 2009.  This represents a decrease of 20.08%.  This continues the trend of a large drop in closed sales when compared to the year ago period.  Unit sales continue to be soft, with the overall economy and job security issues having a big impact on potential buyers.  The 1st time homebuyers tax credit is influencing the activity in the under $225,000 market in a positive way.

The average sale price for the first quarter of 2009 was down 8.32% compared to the same period in 2008.  As you can see in the table below, the average sale price in the first quarter of 2008 was $226,635 compared to $207,772in 2009.  As I have said before, for there to be a stabilization of home prices and then at some point a return of appreciation, we will need to see a smaller supply of homes available for sale and also a lessening of the pricing presuure that is currently being applied by distressed property sales, such as bank owned homes and short sales.  In many of the price ranges there remains a significant oversupply of homes for sale.

However, there are dramatic differences in what is going on in the different price ranges.  If you are thinking of selling your home you must understand the market within the market that your home is in.  Some of the price ranges have such an oversupply of homes for sale and others are much more in line with what might be normally expected.

February 2009 home sales compared to February 2008 for West Chester and Liberty Township, Ohio

In February 2008 79 units were sold vs. 65 units in February 2009.  This represents a decrease of 17.72%.  That is quite a drop in closed sales when compared to the year ago period.  Unit sales continue to be soft, with the overall economy and job security issues having a big impact on potential buyers.  The 1st time homebuyers tax credit is influencing the activity in the under $225,000 market in a positive way.

The average sale price for February 2009 was down 12.28% compared to the same period in 2008.  As you can see in the table below, the average sale price in February 2008 was $228,849 compared to $200,757 in 2009.  As I have said before, for there to be a stabilization of home prices and then at some point a return of appreciation, we will need to see a smaller supply of homes available for sale and also a lessening of the pricing presuure that is currently being applied by distressed property sales, such as bank owned homes and short sales.  In many of the price ranges there remains a significant oversupply of homes for sale.

You can subscribe to my blog via RSS.  Click here to subscribe via a feed or receive a subscription via e-mail!  Either way click the orange RSS options at the top of the page.  Of course, I never rent or sell your e-mail address… I don’t even know what it is, I never see it.

Check Out My Feature Homes For Sale In West Chester and Liberty Township, Ohio

It’s time to take a look at how January 2009 home sales compared to January 2008.

With regard to sales, in January 2008 58 units were sold vs. 55 units in January 2009.  This represents a decrease of just 5.17%.  I say “just” because today the Cincinnati Area Board of Realtors reported sales being down 19.29% (unit sales) for the Greater Cincinnati area. So being only down 5.17% for the West Chester and Liberty Township, Ohio real estate market feels like a victory!!

The average sale price for January 2008 was down 8.02% compared to the same period in 2009.  As you can see in the table below, the average sale price in January 2008 was $219,688 compared to $202,077 in 2009.  For there to be a stabilization of home prices and then at some point a return of appreciation, we will need to see a smaller supply of homes available for sale.  In many of the price ranges there remains a significant oversupply.  The average sale price was down 18.49% in January 2009 when compared to January 2008 for the Greater Cincinnati Area Board of Realtors.

 Moving to West Chester or Liberty Township, Ohio?  Request our Relocation Packet  It’s full of information about our area.

You can subscribe to my blog via RSS.  Click here to subscribe via a feed or receive a subscription via e-mail!  Either way click the orange RSS options at the top of the page.  Of course, I never rent or sell your e-mail address… I don’t even know what it is, I never see it.

Check Out My Feature Homes For Sale In West Chester and Liberty Township, Ohio

Real Estate Outlook: What’s in Store for 2009?

What will the new year bring for housing and real estate? It’s easy to look at all the negative economic news in the headlines and say – there’s no sign that 2009 is going to be any better than 2008.

But here’s a different perspective to consider from one of the country’s veteran financial analysts — Richard Bove of Ladenburg Thalmann, an investment banking company.

In a research report issued late in December, Bove said he sees a positive dynamic taking shape in the current cycle. The government has intervened aggressively in the markets to push interest rates down — most notably in the home mortgage sector.

Though it takes awhile for low-cost money to begin having its effect, Bove said he expects “housing prices to stabilize and/or rise (in 2009) after a likely boom in mortgage refinancings as rates fall and loan applications increase.”

Add in the expected massive economic stimulus package being put together on Capitol Hill with the incoming Obama administration — and there’s a good chance we’re going to see a gradual transformation of the downward cycle into a slow rebound over the coming several quarters.

Already there are positive signs of the turnaround Bove predicts…

Read the entire article in my monthly real estate newsletter for residents of West Chester, Liberty Township and Beckett Ridge.

Wondering about the value of your home in today’s market?  Request a Free Market Analysis.

If you think now is the time to begin your search for a new home, start by checking out my Feature homes for sale and then search the MLS, all on my website:  www.LowryTeam.com

Check Out My Feature Homes For Sale In West Chester and Liberty Township, Ohio

As I mentioned in my previous post on the West Chester real estate market, the last three months have been very turbulent.  There is a great deal of uncertainty regarding the availability of mortgages for buyers and in the financial markets in general.  I can say with absolute certainty however,  that if you are thinking about buying a home, whether it is new construction or an existing home, the opportunities are terrific with regard to the home prices and there is no question about the ability to get a mortgage, the money is out there!

Today we will take a look at how the Liberty Township, Oh real estate market fared in the last three months of 2008.  The West Chester and Liberty Township markets are very connected and to many folks would be considered one and the same.  They share the same school district (Lakota Schools) and are geographically adjacent.   However breaking them down a little gives us better detail of just what has been going on.