Downtown Cincinnati Monthly Market Update

Welcome to the new month of August 2012. It's so crazy to see that we are in a brand new month. Here is an Update with information from July 2012, to give you a better idea of how the Downtown Cincinnati market is looking.

Since June, the Median and Average List Price has increased by about 8 and 7 percent, and since July 2011 they have increased by about 50 and 41 percent! Sales prices are rising as well. The total inventory has decreased to 129 total properties for sale which is great, but unfortunately the amount that sold last month had decreased as well since June to 12 properties sold. July had a 10.8 month supply inventory which is not the best because, a 6 month supply of inventory is a healthy market. Fortunately since Last year the MSI (Monthly Supply of Inventory) has decreased by 52%, which means that if it keeps decreasing at that rate we will see a healthier market soon.

For more detailed information about your local Market including graphs and statistics on: Property Sales, Prices, Inventory, Market Time, Selling Price per Square Foot and much more; Click the link under "Get A Local Market Update For Your Neighborhood," or just click here.

Greater Cincinnati Monthly Market Update

Welcome to the new month of August 2012. It's so crazy to see that we are in a brand new month. Here is an Update with information from July 2012, to give you a better idea of how the Greater Cincinnati market is looking.

Since June, the Median and Average List Price has stayed pretty constant, but since July in 2011 the Median and Average List Price has increased. There is a total inventory of 12,580 properties currently for sale in all of Greater Cincinnati, yet in July only 1,500 sold. The average days on market for all of the sold properties in July was 78 days. In the month of July there was 8.4 months supply of inventory, a healthy market consists of around a 6 month supply of inventory. Seeing that the supply of inventory has decreased since the prior year-to-date, this means that we are getting closer to a healthier market.


For more detailed information about your local Market including graphs and statistics on: Property Sales, Prices, Inventory, Market Time, Selling Price per Square Foot and much more; Click the link under "Get A Local Market Update For Your Neighborhood," or just click here

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Night-time Stroll In Cincinnati

Fountains by the River

The Penguin Dueling Piano Bar

John A Roebling Bridge

On Wednesday night, I went out to The Penguin: Dueling Piano Bar, on 5th Street between Race and Vine, for Salsa Night. I went there with some buddies, but for some reason it was just one of those nights where you really just want some time to yourself. I carpooled to The Penguin with some friends from Step N' Out Studio on Madison in Covington, so I decided to take a walk back to my car in Covington. I walked down Race Street, and passed a couple bars on the way and it seemed like people were having a great time, even on a Wednesday night! I then made my way to the John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge (a.k.a. The Blue Bridge). I continued to look back at the beautiful Cincinnati City Skyline. My friends actually think it's weird how much pride I have in Cincinnati, but I was absolutely mesmerized by the view. I walked past the fountains near the river. as I walked across the bridge I was almost compelled to walk backwards as I stared at the beautiful Queen City. What a beautiful city we have.

Don't Tell Me That There's Nothing To Do In Cincy

Today my brother and I decided to just go and hang out today and take a walk through Cincinnati. He and I drove down to Eden Park, and sat up to talk about the "good ol' days." I said to him, "hey lets walk down to Friendship Park down on the river."

Mt. Adams

"The Heels at Hatch & Louden"

We began our voyage to Friendship Park and took a detour through Mt. Adams to check out the beautiful houses, and walk past the bars, and see the art from the local art shows for the weekend. There were so many people out just looking at the art work and hanging out at the local bars and pubs along St. Gregory.

Mt. Adams Bar & Grill

Friendship Park
We made our way to the city and then to Friendship Park were we walked and spoke of the days when our dad would take us there to feed the ducks at the river. While sitting at the river we heard live Jazz and Salsa music coming from Newport on the Levee.


Newport On The Levee
We then decided to walk across the Purple People Bridge to check out what was going on. Apparently the Jazz Fest is in town. I'm not sure how well it was advertised because there were few people that paid for admissions. We walked around Newport and even got to see a man dressed like a robot doing a performance within the Newport AMC shopping center. There were little groups of people performing for cash, while there were many people walking around, socializing, and simply enjoying the atmosphere.

Downtown Cincinnati

Fountain Square

 We walked another bridge back to Downtown Cincinnati, surrounded by Reds fans dressed in Red for the game. In great admiration of the City buildings, we made our way to the Carew Tower to go to the lower floor food court to buy some Cajun Cuisine. From the Carew tower we walked to through Fountain Square where there was a live Jazz band performing on the stage. From there we walked passed Mynt Martini were I saw a buddy and a large crowd inside. It looked like a very fun atmosphere. We made our way up Walnut Street and passed the Arnoff Center where the Opera is this weekend. We walked up east 8th street to gilbert and finally back to Eden park. There is no way that you can tell me that there is never anything to do in Cincinnati.

5 Reasons Why Homes Don't Sell

Who does not want to get top dollar for their home?  The truth is that with the countless homes that have been on the market during the past several months – in many areas, just getting an offer is great news.  But regardless of your location, it is important to avoid making mistakes that could cost you the sale of your home.  Here are five things that sellers do wrong (and what you can do right) that end up in an unsold house.

Pricing

You want as much money as you can but that ends up backfiring when homeowners overprice.  The priceshould be set at middle or low end of the range for your home to be able to sell.  It’s important to review area comparable sales to gauge what other homes in the same neighborhood have recently sold for. Overpricing helps other homes in the neighborhood sell and it also slows down your offers.

Staging and Photographs

Staging has become more popular – arranging furniture and removing personal items from the house.  It allows buyers to look at the home with a blank slate and be able to envision their own lifestyle in the home.  Another benefit of this is that the home’s features will be in plain view for buyers rather than being buried beneath mountains of the seller’s stuff.  High quality photographs are another part of effectively selling a home.  Almost all buyers begin their property search on the Internet and photos are pivotal to the process. 

Access to Property

Restricted access to the property will hinder successful sales because buyers will not be able to get in and see the home on their own schedule.  If you have a busy schedule that may seem difficult to work around, meet and discuss alternatives with your Realtor such as installing a lock box on the front door or setting up specific blocks of time each week that allow for some level of predictability without sacrificing accessibility to your home.

Attendance of Seller at Showing

One of the cardinal rules of real estate transactions during showings is that the seller must not be present while the buyer is reviewing the property.  If you happen to be present when a buyer shows up, leave quickly and do not interact with the buyer or their agent.  If that is not possible for some reason, make yourself as scarce as possible by either going to an area of the home that they have already looked at or go outside for a little while. 

Rejecting First Offer

The first offer you get on your property is usually the best offer you will get on your property.  It is important to look at that first offer as your best one and keep in mind that the longer the home remains on the market, the lower the offers are going to get.  Offers come in between 15 to 20 percent lower than the asking price but the home usually sells within about 5 to 10 percent of the asking price.

If you would like us to review your home and provide suggestions on how you can improve your chances for a successful sale, contact us today!

Why you should use a buyer agent.

Okay, so I was holding an open house this past Sunday in Mt. Adams. (Great, great home; but that's beside the point lol). A young man with a friend, both first-time home buyers, came into the open house to check out the home. They seemed to like the space. I continued to speak with them and get to know them as I do all the people that walk through my open houses. I asked how long he has been looking for a home, he basically answers not very long. I try getting an idea of what kind of home he wants. I then ask him if he is working with a buyer agent yet. He then tells me that he does not want to work with an agent in finding a home. He would prefer to buy a privately marketed home (for sale by owner) while being unrepresented. He believed that he could get a home for 6% less because the owner would not have to pay the fee. I was quite taken by his response in disbelief. I am now posting this article to explain a few reasons why you do not want to go into buying a home unrepresented, especially while buying your first home, and especially especially when dealing with a for sale by owner.

Here are a few reasons why being represented by a Realtor® when buying a home is so important:

1. The agent can give you access to some homes not yet on the market, before the rest of unrepresented buyers see them.
2. The agent makes sure that you get all of the proper documents needed to make a good decision about purchasing a certain home; such as: Property Disclosure form, HOA/COA rules and regulations, Lead-based paint disclosures, and much more.
3. An agent with great negotiation skills (like me lol) can save you good money when putting in an offer.
4. A good agent (again like me) will perform a Comparative Market Analysis on a home before you put in an offer to tell you the home's actual value.
5. Agents will also press to make sure that there is an inspection of the home to make sure the home is suitable for you to live in.
6. Agents also should push for the home to have a Home Warranty to take care of anything that can go wrong with the home after you buy the home.
7. Agents make sure you are pre-approved for a loan to make sure they don't show you anything that you can not afford.
8. We also make sure that there is title insurance so that you can own the title to the home entirely.
9. In addition, many people do not realize that privately marketed homes list their homes without agents because they do not want to pay the Realtor® and they are normally over priced. Meaning that you will not pay less, or "get a deal," on a for sale by owner, you most likely pay more than the home is even worth. An agent will be able to show you how much that house is worth and show you better, well priced comparable properties.

There are many, many more reasons why to use a buyer agent. This article is just the tip of the iceberg. I just really wanted to expose some truths and show people why working with a buyer agent is so critical when buying a home.

What's Going On In Your Real Estate Market?

Many people are wondering what's going on in their market, so I decided to start a series of Quarterly Market Updates for my clients. I will post on here a very brief Quarterly Market update for the following neighborhoods each quarter:
Hyde Park (45208)
Oakley (45209)

& Cincinnati City (45202)

If your would like the full version or a quarterly update for your specific area please fill out the application on the right hand side of the blog.