Home Values Archives - Page 16 of 17 -

West Chester & Liberty Twp OH Real Estate: Tuesday Open House

June 8, 2010 by Eric Lowry Leave a Comment

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…

Mortgage Interest Rates: The tax credits are gone and if you are looking for a reason to buy a home, look no further. Thirty year fixed rate mortgages are 4.60% today according to Third Federal Savings. This is amazing. Just look at this example of what these low rates really mean:

$200,000 mortgage amount @ 5.50% = $1135.58 monthly principal & interest payment

$200,000 mortgage amount @ 4.60% = $1025.29 monthly principal & interest payment

This example shows a monthly savings of $110 on your mortgage payment and this is compared to a mortgage interest rate of 5.50% which is a historically low rate itself!

Has the real estate market stablized? Get your personal real estate market update and monitor home values in your neighborhood. You’ll see homes for sale in your neighborhood right now, you’ll see detailed information on homes that have sold and best of all this personal market update will be delivered completely free and directly into your inbox with no obligation. Get your real estate market update right now at www.HomeValuesInCincy.com

Our facebook fan page of the week is: The Square at Union Centre You can find information on the Farmers Market, the free concerts that are there on Thursdays through the summer and more. As of this writing their page has 88 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 The Square at Union Centre fan page, please visit and become a fan of our facebook page:

Search the entire MLS here!

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

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

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

West Chester & Liberty Township OH Real Estate: Tuesday Open House

May 11, 2010 by Eric Lowry Leave a Comment

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.

Keller Williams Red Day: Keller Williams Realty Red Day is this Thursday, May 13th. Our Keller Williams Realty Associate Partners office here in West Chester will b conducting a day long food and clothing drive to benefit Reach Out Lakota. You can get more information by visiting our facebook fan page at www.Facebook.com/LowryTeamRealEstate and find more information on Reach Out Lakota by visiting their website http://www.reachoutlakota.org

Interest Rate Update: Interest rates on a 30 year fixed rate mortgage continue to fluctuate a little day to day, but remain very low. The rate on a 30 year fixed rate mortgage today was 4.85% with no points according to Third Federal Savings. With rates continuing to be this low, the opportunities to move up to a new or larger home and not greatly increase your monthly payment are terrific. By the way, the selection of homes to pick from is very good right now. Thinking of buying a home in West Chester, Liberty Township, Beckett Ridge, Mason or Fairfield Township? You can search homes for sale on our website at anytime, including features like map searches, saved search, new listing notifications and more! Just visit www.LowryTeam.com.

Home and Property Values: This section of the Tuesday Open House seems a little like a comedy show. Just today I saw both of these headlines and reports:

Headline: “Cincinnati metro home prices up 14.5% in 1Q” – The National Association of Realtors reported Tuesday that median home prices rose in Greater Cincinnati year over year during the first quarter, although they dropped from fourth-quarter 2009. Read more: Cincinnati metro home prices up 14.5% in 1Q – Business Courier of Cincinnati:

And then this:

Headline: “Zillow: Home prices still falling” – Housing values in Cincinnati and most U.S. metropolitan areas continued their decline into the first quarter, but a new report from researcher Zillow.com points to encouraging signs in some of the most battered markets, according to a report in Columbus Business First. Read more: Business Courier of Cincinnati: Zillow: Home prices still falling

Moral of the story?? If you really want to know the value of your home…Ask a local Realtor that is an expert in your local area / neighborhood. If you would like to monitor home and property values in your West Chester, Liberty Township, Beckett Ridge, Mason or Fairfield Township, Ohio neighborhood get your own Personal Market Update that shows both homes for sale in your neighborhood and recent sales. You can get your own Personal Market Update delivered right to your inbox with no cost or obligation by visiting www.HomeValuesInCincy.com

Our Facebook Fan Page of the week is: Reach Out Lakota. This community organization does a lot of good in our community. They need more than just for us to become fans of them on facebook, they need our support and donations! As of this writing their page has 90 fans, so I ask that you check out their fan page, become a fan and invite your facebook friends to do the same. More importantly though, consider donating nonperishable food items and clothing to Reach Out Lakota today. Check it out.

While you are on facebook checking out the Reach Out Lakota fan page, please visit and become a fan of our facebook page.

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

Search the entire MLS here!

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

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

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

Get Your Personal Real Estate Market Update!

April 24, 2010 by Eric Lowry Leave a Comment

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?

Search the entire MLS here!

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

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

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

West Chester & Liberty Twp OH Real Estate Market Report 1st Qtr. 2010

April 8, 2010 by Eric Lowry

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:

Price Range	2010 Units	2009 Units	+ or – %
Less than $200,000	93	97	-4.12%
$200,000 – $249,999	36	44	-18.18%
$250,000 – $299,999	27	30	-10.00%
$300,000 – $399,999	21	20	-5.00%
$400,000 – $499,999	4	2	100%
$500, 000 +	8	2	300%

AVERAGE SALE PRICE:

The average sale price in the 1st Quarter of 2010 for the West Chester and Liberty Township Ohiomarkets 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.

PRICE RANGE	HOMES FOR SALE	MONTHS SUPPLY
Less than $200,000	299	6.42
$200,000 – $249,999	140	6.46
$250,000 – $299,999	80	6.49
$300,000 – $399,999	98	9.19
$400,000 – $499,999	49	14.00
$500,000 +	54	20.22

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*:

1. 6694 Southampton Lane	West Chester	$833,900
2. 7347 Wetherington Drive	West Chester	$778,965
3. 7311 Tamarron Place	West Chester	$725,000
4. 6883 Harbour Town Drive	West Chester	$563,545
5. 7277 Southampton Lane	West Chester	$535,000
6. 7237 Clawson Court	West Chester	$529,900
7. 7286 Southampton Lane	West Chester	$529,900
8. 4200 Tylers Estate Drive	West Chester	$515,000
9. 5816 Ferdinand Drive	West Chester	$478,000
10. 6745 Cherry Laurel Drive	Liberty Twp.	$430,000

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

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 home buyers. 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

West Chester & Liberty Township OH Real Estate: Home Values

April 1, 2010 by Eric Lowry

Everywhere you look these days there is news on home values. It’s in newspapers, like the Cincinnati Enquirer, it’s on the web on sites like CNBC.com and USAToday.com and many others. Some is positive news and some news is very negative.

There are somethings to keep in mind here before you go off the deep end regarding your homes current market value. The first is, don’t forget your basic math. Average sale prices have been going up in some areas, down in others. The average sale price is the just the value that occurs when all of the sales that occur in a given market are added up and divided by the number of sales. For example, if 100 homes have sold for a total sales volume of $16,570,000. the average sale price would be $167,500. This simply represents the average of all of the homes that have sold and does not establish anything remotely close to a property’s value.

The second thing to remember is, when you hear these national news reports and economists discussing the rising or falling home prices, they are talking about national averages and these have nothing to do with our market values in West Chester, Beckett Ridge, Liberty or Fairfield Township areas.

These national reports are very much like getting a national weather forecast. The average temperature in the United States tomorrow is not likely going to effect your life very much. What you want to know if what the weather is going to be here tomorrow and if you are concerned about your homes value, you need to know the market data for our area, not some large metro area or state or country.

The best way to determine the value of your home is to get it analyzed by an experienced real estate professional. There are many factors in determining home values today and picking an average out of the air could hinder the sale of your home and frankly could cost you money. In today’s real estate market it is more important than ever to price your home appropriately.

If you would like to learn the current market value of your home you can request it here!

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

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