Homes For Sale Archives - Page 28 of 31 -

If you’re renting and wondering if you should buy a home, consider what bestselling author, David Bach, says, “The average homeowner is worth 35 times more than the average renter.”

He advises renters to take action immediately and start saving part of their paycheck every month to help accumulate a down payment. He also encourages renters to borrow 10-20 percent less than what the bank is willing to lend; that way they’re only buying as much home as they can afford.

The longer you rent, the longer it may take you to eventually get into home ownership. If the market conditions have scared you, perhaps you’re not looking at the other side of the coin. Owning a home becomes part of your investment portfolio, provides tax benefits, allows you to build equity (it still exists), and, if you buy now, you may get an excellent deal.

According to a MarketWatch news article, buying a home now can provide some real negotiating power to request improvements, price reductions, help with closing costs, and more. “People can get a lot of what they need and almost all of what they want today,” said Jay Papasan, one of the authors of “Your First Home”.

The historically low interest rates that we are currently enjoying make buying a home especially compelling roght now. A 30 year fixed rate mortgage is 4.90% with no points as of today!

While poor market conditions have created a troubling situation for some homeowners, the downturn has made the buying market ripe for others. The affordability of homes is better than ever. The National Association of Realtors’ housing affordability index concluded that homes in December of 2008 were more affordable than at any other point since 1970 (the start of the index). And with numerous foreclosures on the market and prices dropping in many areas, now is a good time to buy. But in order to make your purchase profitable, here are some things you should consider…

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

West Chester, Ohio Real Estate: New Listing In Beckett Ridge!

March 11, 2009 by Eric Lowry Leave a Comment

My Newest Listing…

8185 Pepperwood Drive, West Chester, Ohio 45069

West Chester, Ohio 45069

Lakota Schools

$165,000 – Three Bedrooms – One Full Bath, One Half Bath

This is a terrific two story home in West Chester, Ohio:

Perfect for the 1st time homebuyer!
Private wooded lot
Located minutes from the Beckett Ridge Country Club
Laminate Floors
Vaulted Great Room w/ Wood Burning Fireplace
Eat-In Kitchen
Formal Dining Room
First Floor Laundry
New Carpet
Finished Lower Level Rec Room
Two Car Garage
Close To Schools, Shopping, Dining & Expressways!

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

West Chester Ohio News: Mortgages Are On Sale!

February 2, 2009 by Eric Lowry Leave a Comment

An eye catching headline to be sure, but also very much the truth.

Interest rates for home mortgages are at historic levels right now which is providing a terrific home buying opportunity! How about this: In 1981 you would have paid 16.90% for a 30 year fixed rate loan. Today, it’s 5.15%, now that is a sale! 😀

Check out the graph below depicting mortgage rates since 1981:

To give this a little meaning, let’s look at a $200,000 mortgage loan:

In 1981, at 16.90% the principle and and interest payment would have been $2835.12. (Wow)

In 2009, at 5.10% the principle and interest payment would be $1085.90 (Now that is a sale)

So you say, “Well that’s great, but that was 1981”. So let’s compare to just 6 months ago then:

August 2008 rates were 6.49% which is a principle and interest payment of $1262.82.

That is a savings of $176.92 per month or $2123.04 annual savings with today’s low rates.

It really is a great time to buy when you consider the low rates and the great inventory of homes.

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

Liberty Township, OH Real Estate Update: January 2009

January 13, 2009 by Eric Lowry Leave a Comment

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.

To read part one of this real estate market update click here

With regard to sales, in 2007 135 units were sold vs. 88 units in 2008 in Liberty Township. This represents a decrease of 34.81%. This is quite obviously a huge decrease in sales. A little further look into these numbers finds that in 2007, new construction accounted for 44 of the 135 sales (32.59%). In 2008 just 15 of the 88 sales (17.05%) were new construction. New construction sales were way down and this is definitely an indication of the scaling back that home builders have done. The amount of market (spec) homes that are available for sale is very small and has been for some time now.

2007 Units	2008 Units	+ or –
135	88	-34.81%

The average sale price for the last three months of 2008 was down 12.72% compared to the same period in 2007. As you can see in the table below, the average sale price in the last three months of 2008 was $232,831 compared to $266,751 in 2007. With the new construction sales taken out of the numbers the average sale price would be down 5.25% in the last three months of 2008 when compared to 2007. The impact new construction has on these numbers is significant due to the fact that typically the average sale price of new construcion homes is much higher which can skew the overall numbers, especially in a market like Liberty Township, OH which has a large presence of new construction.

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. We will take a look at the supply of homes for sale next. Be sure to check back!

2007 Avg Sale Price	2008 Avg Sale Price	+ or –
$266,751	$232,831	-12.72%

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