A while back we wrote about the Humphrey Road Sidewalk project and are pleased to have an update to post here. Symmes Township has decided to move forward on the project and they began initial surveying Friday. We met with township Treasurer Phil Beck along Humphrey Road and talked with him about the direction of the project and the impact on the residents.

The direct impact on the local residents is undeniable. The sidewalk will provide easy and safe park access to upwards of 75 homes connecting families to each other in a pedestrian friendly way.

There is some good news recently put out by the Cincinnati Board of Realtors. According to the sales numbers the last 4 months have seen increasing home sale activity, a good indication that the housing market is beginning to recover. An even better secondary metric is that the overall inventory is dropping. This means that more houses are being sold than are being put on the market. Generally speaking a balanced market carries about 5 months of home inventory.

More sales and less inventory helps to return demand to a steady level. It is this relatively static demand that has given Cincinnati real estate has historically appreciated 2% each year. Although modest, it is steady and the recent positive changes in the short term market point to the fact that we will soon return to slow and steady long term appreciation.

Month 2008 Home Sales Inventory

January 1,130 13.31

February 1,334 11.32

March 1,557 9.75

April 1,636 9.49

May 1,913 8.38

CNN Money reports about the US subcommittee efforts to bring together a relief package, or legislation reform to help the ailing housing market in Ohio and other states. The article sites some numbers from Realtytrac and some are good for Ohio, and some are not so good.

Across the country foreclosures surged 48% in the month of May which is not encouraging. However Ohio saw a 7% drop in foreclosures compared to the same month in 2007. Hopefully this is the beginning of the reversal of a trend that sees Ohio’s foreclosure rate growing every year since 2000.

At some point all of the adjustable rate mortgages will have reset and the home owner will either refinance a fixed rate they can afford, negotiate with the bank, sell their home, or foreclose. The question we in the real estate and mortgage profession is when will we hit bottom, when will we have moved past a point when all of the crisis mortgages have been flushed from the system and we can slowly begin to rebuild the housing industry based on sound lending principals and appropriate risk / reward tolerances. The end goal is to attract investors to buy up relatively bland, and previously dependable residential mortgage backed securities. Only then will we know the depth of the damage to the reputation of the housing industry as an investment vehicle.

Comey and Shepherd recently launched the new ‘Price Me Now’ game that uses Cincinnati area real estate in an exciting and entertaining real estate challenge. We wrote about this new real estate technology a few months ago and are glad to see it come to our local market. Price Me Now  asks you what the sale price of local real estate should be. The system compares your estimates with those of other players and the actual List and Sale price. You earn points depending on how closely your estimates are to the rest of the players. The closer you are to the community average the more points you earn.

Price Me Now is the first real estate prediction market game that gives you an IQ - the Realius IQ - which is a measure of how well you know the market. If you are buying, selling or just watching the market, Price Me Now is the only place where you can test your market knowledge and get a real time read on what people are thinking about real estate prices.

Click here to sign up and join in the fun!

In a recent New York Times article columnist Ron Lieber outlines the letter he would send to a seller when making a lower offer. The letter explains the buyers perspective on the current market condition as well as their genuine intent on purchasing the property.

While we are encouraging our buyers to make offers that are reasonable for the market we also want to make sure that the seller understands our reasoning. On the other side of the coin I like the response that the article give for sellers who receive these kinds of letters. We like to make sure our seller’s homes are the best value (excellent condition and fair price) in the neighborhood. No one can argue with solid market research on both sales and knowledge of the local inventory.

We have written here about the changes in Cincinnati’s property values over the last two years. A part of the real estate downturn that is being overlooked is the assessments for property taxes. Locally we have seen our home value decline between 5% and 11% depending on where we live but it has not been as bad as California. Their property value has declined so much that there is now a company that will help homeowners obtain a break on their property tax reasons.

Prop8.org takes advantage of a California proposition that allows for homeowners to get a reduction in their property taxes. Prop8.org charges a fee to help homeowners navigate the legal paperwork, and submit the necessary papers. We do not have this luxury in Cincinnati but it is important that the next time your property is assessed that you pay attention and gather the recent sale data for your neighborhood so you understand you new property assessment.

I attended a cooking demonstration and dinner on Saturday night at a business called Garnish Catering in Blue Ash, Ohio. Garnish caters to a unique niche market by providing not only catering services, but cooking demonstrations and classes for adults and children, as well as gourmet carry out meal preparation.

Kim Baretta owner of Garnish publishes the prepared meal menus on a weekly basis and will email them to people who opt in to her mailing list. The facility is an ideal location for shower events, small parties, and other events.