Cincinnati Living Online – Cincinnati Realtor and Real Estate Agent Alison Moss

Zillow Zestimates Overvalues Homes – study finds.

DetonateCreative — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 20:04:45 +0000

A recent article in the Appraisal Journal Winter 2010 issue features a study that shows that Zillow Zestimate values are no more accurate than the homeowners’ estimates. The Appraisal Journal is the quarterly technical and academic publication of the Appraisal Institute, the nation’s largest association of real estate appraisers.
“Zillow’s Estimates of Single-Family Housing Values,” by Daniel R. Hollas, Ph.D., Ronald C. Rutherford, Ph.D., and Thomas A. Thomson, Ph.D., examines how Zillow’s estimates of value, known as Zestimates, compare to actual sale prices. The study, which was conducted in Arlington, Texas compared the Zestimate prices, the home owner’s opinion of their homes value, and the final selling price. Zillow.com is an automated valuation model Web site. Zestimates use a combination of objective data points that include recent sales, tax records, and average home appreciation factors to come up with a suggested Zestimate. What Zillow can not do is account for the subjective elements that impact a final sale price such as condition of the home, occupancy, and the level of finishes. A kitchen renovation may not have an impact on a Zestimate score but it will impact the opinion of a real estate agent, appraiser, and a buyer!

The authors looked at home sales in Arlington, Texas, a location where Zillow has indicated its data has the highest accuracy level. Still 40% of the Zestimates were more than 10% higher than the sale prices. Independently, other studies have shown that homeowners’ overestimate the values of their homes by 5.1% and new owners
overvalue their homes by about 8.4%. While Zillow can provide a price estimates quickly, their accuracy is certainly suspect. The best way to evaluate your home’s market value is to call a real estate agent and schedule an appointment. an agent with local knowledge will provide you insight on your home compared to the homes currently listed, and that is the most accurate way to find the true market value of your home.

Cincinnati Real Estate as seen through the eyes of …

DetonateCreative — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 15:01:26 +0000

When working in Real Esta you have to appreciate that everyone will have a different view of the same property. Buyers, sellers, real estate agents, and appraisers all see the same house in different ways. A client sent me a very funny e-mail that really captures the essence of the different points of view. Please enjoy the various perspectives of how others see your house:

Your house as seen by You

Your house as seen by a Buyer

Your house as seen by your Mortgage Lender

Your house as seen by the Appraiser

Your house as seen by your Tax Assessor

Its ok for Wall Street to Walk Away From a Mortgage so Why Not You?

DetonateCreative — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 14:52:49 +0000

When an investment corporation defaults, or walks away, from a property it is called a strategic default. When a home owner can no longer afford their mortgage they foreclose. Somehow there has been tremendous stigma placed on the homeowner that has to go into foreclosure, while large corporations face defaults with indifference. The Huffington Post and NPR Marketplace both look at the issue:

A group led by Tishman Speyer Properties gave up the 56-building, 11,232-unit Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town apartment complex in Manhattan, turning the properties over to its creditors after defaulting on some $4.4 billion in debt. Wall Street Journal. The $5.4 billion acquisition in 2006 was the single biggest residential property purchase in U.S. history. It’s now worth an estimated $1.8 billion.

“We basically walked away from it,” said Clark McKinley, a spokesman for the California Public Employees’ Retirement System [CalPERS], one of several investors in the venture, wrote off its $500 million investment, McKinley said. “It’s underwater, anyway, so we’ve lost it,” he added. “We took our medicine, and we’re learning from it.”

Sadly lenders are fighting the stay off a mass of foreclosures. If homeowners start walking away from their mortgages en masse, there’s little doubt the housing market will collapse and take the economy with it. The New York Times has a list of proposals to help home owners reduce their principals. What is critical is that we need to reestablish stability in the market to prevent a second wave of the housing crisis.

Appealing Your Property Taxes with a Cincinnati Realtor

DetonateCreative — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 21:03:47 +0000

As we approach the end of the year the various cities and counties in Cincinnati will begin to calculate the property taxes that we all owe. Some areas of Cincinnati are currently in a tax abatement zone (they pay less or no property tax at all), but the rest of us will owe our 2009 property taxes in 2010.

What happens if you feel your property taxes are too high? If a number of houses have sold in your area and you are certain they were for less than your home’s taxable value? As a Cincinnati Realtor I have access to the information and the insight you need to appeal your property taxes.

Property taxes are based on the value of your home, and your home is only as valuable as the homes in your neighborhood. If they sell for less then your home is worth less and that is important in appealing property taxes. Considering the economic changes that occurred between 2007 and today property values in Cincinnati have changed. Some areas have appreciated, and some have depreciated. It is important to know where your house is valued so you can make sure you are paying your fair share. If you have questions about appealing your property taxes please contact me and I will be happy to consult with you. 513-518-1140

City of Cincinnati Property Tax is Unchanged

DetonateCreative — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:59:27 +0000

The City of Cincinnati will not increase property taxes this year. Even though the city is facing a budget shortfall, City council did not request a higher rate early enough in the process and therefore Cincinnati City Property Tax rates will remain at 4.46 mills.

Local residents should not see an increase in their property tax bill, at least the City portion of their bill. Council was able to act in time and approved the continuation of the rate. Had they not voted the City could have had the rate default to 0.0 mils, taking away $60 million dollars of much needed tax money.

If you are concerned about your property taxes and think the county appraiser overvalued your home call me. We can talk about comparable sales and determine if you are paying to much in property tax and what we can do about it. 518-1140

Price Sells Real Estate

Alison Moss — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:55:27 +0000

Price Sells Real Estate! If you price your property appropriately for the current market conditions your real estate will sell. NPR ran an article a few days ago that really highlights this point. last year the Miami, FL condo market was nearly dead. To many built and proposed condos, to few buyers, and prices that reflected the 2007 levels of nearly $400 sqf.

Move forward to today, Fall 2009, and condo buildings are selling out in 6-8 weeks … at $200 sqf. Peter Zalewski, a real estate broker who runs the Condo Vultures, explains that the Miami Condo market’s price reset has sparked interest in Latin American and South American investors. They seem to be cash buyers and feel that the current prices are a relative bargain.

The challenge that is preventing more buyers form purchasing is that financing is very hard to obtain in these new construction condo buildings. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are denying loan applications to well qualified purchasers simply because there is such an over-suply of units that reselling a unit could prove a dauting challenge.

The lesson we all need to learn here is that to sell real estate ANYWHERE you need to price it correctly for today’s market. If you are interested in a condo, or a home in the Cincinnati area contact me today!

Case-Shiller Market report and our Cincinnati Real Estate Market

Alison Moss — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 15:03:04 +0000

Yesterday the Case-Shiller home price index came out, and it had some positive numbers. The C-S index looks at 20 major metropolitan real estate markets and watches the change in home sale prices on a monthly basis. The index provides numbers that are normalized for the home prices in the first quarter of 2000.

Because Cincinnati is not one of the markets observed by the index, we have o draw some conclusions from our closest neighbor, which is Cleveland. The below chart shows the decline and slow rebound of the housing market over the last 12 months in Cleveland.

Case Shiller Home Price index July 2009 - Cleveland

What we see in the numbers is that in February, March, and April of this year home values in Cleveland fell below the their 2000 value levels for the same months. But we also see an increase in home values as the spring and summer months arrive. In Cincinnati we saw a similar trend, driven by a number of factors including the season, first time home buyer credit, and improving macro-economic conditions.

If you have been thinking about moving up into a large home this may be the time to make the move. As prices begin to rise proportionately more expensive homes will gain in price faster than lower priced homes. A $500,000 home will cost $550,000 if it gains 10% in value, while a $200,000 home will cost $220,000. That is a $30,000 difference. call me today if you are interested in deeper local market analysis! 513-518-1140

Selling a Home In Cincinnati: August Report

Alison Moss — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:22:51 +0000

The Cincinnati Area Board of Realtors recently issued their monthly report. The news is pretty much what we all in the real estate field expected. Prices are still slightly depressed, but home sale volume is slightly better than last year. August 2009 was slightly better than August 2008 in terms of the number of homes sold. The average cost of real estate sold is lower this year, due in part to the volume of short sales and foreclosures being purchased.

There is wide belief that the First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit has helped increase sales volumes and help avert further decline in our area’s home prices. The below graph shows the steady seasonal increase in sales that we see in our market during the warmer months of spring and summer. I am trying to impress on my clients that although the tax credit ends on November 1st, they truly need to have contracts written and the financing process started no later than the middle of October, and even that is cutting it close.

Cincinnati Foreclosures and the National Foreclosure Market

Alison Moss — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 15:53:32 +0000

Recently I have been working with a number of clients who have expressed interest in purchasing a foreclosed property simply because of the savings, compared to the market value of the home. Foreclosures are still abundant in Cincinnati and as the jobless recovery continues, sadly, more foreclosures will be coming on the market.

Thankfully the volume of property has been manageable compared to the foreclosure glut that other states have experienced. According to foreclosure-tracking company RealtyTrac.com, over half of the country’s foreclosure-related actions in August occurred California, Florida, Michigan, and Nevada. The top 10 list also includes Arizona, Illinois, Georgia, Ohio, Texas and New Jersey.

The word of caution I give my buyers is that with a foreclosure, the savings on the initial sale price may not yield an overall benefit depending on the condition of the home. Those considerations, coupled with the general complexity of the Foreclosure purchasing process, are giving my buyers an appreciation for how much more value a well maintained home has.

If you are interested in purchasing a foreclosure call me at 513-518-1140 or e-mail me for more information.

Cincinnati Real Estate: National Foreclosures hit 1.9 million in first half of 2009

Alison Moss — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 12:48:36 +0000

It is a fact that there were 1,905,723 foreclosure filings – default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions in the first six months of 2009. That represents an increase of 9% from the previous six months (July – December 2008) and 15% increase over the first 6 months (January – June) of 2008 according to reporting service RSI media.

Sadly a portion of the foreclosures appearing in recent months are due to the overall economic slowdown and subsequent job loss being experienced in almost every industry. Small local companies cut back staff as the economy slowed and those staff, unable to find new positions, found themselves unable to pay their previously affordable mortgage. he 10 states with the highest foreclosure rates were Nevada, Arizona, Florida, California , Utah, Georgia, Michigan, Illinois, Idaho and Colorado. While the Cincinnati real estate market has seen price and sales volume declines, this is top 10 list I am glad Ohio is not on.