On the selling side, it is crucial to have your house show well to attract the highest initial offer. If your house does not show well and you are not looking to make an improvements to it, then price it according to its decor and condition. It may take longer to sell than if it showed move in ready, but some buyers want a good deal and would rather do the work themselves.  Another tip is to bring contractors to your home prior to listing your home for sale to provide incoming buyers estimates of how much it would cost to refinish the floors or update the kitchen.

On the buying side, while there are short sales and foreclosures out there and good deals to be had, the process is long and is not for everyone.  Buyers should beware that the conditions of homes in short sale or foreclosure is usually unknown and  remember that if the person can’t pay their mortgage, then they have probably neglected the maintenance of the home.

Consumer owned homes are in a different category. While some neighborhoods have had a lot of foreclosed and short sales others have maintained their value, so despite a down market you may or may not be able to get the house for below market value depending on the seller’s level of motivation and the other terms involved. Buyers be sure to get pre-approved for financing prior to determining the price range of homes you will seek to buy. Banks have become much more stringent on their lending requirements, credit scores, and debt to income ratios.

If you are looking to buy a home and aren’t sure what to offer,  ask your realtor or in the Cincinnati market I can assist you with the comparable sales information in order to be sure you are educated on pricing in the neighborhood. Your offer is more likely to be accepted if you have evidence supporting that your offer is fair market value.

On the other hand some zip codes drop in sold prices up to 25% in the same time period. There could be dozens of reasons for this including tax abatements, inflation, inventory, and normal cyclical changes in neighborhoods. Paramount is that when looking for a home or an investment property your agent has a sense of the overall market trends in that particular area. Nothing is ever a guarantee for valuation but this is the kind of information you should ask for and expect from a real estate professional.

The accuracy of information in this post is dependent on the MLS system for time periods. The analysis included 31 zip codes comparing the previous 6 months with the same six month period one year prior. The analysis is a useful tool for estimating value trends and is not guaranteed to be applicable to all properties in the areas aforementioned.