Is your home still a good investment?

I sell real estate in Cleveland Ohio. We are in a declining market. That means values are going down. So what do you do if you are thinking of making a move? First of all some moves can't wait. If you are in the process of getting a divorce, settling an estate, faced with a relocation, etc.
The faster you get into reality of the present market and look at what the market is doing as compared to your property the faster you will see a sale pending sign in the yard. Homes are selling. The buyers are educated and armed with more information than ever because of the Internet. Gone are the days when some poor jerk happened into your open house and fell in love and purchased your home. Buyers look up your past history. I know when they are interested because they tell me what you bought your house for. They look at the neighborhood through websites like Realtor.com and Zillow. They can see what the average is for market time, sale price per sq ft, etc. for each neighborhood. Realtors are no longer the gatekeepers of information.
You have to be the best looking home and the best price. Price is the driver in this market. If you are trying to sell your home for what you think is a comfortable price then you are not priced right. The only clients that have a sold sign on the front lawn are the ones that sold for what they felt was a painful price. That is what happens in a declining market. If you are looking to purchase a new home and take advantage of this excellent opportunity to upgrade, than this is how your have to approach your move; 1.Realize that you are getting great price on your
purchase 2. Realize you have to give a good deal on your house. You are just trading assets. Hopefully, the new home purchase is in a more expensive, more stable area. When the market returns you will be fine. Decide which property you want to be riding on when the market starts to go back up. Realize the losses are larger the higher the value . You are going to have to ride this out where ever you are. You might as well take the opportunity to upgrade now instead of later. If you are happy with your home and aren't considering a move. Look at the foreclosure down the street from you and think about buying it for rental property. You can sell it when the market goes back up and in the mean time you have helped stabilize your own neighborhood.

Some good news in The Cleveland Real Estate Market

I have never seen such opportunity to get into ownership as I have seen in this recent market. If you have ever dreamed of becoming a land baron this is the time to make your dreams a reality. If you have a stable income, good credit, some cash to work with and the ability to fix property it is time for you to get off the bench! The bank owned properties are selling for a substantially lower prices than normal resale properties. You have to be ready to replace torn out plumbing, update electrical and probably replace the furnace and hot water tank. Other than that some of these homes have really nice interiors. Years back when a bank owned property came on the market it was pretty beat up. With the pace of foreclosures and people just simply giving back their homes it has become and incredible opportunity for the wanna be investor. Some words of advise though, don't bite off more than you can handle. I have seen some really good people take on too many properties or extend themselves to far out just to find themselves in the same boat as the people they hoped to profit from. http://sandymaline.blogspot.com

Ohio officially designated as Declining Real Estate market

As of April 1,2008 the State of Ohio has been labeled as a declining market. This is across the board for the whole state. I have been told that the banks are now considering your real estate property values are now 7% lower than they were last year. This is an average. If you are in a more volatile market such as Cleveland proper you may be looking at lower even values.What does this mean to you? If you are using a line of credit on your home you may be hearing from your bank soon. They are very likely to lock your line at its present loan amount and lower your limit to what you have presently extended on it. If you are selling your home, the loan qualifications just got tighter। If you are an investor looking to make a good deal in this time of opportunity you will need more cash out of hand to purchase. Is this good? Not really this is going to cause more problems. Instead of the banking industry looking to take advantage of this market and find a way out they have just buried us into a even harsher environment. http://sandymaline.blogspot.com