Real Estate Outside of West Chester, Fairfield and Cincinnati Ohio

June 10th, 2008 categories: Area Employers, Real Estate News, Relocation

No big surprise- most of the housing markets east of the Mississippi River are experiencing slight price declines.

I just returned from a great meeting with real estate/relocation people representing major cities from Florida to New York. The information was fairly uniform, slightly declining housing prices, problems with constant media attention on the worst markets, foreclosures and how employers are dealing with transferees who are upside down with mortgages.

The good news, sellers are beginning to adjust their prices, subsequently there is a slight uptick in pending sales in most markets.

No mad rush on real estate, but a picture of the market finally adjusting pricing to meet demand. (sort of like the stock market)

Consensus of the group is that foreclosures will continue to impact all markets. There is no easy fix and for many borrowers-”a bail out” will only delay their problems. The markets with big home owner associations (HOA), such as Florida are feeling the pain of foreclosure. Foreclosed property owners do not pay the association fees-leaving the remaining home owners (or condo owners) scrambling to cover expenses.

Relocating employees -many without a “buyout package” (buyout is when the employer will guarantee the purchase of the property after so many days on the market) leaves many transferees struggling with selling a property in one market while having to rent housing in their new location.

States with the most diverse economies are doing better than the states relying on one or two major industries. With new progressive governors, Alabama and Louisiana have done a lot to attract “very large” employers into their states. The State of Ohio’s focus appears to be on small employers and this does impact the real estate markets around the state.

New trends are always of interest……

In the greater Cincinnati, West Chester, Mason and Fairfield real estate markets the term “turnkey” describes a property in “move in condition”. The buyer won’t have to paint, carpet or do anything to the property. On the west coast of Florida, turnkey has a taken a whole new meaning. Turnkey means the seller is supplying new bathroom towels, kitchen utensils, linens, china, glassware and silverware for the buyers.

Wow- I think I like the idea.

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