Good news and some not so good news for real estate in Liberty Township, West Chester, Mason and greater Cincinnati!

Comparing June of 2008 to June of 2009, the number of sales is up slightly (+15) but the dollar volume (-12.49%)  and average sale prices (-13.16%) are lower.Good news the sales figures comparing May 2009 to June 2009.Bottom line, the real estate market is showing weak signs of life-but interest rates, tax credits and availability of mortgage money need to remain consistent in order to fuel the housing recovery.

Details about your area are available-just call or email.

Related Articles:  Home Sales Break a Three Year Decline;  Home Sales, All Over Map;  US Economy, Home Resales Rise for Third Month;  Signs of Change

Obtaining a mortgage loan from FHA- both buyers and sellers need to know if their complex is FHA approved.

Why?  It’s pretty simple, if your complex has not been approved (or has applied -pending approval) chances are FHA will not approve loans.  If the buyer cannot secure a FHA mortgage because the complex is not approved-it is likely that they will take their offer to an approved complex.

Check the status of your complex by clicking here. 

 Since July 1st (through July 17th) 151 single family homes and condos are shown as pending in the Multiple Listing Service of Greater Cincinnati for Mason, West Chester, Beckett Ridge, Liberty Township, Fairfield and Fairfield Township.

• Mason- 34 pending sales
• West Chester, Beckett Ridge & Liberty Township – 80 pending sales
• Fairfield & Fairfield Township – 37 pending sales

Priced right and market ready properties are selling quickly. 

Not sure if your property meets both criteria?  Call or email for help -now!  Stay ahead of market and subscribe today.

Is that a mouse in my house? 

Picture this….no humans are home for 3 days and a wild animal has found a way inside…but no way out!  Now picture me finding a deceased mouse in the house and nobody around to delegate the ”removal and burial” services.

Apparently Mickey must have gotten in when somebody (certainly not me) left the door from the house to the garage open for too long.  Once he (or she) was inside, he did his best to escape…without any success.

This is a first for us- never had any uninvited critters inside (excluding flies) and it was an eye opener.

If you have moved on and vacated the property, a ”hired hand”  needs to keep an eye on things. 

Most Realtors are good about checking their vacant listings-but cannot be expected to be on site every few days, or to spend an hour checking every nook and cranny for issues.   If you moved and left a vacant property you should:

1. Professionally winterize plumbing
2. Ensure utilities are running for light, AC or heat (this reduces mold, mildew and other temperature related problems)
3. Hire somebody to keep errant newspapers, flyers and “stuff” removed
4. Grass cutting or snow removal
5. Summertime- weeding flower beds and trimming bushes
6. Most importantly- hire somebody to thoroughly check the entire property frequently.

Vacant properties often have a mind of their own and need supervision. 

Don’t expect a your Realtor or a neighbor to handle all the property management functions for you.

Met some wonderful lifelong Cincinnatians last week. 

Once they found out I was in real estate, I was the recipient of the usual real estate humor….where were my high heels (don’t own any), name-tag (I know my name) and why do agents think they are worth so much commission (another discussion for another time).  After I suffered through nonsense, they got down to business- their house was up for sale and you guessed it…..not selling.

After answering my boot-camp basic questions: where, size & shape, price and motivation- I had a fairly clear picture of their “problem”.

No motivation to sell!

No selling motivation is the swine flu of real estate- silently sneaking up and potentially killing any chance of selling for the highest dollar.

Actually it may kill any possibility of selling at all.  When unmotivated sellers stick their noses into the real estate market, they’re often met with tons of showings, no offers and, in many cases, the realtor doesn’t even bother to push for price reductions.  Why bother with a price reduction when a grossly overpriced property reduced slightly to still grossly overpriced doesn’t attract real buyers?

Statistics over the years have proved -the longer a property sits on the market -the lower the sale price.  A quick of the Multiple Listing Service of Greater Cincinnati shows 11,825 single family homes and 2257 condos currently for sale-so there is no shortage of inventory.

Lack of motivation to sell cannot be overcome with home staging, broker luncheons, virtual tours, open houses or ads in papers.

SGS-(Sellers Get Smart) if you really don’t need or want to sell and are waiting for the market to inflate to your price-do yourself a favor and take it off the market.  Don’t wait for somebody to come up with an innoculation that will induce  buyers to look at overpriced property- it’s not going to happen.