"Markets Level Out"

"You've heard both terms before, but are we currently in a buyer's market or a seller's market? Well, actually it's a bit of both!"

"Existing-home sales, including single-family and condo, remained historically high in the first quarter but have experienced a downtrend since hitting a record in the third quarter of last year. Even so, 26 states showed increases in sales activity from a year ago, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Sales are expected to soften for a while, before picking up later this year. This softening will create an even playing field for buyers and sellers — an overall advantageous market. As of right now, the market is calm and not expecting any drastic changes.

Visit Realtor.org for updates on the national real estate market and other industry news!"

There is sometimes information about local real estate available but you have to wade through a lot of national real estate info to locate it.  Often what you read in the any local paper  is homogenized (national) market news... last years "Bubble" stories made great press but the whole US was not a Bubble market.  

Columbus is I believe not a Buyers Market...now..... yet some Central Ohio  neighbrorhoods are a buyers market now.   I think most of Columbus is a NORMAL Market now.  Each month Columbus Business First and other local media carry a story from the press release issued by the Columbus Board of REALTORS®. Sales up, sales down, inventory up, inventory down, prices up, prices down. The local scoop is all available locally.

 
"Normal is a setting on a hairdryer.."

"Normal is a setting on the washing machine ..."

"Normal is a setting on my dryer ..."

"Normal is a setting on my iron ..."

 phrases  found on the web.

Normal is a city in Illinois  In May the Chicago Tribune article started out calling their local market a "buyers market" but theTribune article was about the Chicago area  being a normal market.

It's a buyer's market  Probably requires sign in .....

By Mary Umberger
Tribune staff reporter
Published May 7, 2006

" In the housing market, this is what "normal" feels like:

"Homes sell in months, not hours. Prospective buyers actually browse.  They drift back for a second look at a place weeks later, confident that it still will be available. They want the price cut.  And they get it."

Or they don't get the price cut.  YMMV (your market may vary... your mileage may vary.)

The Detroit Free Press had an article about the Detroit area being a buyers market recently:  

 It's a buyer's market as house sales sag

June 24, 2006

BY SUZETTE HACKNEY FREE PRESS REAL ESTATE WRITER

Read local news if you want to know about the local market. Go to REALTOR.org, Rismedia or Inman.com  if you want the big national picture or  read the newswire stories in the local media to find out what's happening in the US.    

    I  often pay attention to what is going on in other markets and nationally, in my 'Real Estate is Local' category while  'Columbus Real Estate' is about the local  market. 

Previously on Columbus Best Blog:

May 2006 - Columbus

May 2006 - Ohio

Dead Market

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Copyright 2006 Columbus Best Blog and Maureen McCabe 

In a clever story about different real estate markets, Sellsius Blog's  Real Estate Markets: Is Yours Dead Or Alive? says:  

"Alive & Well: Cleveland, Columbus, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Houston, Kansas City (MO) Omaha & Pittsburgh."

Sellsius interprets the facts from Money.CNN.com article about various US markets. Writer Ellen Florian Kratz, of FORTUNE magazine wrote an article about the relative 'health" of number of  real estate markets.  Columbus Ohio  is a "SafeHaven" according to Kratz article.  

In Real Estate Markets: Is Yours Dead Or Alive? 

Sellsius blog donned the scrubs, grabbed the paddles and yelled:

"CLEAR...."

"His heart rate's still low. Give him another milligram of atropine."

I covet the photograph Sellsius illustrate the entry with.. It is soooooo ER,  so Grey's Anatomy....  and all I have is a dorky cartoon doctor... but he is MY dorky cartoon doctor. 

There's an online discussion re: images now about using images in blog entries on BlogTalk (a forum for RealTown Blog's Bloggers.) This blog, Columbus Best Blog is a RealTown blog.  A 'blogging expert'  on BlogTalk and one of the most prolific bloggers on RealTown Blogs gave a lesson in how to swipe photos on the internet.  Strangely some of the photos on her blog are  linked to the Google Images page ....duh....     

Sellsius Blog announced yesterday (?) they were nominated for an Inman Innovator Award in the 'Best Business Model' category.

Congratulations Sellsius! 

The 2006 Inman Innovator Award Categories are:
    
  

Most Innovative Real Estate Blog 

Best Business Models 
Most Innovative Real Estate Data Site 
Most Innovative Technology 
Most Innovative Mortgage Companies/Services  
Most Innovative Brokers/Franchises/Realtor 
Most Innovative Web Service 
Most Innovative Media Site 
Best Rental/ New Home Online Servic

Copyright 2006 Columbus Best Blog and Maureen McCabe

Do Chicago home buyers have a buyers market on their hands?   Sunday's Chicago Tribune headline declared a buyers  market.   What about the rest of Illinois?  I often think of Chicago and Illinois being synonamous, then I remember I lived in Rockford Illinois which was not Chicago.  I know REALTOR® bloggers in Illinois who are not in Chicago or even the Chicago area. 

Sunday's Chicago Tribune said they are in a buyer's market.  I heard about the article from Illinois REALTORS® before I read it.  I heard on a national real estate forum that what was being described was a normal market not a buyer's market. 

The Chicago Tribune Article is headlined:

Probably requires sign in .....

By Mary Umberger
Tribune staff reporter
Published May 7, 2006

" In the housing market, this is what "normal" feels like:

Homes sell in months, not hours. Prospective buyers actually browse.  They drift back for a second look at a place weeks later, confident that it still will be available. They want the price cut.  And they get it.

It's been a long time--at least five years--since the Chicago area's real estate market worked this way.

But many agents say the buying frenzy is now over, and "normal" has returned.  Prices this year will appreciate less rapidly, and in many cases houses won't sell themselves before a sign has even gone into the ground.  "

'Chicago Tribune Scare Tactics Sell Papers and Ads'

Chicago Mortgage Blog

Chicago Mortgage Guru Dan Green wrote: 

"Normal"does not equate to a "Buyer's Market".   If "normal "favored the buyer and not the seller, Real Estate prices would face continual downward pressure instead of upward pressure.  "Normal"is good for the seller."

Illinois Real Estate Blogs:

Eileen Landau's Naperville, Illinois Real Estate Blog

Gene Molloy's Des Plaines, Illinois Real Estate Blog

Barb Krueger's  Springfield,  Illinois Real Estate Blog

Dan Moore's Quad Cities Blog - Iowa / Illinois Border

Normal is a town in Illinois

the  Normal Illinois website includes this history:

In my family history I vaguely remember a picture of an aunt or a great aunt who went to teachers school in Normal Illinois, and I remembered hearing a normal school was a teachers college. 

I wonder if there is a town or village of Buyers Illinois?  Is it a buyers market in Normal Illinois?  Is it a sellers market in Normal Illinois?  Is it a normal market in Normal Illinois.  Normal is in Central Illinois, not too near Chicago. 

More Real Estate is Local on Columbus Best Blog:

Midwestern Geography Debate - Is Ohio in the Midwest?

Ohio is the Heart of it All   

Michigan Real Estate Blogs

I have to agree with Dan Green, a normal market is not a buyers market! 

Copyright 2006 Columbus Best Blog and Maureen McCabe