Sadie’s Take on Delaware Ohio

Forbes Magazine continues to provide its statistically based reports and the latest is great news for central Ohio residents wishing to buy or sell their home.

According to “America’s Most Stable Housing Markets“, Columbus ranks right up there with Seattle and Pittsburgh as some of the best markets in the country to sell a home right now.

“It largely reflects that these markets never went through the boom and aren’t going through the severe bust,” says Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com. “Price growth is not great, but [these markets] are not having house price declines. [All markets] are experiencing pricing problems, but in these markets it’s less of a problem.”

Zandi makes a great point. No one is comparing 2007 to the gangbuster years of 5-7 years ago, as the market has definately slowed down. However, it like the story of the torteoise and the hare. While southern California was experiencing triple digit growth a few years back and is now experiencing price drops of similar proportions.

Central Ohio - like the torteoise - saw price growths in the more moderate range and as a reflect the decline has been much smaller.

What does this mean to buyers?

• Don’t believe everything you hear on television. They focus on the negative and what’s happening in San Diego or Florida is not neccessarily “true” for Ohio.
• Find a good REALTOR to give you the best advice about the area. A  good REALTOR now has less clients that are actively buying, so they will be able to give you much better support.
• Be willing to negotiate.

What does this mean to sellers?

• Price it right to begin with. There are sellers in the market, but if you start at $180,000 and drop to $160,000 they’ve already passed you by.
• Stop dreaming of yesterday. Live in today, or get off the market.
• Be willing to negotiate.
• Know your bottom line and be ready to defend it.

No doubt this is a challenging market. Not everyone can buy. Not everyone can sell. But though the challenges comes real change and it is in this market that those that must sell their homes will sell them. Be prepared and you too can sell your home.

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