In particular, I noticed several things that lead me to believe that housing has reached its bottom and is finally turning around.

First, last winter there was an enormous number of cash transactions.  What does this mean?  After sitting on the sidelines for a long time, investors (basically anyone who had cash to invest) decided that they couldn’t wait any longer.  Simply, it was too great of a risk to wait because they saw that the market was extremely low and the best deals may start to disappear.  Since that time, there has been a steady flow of cash transaction as more and more investors return to (or start in) the housing market.

Second, on occasion, I provide market information to banks.  For the first time in several years, I had to report areas of increasing values, increasing number of sales and a reduction in inventory.  Inventory is simply the name used for the number of homes on the market.  As little as two years ago, some areas had four times as many homes for sale as sold in the previous 6 months.  This means that if no homes came on the market for 2 years (4 times the amount x 6 months) then we would finally exhaust the inventory.  That is an awful ratio in housing.  Two year market time is not something that any homeowner wants to face when selling their home (this is part of the cycle that leads to dropping prices… high supply +  low demand = drop in price to sell your home before another).

Finally, the simplest (while the most subjective) reason is simply the activity that we have experienced.  As the market was free-falling, the number of inquiries and phone calls also went into a free-fall.  Not only have those levels stabilized, they have increased.  Again, buyers are competing for homes that are great deals.  No longer can we casually make an offer and expect to have it taken.  While we certainly do make offers of all shapes and sizes, nothing is a ‘sure-thing’ any longer.

What does this mean for you?  If you are a home owner who wants to sell or refinance their home, then good news!  Everything is starting to come back and buyers are looking.  Values are slowly (and not in all areas) starting to increase.  If you are potential home buyer, it means that you shouldn’t wait on the sidelines and hope that you can squeeze out another 5%-10% decrease in price.  Go out and look at homes and if you find something you like, negotiate.  Use your buying power to get a decrease in price, don’t hope for a price drop that doesn’t look likely to happen.

If you are interested in buying or selling a home, contact one of the great agents at Tiered Real Estate where we will be glad to help you with all of your home buying and selling needs!

Many of these buyers are investors. I can’t tell you the last time I saw so many cash transactions in real estate. Yet, what does that matter? In fact, that might be even better news. If investors are not willing to wait on the sidelines any longer, doesn’t that mean that they will force a bottom or that they see this as the bottom? I think so.

So while the markets stumble, buyers are telling us that the bottom is close at hand or already here. This is the kind of encouragement that we were waiting for. Don’t miss it yourself and don’t let the media dictate your reality. If it is time to buy, sell or rent, contact Tiered Real Estate and see how we can help you!

God bless us every one!

Second, a lot of the analysts are talking about how the market will do some wallowing, maybe for a season, maybe for a year and some say, maybe for two years. What this implies is that we have either come to the bottom or we are very near to it. It takes time for the entire market to shift gears and it will struggle with the changes that have already taken place and those that will emerge over the winter.

“Business as usual” doesn’t appear to be anywhere on the horizon (and that is a good thing) but business as it was before the lending madness is still here. While there is talk of wallowing and struggling and financing difficulties and crashes, there are still people (and hundreds of thousands of them) out there, in the market, buying and selling homes. When the stock market bubble burst in 1999 there were a lot of hurt portfolios and feelings but the market never turned off the lights and went home. It came down and kept going, and real estate is doing the same thing.