This week has been consumed by travel time and while in Florida to attend real estate meetings, we took a few days to visit Key West Florida. 

While riding the Conch Tour Train I was introduced to the “Eyebrow Houses”.  The concept of dropping the roof line low enough to block direct sun into the second floor rooms seems to be an easy way to reduce heat in the summertime.

The locals in greater Cincinnati may not want to drop their roof lines quite that low-however we may want to consider some additional overhang which allows light and reduces energy consumption.

Trulia CEO Pete Flint talks about how consumers are looking for more detailed home, neighborhood and local real estate market information on real estate sites like Trulia and are flocking to the web in record numbers.

Approximately 50% of recent transactions are from first time home buyers. Higher inventory and lower prices are driving more interest form this first time home buyer pool who were once pushed out because of higher home prices.

Trulia offers some amazing home buying tools for consumers:

Real Estate Search
Price Reduction tool
CompareIt! - Side-by-side Home comparison
Property Profiles
Stats and Trends
Foreclosures
GPS enabled iPhone app - great for Open House Search
Trulia Voices Real Estate Social Networking Community- Where home buyers, sellers and agents connect
and more…..

Thanks Forbes!

Today Trulia released the results of a survey conducted by Harris Interactive® showing that U.S. home buyers are twice as likely to use online sources than print sources to find open house information.  When asked what sources they have used or plan to use to find open houses, 62% of U.S. home buyers reported using online sites, compared to 53% who use information from real estate agents, 36% who use neighborhood signs and 31% who reported usingprint sources, including newspapers and local flyers to find open houses.  91% of all home buyers attend/plan to attend open houses.  To check out the full study results, click here.

We’ve noticed a significant increase in consumer interest in open houses on Trulia, and this survey shows that it’s no fluke.  Usage of open house filters has grown by 39% since the start of 2009.  And consumers are much more likely to click on a dynamic open house ad than a static brand ad.  In a case study with Prudential last year, the click through rate on new dynamic banners including open houses grew by 358% over traditional static ads. Plus, since launching Trulia’s iPhone application with open house search last summer, we consistently see spikes in usage on Sundays - the most popular open house day of the week.

Why are so many consumers going online to search for open houses?  Home buyers want to do their homework and get a more comprehensive view of a listing before they make a decision to visit, and online resources provide MUCH more comprehensive data than what’s available in print.  Plus, it’s much more convenient.  When McGuire real estate agents surveyed random open house attendees about where/why they found their open houses, there was a notable theme of “convenient and easy” as the benefits of online search.  As San Francisco home buyer Cammy wrote, “I search online, because I usually only have time to do my research late night.  I don’t do newspapers!”

Your open houses not yet on Trulia?  It’s super easy - just go to a property detail page, and click on “Submit Open House Times.”

Since we last wrote about the Case Shiller Index, home prices have continued to drop at a steady pace according to the S&P/Case Shiller Home Price Index released earlier this week. The National Home Price Index recorded a record annual decline of 19.1%, putting home prices at late 2002 levels. The overall prognosis from the Index Committee’s Chairman, David M. Blitzer, was unsurprisingly dim: “We see no evidence that a recovery in home prices has begun”.

The one sliver of silver lining: The 10- and 20-city Composites did NOT post a record annual drop for the second time since October 2007. That said, they ain’t faring so well either. Leading the pack of record annual declines are Phoenix, Las Vegas and San Francisco - each with an annual drop of greater than a 30%.

Will it get better? Or are these markets still “over-priced”? Everything - including the number of price slashed homes on Trulia - seems to indicate the latter. Below are the number of price reductions on current listings to give you an idea of just how much sellers are dropping prices (and still not selling):

Source: Proprietary Trulia analysis from May 26, 2009

What’s the punchline? For those expecting a near turnaround on home prices, don’t hold your breath. But, this could actually be great news for the savvy buyer - especially if you know how to search by price reductions on Trulia.  Here are three amazing deals in the hardest hit cities that made me think twice about investing my pennies in the stock market:

#1) Las Vegas, NV area: 3,975 listings with price reductions

$280,000 (over a 100K reduction from June 2008)
5 br | 4 ba | 3,546 sqft | Single-Family Home

#2) Phoenix, AZ area: 6,525 listings with price reductions

$65,990 (Sold in 2003 for $137,785)
3 br | 2 ½ ba | 1,616 sqft | Single-Family Home

#3) San Francisco area: 1,186 listings with price reductions

$550,000 (after a 15% reduction only two weeks prior)
2 br | 1 ba | Apt/Condo/Twnhm

What are the real numbers for real estate for the greater Cincinnati market?

According to the Multiple Listing Service of Greater Cincinnati, the numbers released each month encompasses all the counties surrounding Cincinnati.   And while they are in our market area- I think you need to look at the data for Butler, Clermont, Hamilton and Warren Counties.

As you can see on the chart (data pulled from MLS 01/01/08-05/15/08 vs 01/01/09-05/15/09) the dollar volume has taken a bigger hit than the units- which mean properties are selling for less.

Certain areas are faring better than others- so if you need more detailed information- call or email.

Hats off and heartfelt thanks to all who have given their lives for our freedom.

Find out more about the history of Memorial Day .

Memorial Day Events.

  Pack those strollers, rev the engines and head downtown for 3 days of feasting.

  The “Taste of Cincinnati” starts tomorrow and runs through Memorial Day. 

  Lots of food and fun for everybody.

Trulia’s CEO Pete Flint did a great job today on CNBC talking about foreclosures and first time home buyers.

Good news: According to our new national Trulia/Realty Trac Harris survey, there has been an increase in home buyer interest in Foreclosures. Many are first time home buyers making the leap into the housing market as prices become more affordable. Approximately 55% of adults surveyed said they at least somewhat likely to consider buying a foreclosed home in the future. That’s up from 47% last November. 40% say they expect to get a 50% discount on a foreclosure.

If you’re interested in buying a foreclosure or other type of distressed property, it’s very important that you work with a foreclosure or short sale specialist. There can be many complications during these transactions and a real estate professional who has experience in this process is invaluable. Our survey showed that consumer sentiment about the downsides of foreclosures are up.

Three of the top points being:
Hidden Costs
Risky/Lengthy Process
Falling home Prices

Please check out the video for more details.

Trulia’s semi-annual conference call about consumer attitudes toward foreclosures just wrapped.  Hosted by Pete Flint (co-founder and CEO of Trulia) and Rick Sharga (SVP of RealtyTrac), the call reviewed data from Trulia, RealtyTrac and a Harris Interactive national survey.  Here’s the liveblogging recap of the call:

Pete’s opening remarks
According to Harris Interactive (study commissioned by Trulia):

• 55% of US adults are at least somewhat likely to consider purchasing a foreclosed home in the future, compared to 47% who said the same in Nov. 2008
• 40% of US adults expect to pay 50% less for foreclosed home, compared to 30% who said the same in Nov. 2008
• 85% of US adults believe there are negative aspects assiciated with buying a foreclosure, compared to 80% in Nov 2008
• 74% of U.S. adults familiar with the President’s Mortgage Relief Program are at least somewhat confident it will give homeowners the incentive to renegotiate terms to help prevent foreclosures
• largest group of people interested in buying foreclosures are 18-44 - 2/3 would consider

Overall, real estate transactions are up - especially depressed areas with foreclosures and lower prices (e.g. Nevada, California, Florida).  We can see that consumers are motivated to sell, as 25% of homes on Trulia have seen their price reduced at least once. (Check out the chart of the hardest hit cities below.)  Bottom line - don’t yet see the bottom of the market, but things are getting less worse.

Rick’s opening remarks

• Seeing a steady increase of the number of purchased “distressed properties”
• Estmate ~50% of real estate transactions involve a distressed property
• In some majorily distressed areas, upwards of 80% of transactions involve a short sale, foreclosure or other distressed property
• Some of the risks people associate with foreclosures are true; short sales are timely and not always have a positive result
• Two of the most common mistakes when purchasing foreclosures:

1. Overvalue property itself
2. Underestimate cost of repairs

• Estimate 50-60% of sales going to first-time home buyers, 30% to be investors
• Example of town trying to reduce inventory and stabilize market: Victorville CA bulldozing homes!

Q&A with industry reporters

What can we expect next?
Rick: Next wave of resets throughout this year - default at rates that “will make subprime loans look like a walk in the park.”  Very likely candidates for default, since homeowner already upside down in the first place

How do you reconcile interest in foreclosures with the high negative sentiment about buying?
Pete: from what we read, consumers are bargain hunting.  They are aware of changes in affordability, and this is an opportunity.  That said, they’re prepared to make compromises.

Considering age differences…younger buyers used to be interested in flipping.  Since there’s less of that now, why do you think there’s a difference in age ranges?
Rick: Younger buyers are more willing to take a on a property that needs more work than someone who’s more mature.  Investors are typically buying at 20 cents on the dollar compared to the last sale, and may be selling to other investors.  Many are purchasing and turning homes into rental properties.  Younger looking for a place to live, older for vacation properties and investments.

How does an increase in foreclosure properties impact overall prices for a given area?
Pete: Most activity is around distressed properties.  No quick fixes - have to reduce inventory before prices will stabilize.

10-month supply of inventories right now - what’s healthy?  When do you expect peak?
Pete: According to the National Association of Realtors, inventory is at 9.8 month supply; normal market can be anywhere from 5-6 months.  Don’t predict inventory levels to go down this year.
Rick: We expect to see an increase in foreclosure activity this year, and will experience foreclosure activity for at least next 2 years.  The bigger issue for consumers is how easy it will be to get financing, as right now the market is mostly reliant on either cash for downpayments or FHA loans.

Summary
The housing market is still struggling, but there are slow signs of improvement.  As confidence rises, so will the housing market.  Thanks Rick and Pete for great insights and a great call!

Click here to download the audio file and hear the conversation yourself.

Webster’s defines conundrum as an intricate and difficult problem.

The condo market in Hyde Park and Oakley presents a delicate balancing act between supply and demand.  According the Multiple Listing of Greater Cincinnati:

•  23 Active Listings, - 21 are new construction
• 7 Pending - all new construction
• 11 Solds- 5 new construction

As the market slowly comes back to life, condominiums in Hyde Park and Oakley present an interesting conundrum- meeting high demand for new construction versus reselling previously owned real estate.  What compounds the problem is that many of the resales are relatively new (less than 5 years old).  The absorption rate (number sold vs the number available) indicates a 24 month supply of condos priced at $500,000 up.

So what’s a condo seller to do?

Look at the facts and market accordingly.  Pricing has to be competitive against new construction.  Get creative by offering the right incentives and be patient.  As the new construction is sold, the demand for the market will heat up. 

Solving the condo conundrum requires timing, flexibility and buyers getting of the fence and into the marketplace.