What goes down, must go up. Right?  At least thats how things in general play out in Life.  So why shouldn’t real estate be any exception?  It isn’t. Does that mean its coming back… hmmm not sure yet.  Have we reached the bottom and are at least stabilizing?  I think maybe so or at least we’re close.

I recently read an article on realitytimes.com where Dr. Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Economy.com, surprised analysts by announcing that “the bottom of the housing downturn is in sight for the nation.”   I had heard whispers of this through some of my out of state colleagues, that some of the hardest hit areas are starting to see some comeback and stabilization.  This is great news!  Why? Because theoretically what was hit the hardest first should also then be the first to start to recover.

Well, I think the key word in Marks quote is that the bottom is in “sight.” Not that we are there yet.  But before that much-desired recovery can take place, the economists warn that there will be more pain. Home values in some of the nation’s hardest-hit markets — in particular Florida, California, Nevada and Arizona — will continue to see prices plunge. In some of the worst-hit places, the peak-to-trough percentage losses will soar as high as 70%. Of the 381 metro areas that the firm looked into, it estimates that 100 will experience peak-to-trough declines of 20% or more. The bright spots on the map — the 42 metro areas that are expected to see a decline of less than 1% — will mainly be in the South.  Of course, job loss will also factor into the ability of some metro areas to improve. Only states that were somewhat immune to the housing boom at the beginning of the decade should expect a quicker recovery.

This is not so good  news for the hardest hit areas, but is somewhat a  sigh of relief for us in Cincinnati. We didn’t see incredibly high home prices and therfore we won’t see ours plunge out of control either.  Housing is still very affordable in Cincinnati.  Our home prices continue to stabilize and more and more homes are starting to come back up on the market.  First time home buyers are ready to use their 8k tax credit and are out searching for the right house.  Our economy looks relatively stable when compared to other parts.

I think its a great time to buy and those who don’t will be kicking themselves in years to come.