There are 103 single family homes for sale by area brokerages in Lakewood Ohio as of today.  This is good news, it means inventory has stabled out over the past year.  We are not seeing 300+ single family homes for sale.  Could this change? Could more foreclosures hit the market? Well yes.  But the trend is holding in the ‘good’ range for a while now.

The average listing price of these 103 homes is $158,400 and $84 a square foot.

What have recent buyers decided to buy in Lakewood? There are 45 single family homes under contract in Lakewood.  These homes were on the market an average of 197 days before going under contract between the buyers and sellers.  The average square foot price for these 45 homes is $66 a square foot.  We don’t yet know the sale prices; have to wait for them to transfer title to have that information public.  But what can we tell about the homes buyers have liked recently?

There are about ten homes that were listed under $50k.  These were all bank owned. The majority of the homes under contract are between $70k and $160k.  Let’s look at some details about a few:

1.  A 3 BR colonial on Wyandotte is waiting to close. It has a finished basement and while it could use a bit of updating (there is wallpaper too), it looks clean and tidy.  It is listed for $79,900.

2. A 3BR bungalow with 1 1/2 bath has a cute kitchen eating nook plus a full dining room.  It is listed at $89,600 and is located on Olive Avenue.

3. A pretty large 3 BR colonial on Parkwood (about 1700 sq. ft of living space) with a great, cleanly updated white L-shaped kitchen with good workspace. It also has a formal dining room.  Listed at $98,400.

4.  At the upper end of the listing price spectrum? A 3300 sq. foot home on Parkside (Near Lakewood Park with Lake Erie views) that is listed for $795,000. 4BRs, 5BA and updated in a striking way…the way you would expect for a home at this listing price.  Thre are homes in all price ranges under contract. 

How about homes that have sold in the last six months?  There were 159 single family homes sold since August (again, all these stats are for homes listed with area brokers so I can track actual sales stats). The average number of days on the market for these homes was 106. The average price per square foot was $66.  (So for homes under contract, the  price per square foot appears to be $66!)

There were nine homes sold over $300,000 and the highest sale price was $625,000.  There were also many between $105k and $169k.  I found it interesting also, that only one of the homes listed as ‘sold’ was actually rented instead of sold.  (So I did not include that one in the totals).

Looking for info on a different community or have questions about Lakewood?  Let me know!

3C

In addition to homes for sale (albeit resale homes), my company has had two months during this 2011 selling season when sales surpassed even the months during the frenzy of last years Federal tax credit for home buyers. 

The article also talks about stats for a 6% rise in apartment building construction.  Since one of the reasons new construction is used as a benchmark for the state of the economy is jobs created, would they not be created for apartment building construction as well? I just think we need to look at the whole picture. I’d love to know what you think.  Peace Out – 3C

There are currently 68 single family homes for sale.  Not a huge inventory.  There are 13 homes currently under contract, waiting to close.  All but three are in Tremont and most of the 13 are town homes.

In 2010, there were 56 single family homes sold in zip code 44113.  Only the first ten sold for less than $80k. 

The average 2010 sale price was $156,586 and $83 a square foot.

In 2009, there were 58 homes sold.  The average sale price for these 58 homes was $144,223 and $84 a square foot. 

My interpretation is that these neighborhoods are not experiencing the 3% decrease in home sales they are touting as a National average. 

Hope this helps!  Peace Out – 3C

I’m comparing sales in these eight communities ranging from April through July in each of the two years. So when I say ’08, I mean April – July.

Lakewood:  2008  140 home sales. Average sale price was $137,097 or $76 a square foot.

Lakewood  2009:  131 home sales. Average sale price $117,591 or $74 a square foot.  (pretty close both years, still slight drop in ’09)

Rocky River  2008:  58 home sales. Average sale price $265,759 or $125 square foot.

Rocky River  2009:  75 home sales. Average sale price $242,348 or $113 a square foot.

Fairview  2008:  45 home sales. Average sale price $142,686/$90 a sq. ft.

Fairview  2009:  59 home sales. Average sale price $141,615/$86 sq. foot. (very close both years)

Cleveland Zip Code  44113 (includes some of Warehouse District, Ohio City and Tremont).  2008:  23 home sales and an average sale price of $127,926 or $62 a square foot.

Zip Code  44113  2009:  24 home sales and an average sale price of $171,907 and $101 a square foot. (definite improvement in ’09)

Zip Code  44102 (includes Detroit Shoreway and Edgewater Cudell and West Blvd area) 2008:  89 home sales. Average sale price is $31,444 and $20/square foot.

Zip Code  44102  2009:  51 home sales.  Average sale price was $41,431 and $23/square foot.  (fewer sales, still not as many sales or homes on the market….but the prices improved this year).

Zip Code  44111 (including but not limited to Bellaire Puritas, West Park) 2008:  128 home sales.  Average sale price was $65,455 and $52 a square foot.

Zip Code  44111  2009:  112 home sales. Average sale price $68,531 and $53 a square foot. (sale prices definitely rose this year)

Zip Code  44135  (same areas again as 44111…only different lol) 2008:  110 home sales and average sale price of $61,363 or $52 a square foot.

Zip Code 44135  2009:   94 home sales. The average sale price was $58,901 or $51 a square foot.

Zip Code  44109  (Old Brooklyn, South Hills, etc) 2008:  104 home sales.  The average sale price was $50,600 or $36/square foot.

Zip Code  44109  2009:  86 home sales.  The average sale price was $46,625 or $34/square foot.

These are single family homes and I did the analysis by doing research on our NORMLS computer listing service.   Even though these stats  are real, keep in mind that lender owned homes, which typically are selling for lower market values,  are included in the averages.  We all look forward to the day when lender owned homes play a small part in these stats.  Having said all this, there is improvement in sale prices in many of these communities.   Peace Out – 3C

We fall into the 0% to 10% risk category. If you look at the map on page 11 of 12 in this pdf they put out, you will see a rather interesting picture, and one that may differ from a lot of the information you read or hear in the media.

I found it very interesting that both coasts were the riskiest. Most of the country is in the same pretty sky blue area that says low risk.

I would still encourage everyone to use a professional to help you figure out what is a better or not so good investment if you plan on buying and moving in less than five years.  Or if you plan on buying and renovating the home to sell as an investor. But if you plan on buying and living in your new home for a while, I would think this is calming news?

In reality, they list Cleveland in the top ten of most stable markets. How about those apples?  Peace out – 3C

For the August/July period only 2 regions, Cleveland and Boston, had positive returns. Cleveland returned +1.1% and Boston returned +0.1%. Boston has had positive monthly returns for each of the past five months. Dallas and Denver’s streaks of 4+ straight positive returning months ended in August. San Francisco was the biggest decliner for the month returning -3.5%. This worsened from its July/June return of -1.8%. From August 2007 to August 2008, Dallas and Charlotte have the best relative performance. Dallas is down 2.7% over the year and Charlotte is down 2.8%.

Boston and N. Carolina have shown positive growth albeit small for the last few Case Shiller reports; but finally Cleveland is included in the mix.

We had a very active summer as far as sales are concerned (meaning my office and my colleagues) so I’m not surprised. We’ll keep our fingers crossed that the scales can keep inching up.  Still not expecting major recovery but we’ll take this yes? Case Shiller also reported that even though most of the markets showed a decline the rate of decline was smaller than recorded for other months this year. 

The Northern Ohio Multiple Listing Service (MLS) stats for this past September are also available for viewing now.

Cuyahoga County stats show 1,109 homes transfered title last month, compared with 914 sold in September of ’07. The highest sale price last month was $1,372,500.  In September of ’07 the highest sale price was $1,050,000.  So that’s an increase in sale prices – while the average sale price is down 12.5% this September from 2007 ($116,522 and last year, $133,181). Both years had identical averages for days the sold homes were on the market: 87.

In fact, three months from being listed to sales are the averages for most (not all) NE Ohio communities.

If you’d like to see the entire MLS report by County, go here.  Peace Out – 3C

 Peace Out – 3C

• Homes and Condos sold, on average, after three months on the market.
• 5,474 new homes were listed for sale – up 67% from the number listed a month earlier
• 692 condos were listed
• 1,253 homes sold – 42% of the housing on the market sold
• 165 condos sold – 27.4% of the condos on the market sold
• 2007: Average Sale Price for single family homes in NE Ohio was $154,125 (same time frame in 2006: Average Sale Price was $160,699)
• 2007: Average Sale Price for condos was $138,914. (same time frame in 2006: Average Sale Price was $155,190)

So yes, the average home and condo sale price is down from the beginning of 2006. Peace Out – 3C