As a Cincinnati real estate agent, one of the most common questions I get is “There’s this foreclosure in my neighborhood and no one has touched it for months. How can I contact the bank to buy it?”

Well in order to really accept the answer of this question you have to first dismiss the belief that the large banks are acting in a responsible manner. Here’s as short of an explanation I can provide of the mortgage mess…

In case you haven’t heard, we are experiencing quite a run in real estate sales in Cincinnati.  It has drastically swung from a buyer’s market to a seller’s market in only two years.  Home sales are selling 18% faster and properties are going into multiple offers on a regular basis.  If you are a seller, how long do you think the good times will last before you test your own luck in this market?

Personally, I think we are…

You may have heard that rental properties in Cincinnati can be a great way to generate passive income. Rental properties can provide monthly cash flow, protect against inflation, and usually appreciate over the long term. Some retirees swear by rental properties instead of the usual stock and bond portfolio because they don’t have to stomach the volatile stock market swings. Owning rental properties can help fund your retirement, but being a landlord isn’t for everyone. Here’s how to tell if…

Watch my brief video to see where the Cincinnati Market is heading for Spring and Summer of 2013. You might be surprised that all that talk about a “housing recovery” may be a reality. We are almost in a balanced market! Feel free to contact me if you have interest in putting your home on the market as this may be a short window of opportunity to sell for a high price before the potential 2nd wave of foreclosures…

TREO Realtors, based in Cincinnati Ohio, is the first brokerage to offer interactive floorplans as another one of it’s savvy marketing tools to help sellers market their homes to potential buyers. Check out a quick demo by Brett Keppler, Cincinnati Real Estate Agent, as he provides an overview of this amazing new service.

LendingTree recently conducted a study to determine which state was the most affordable in terms of average monthly mortgage payment as well as investigating what percentage of monthly income goes towards that payment.

Washington DC and Hawaii were the most expensive states with average payments of $1641 and $1536. DC homeowners put 31% of their income towards those payments while Hawaii paid 30% of their income to live on the beautiful island (which I completely understand).

Ohio was the 10th…

The secret information traditionally only found in the Multiple Listing Service about properties is slowing leaking its way out into the public through an assortment of different websites. As technology evolves, so has transparency and MLSs all across the country are battling to keep this information private.

As a buyer in Cincinnati, the moment a property of interest hits the market, you want to know as much about it as possible. Rather than wait on your agent to…

Welcome to my first edition of Tuesday Morning Coffee – where I provide a real estate update via my blog and e-newsletter to all of those friends I have met over the past several years.  I am thrilled to be reconnecting in this new way and hope to continue bringing relevant real estate news to you for years to come.

In this video, I cover several relevant market statistics for the greater Cincinnati area.  Such as:

• Median price

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Is it better to buy a home or rent? An analysis released today by real estate information provider Zillow.com finds that in most of the U.S., buying becomes a better deal than renting after only three years of residence.

In many metro areas, the advantage comes much sooner.

In Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and Tampa, for example, owning beats renting after 1.6 years, the study finds. Zillow determined the breakeven horizon—the point at which owning becomes more financially advantageous than renting…

Below is an article regarding the housing market in Los Angeles.  Although you may think Cincinnati has nothing in common with LA except the good looking people, they are experiencing a similar housing market as we are.  Distressed inventory has dropped significantly and buyers are finding themselves in competitive buying situations because the amount of quality homes for sale just aren’t there. I personally believe that this is a temporary situation since the banks we service have informed us their…