Now is a great time to buy!

Spreading the positive housing market news

Now is a great time to buy! This simple message, along with fact and figures to support it, has been running in the real estate classified section of The Columbus Dispatch since Sept. 9. And, look for us to continue touting central Ohio's positive real estate news in these half page ads that will run each week in partnership with The Columbus Dispatch. REALTORS® are scoring huge with this campaign because not only do we get to tell our side of the story with content that is balanced and more in line with what is actually happening in our market, we get to tell it in the city's largest print publication.

Why is Now a great time to buy Q&A Campaign Ads

The Now is a great time to buy! campaign is in response to the many requests for more positive information in the media about the housing market.

As we all know, markets march to the beat of their own drummer and it's our charge to drum up business by getting consumers to think locally about our real estate market -- how it's really shaping up.

We want them to realize that when they do hear words like slump, slow and risky tossed about in the national media, they'll know that those words do not describe what's happening in central Ohio.

Here's just some of the good news we have shared thus far:

• Last year was the third highest number of sales ever in Central Ohio. Yes, it was down 4.5% from 2005 and the average sale price is down a `whopping' 1%, but it was still a good year. Today, compared to 2004, only 3 years ago, we have sold close to the same number of houses and the average sales price is up nearly 3%.
• Inventory levels are at record highs providing prospective homebuyers with the best selection of homes in the history of central Ohio!
• Central Ohio home values have increased almost 33 percent in the last decade and the average home sale prices have increased on average 3.65 percent each year from 1996 through 2006. For consumers looking for long-term and stable growth rates, real estate is still, hands down, their number one choice.
• Our home prices are very competitive. Right now, there are more homes for sale than buyers to buy them. The result is that sellers are pricing their homes to compete. As the market corrects itself, home prices will start to increase again. So, buyers should act now while homes are priced to sell!!!
• There are still many great loan programs for deserving buyers.
• The recent Fed cut is good news! Even though a Fed rate cut doesn't necessarily spell lower mortgage rates, it does mean good news for housing. The recent half point cut was intended to induce lenders to say yes more often -- especially to jumbo borrowers, who have applied for mortgages greater than the conforming limit of $417,000. Making borrowing more affordable will make money more available and this will have a positive affect on the housing market.
• So, in a nutshell, all market indicators show that now is a great time to buy -- prices are down, interest rates are affordable, there are lots of homes to choose from and your buyers can bargain with sellers.

What can you do?
Help spread the news. If we're going to have any affect at all, we need to work together to spread the positive news.

The ads are available online. Feel free to post them on your web site, send the ads to clients/customers, forward the text to your friends, neighbors, favorite blog, etc. etc. Just get the word out!

Now is a great time to buy!