Perrysburg Blog

Do you see it?

Not many do.

I will share with you my current take on the Perrysburg/Northwest Ohio real estate market.

First – there are TWO markets.   Not surprisingly you may have already figured this out.  There is the REO/Bank Foreclosure market.  And then there is everybody else.

Two markets – in the same market space.

Competing with each other.  Interacting with each other.  Together making up one single market.

I believe that every single buyer and seller has to understand this in all its’ implications.

Second:  There is a giant elephant standing the corner of the Perrysburg market.

Many agents are willfully blind.  Many sellers are deluded.  Many people don’t want to talk about him.

But I will.

That giant elephant in the corner?  He is representing the lack of “move up” buyers in the current Northwest Ohio real estate market.

Move up buyers?  They have been Perrysburgs’ bread and butter.  People “move up” out of their Toledo/Sylvania/Maumee/Point Place home to a larger, better, more expensive house in Perrysburg.

These move up buyers made our market work.   They bought the $189,900 house.  The $320,000 house.  The $499,900 house.

Now we have a market in NWO full of first time buyers ($8000 tax credit) and full of investors (Heh!  This is better than my stocks!).     This dearth of move up buyers is NOT unique to Perrysburg – see this story.

I talk to many homeowners today – they CANNOT afford to sell and move up.

I can also report, in an anecdotal manner, of buyers who buy who tell me that this is their last house.  They plan on being buried in the yard of their home!   A mental shift has occurred-  houses in Perrysburg are no longer investments, or financial stepping stones on the upward path to The Sanctuary.  No – they are hard-nosed financial purchases that have to work in a families budget.

The upshot – the lack of move up buyers is felt especially hard in Perrysburg and other former “move up” suburbs (Sylvania, Monclova, et all)  and shows no signs of abating.

People who bought at the peak of the market have no reason to sell now and then “lock in” their paper losses.

People who bought and have mortgage problems?  They can’t move up.

Seniors and older buyers?  They are not buying up – they are buying down.

First time buyers?  They ARE buying in Perrysburg, but not in the traditional move up price ranges.

If you have a “McMansion” that you HAVE to sell – I can sell it.  It is salable.  But the price will have to be compelling to attract buyers.

I have sold close to 40 homes in the past 60 days – the highest number in my career.   But that is because I and my team are pricing to today’s market.

There really is no accurate answer to that question.

There should be – but there is not.

What does “foreclosed” mean?

Is being already run through the Sherrif Sale in Bowling Green . . . . is that foreclosed?

What about homes that the owner has walked away from?

Homes that are foreclosed but no new deed has been prepared/recorded?

Homes that have an owner who has decided not to walk away, but to simply not pay anymore on the mortgage.

“Foreclosed”.  Simple word – many uses.

Right now there are hundreds of “foreclosed” homes in Perrysburg (city and township).

But there are just6 that are for sale on the MLS:

-10760 Avenue Road

-24230 Luckey Road

-7422 Starbright

-7296 Winding Brook

-24918 Fort Meigs

-1802 Whispering Way

-7315 Starlawn

As always, you can find all of the Perrysburg REO (“real estate owned” – aka bank owned) on my bank REO Google maps/MLS mash up at www.ToledoBankOwned.com

6 active MLS listings.

With many, many more to come.

Why?  How?

You might want to read the sad and troubling article in this weekend’s Washington Post about the loss of good jobs in Northwest Ohio, specifically in Perrysburg.   These foreclosures are the result of our jobs and economic policies.

Until those change . . . expect more tears.

You never can seem to underestimate our neighbors to the north!

“Want Bass Pro – here it is!”

“You want OI’s new HQ?  Here it is!”

“You want a new UPS hub?  We can send that to you too!”

What is next?

I wonder about the wisdom of trading trash cans for police officers?

And I am hearing from others – homeowners in Toledo – that are none to happy.

I just saw this t-shirt:

Lovely.

Make enough people mad – and they will vote with their feet.

Toledo’s a big, big place.   Police levels like they now have are not really sustainable.

It’s almost as if they WANT to make people move to Perrysburg, Sylvania, and Monclova.

But who would be that foolish . . . . ?

All data for 2009 YTD thru April . . . .

Median price, sold listings:  $163,000

Number of homes sold, month of April:  21

Number of homes sold, April 2007:  43

Listings for sale, Perrysburg (Area 53), 410

Average Days on the Market for Actives:  139

Properties Sale Pending, April 30: 44

My comments:  The number of homes sold is down 51% in a 2 year period.  Back in 2007 the average Perrysburg listing sold for $206,000.   This year?  An amazing low median price of $163,000.

That represents a 43,000 decline in value for the average house.

Which means if you did not sell your house, your value went down by 21%.

Amazing numbers.

The trend has been bad for 2 years for Perrysburg.

Only sell if you NEED to sell.

If you NEED to sell, you need to ask the current market price.