Well, Realtor.com is more bullish on our coming real estate year than I am. I anticipated a strong but stagnant year for growth (Typical Toledo, right? We lag the market's highs and lows, just plodding along with consistent returns.)

I have agree with the author that Toledo real estate is priced very competitively nationally and our rental returns exceed the 1% rule frequently. I spent 2022/2023 purchasing single family homes in my preferred investment corridor within 43612/43613 zipcodes. $80k will net you $1200/mo.

That said I am of the opinion that rent rates (up significantly since Covid) are plateauing, I don't expect to see them climb significantly higher.

Regardless, factor my position of being a cash-in-hand personality who doesn't much care if the hype is telling us to buy-buy-buy or run for the hills. I invest where it makes cents and the news either validates me (yeah!) or doesn't (like the talking heads know the future).

I look forward to a stable year in 2024, with growth according to the article below!

DEC 12, 2023

Good news for Greater Toledo homeowners and all concerned with prosperity here comes from Realtor.com’s forecast for 2024.

Economists for the largest online real estate website predict Toledo will be the hottest home market in the nation next year.

Affordability and stability are behind the Realtor.com projection of 8.3 percent price gain for Toledo homes in 2024. Toledo’s median home list price of $200,000 is less than half the national average while price volatility has been muted compared to the wild fluctuations in much of the country. The real estate website expects Toledo home sales to increase by 14 percent next year, because the lure of low-cost housing has sparked a surge of buyers.

Both buyers looking for a place to live and investors planning to renovate and rent find Toledo attractive, according to the real estate website. The hot-housing markets, according to Realtor.com, include Los Angeles and San Diego where median home prices top a million dollars and Grand Rapids, Mich.; Rochester, N.Y., and Springfield, Mass., where prices are much lower but still well above Toledo.

The significant boost in pay won by United Auto Workers members at Stellantis and General Motors in Toledo and rippling out into the auto-manufacturing supply chain boosts buying power in the local economy and is surely behind the economic projections of real estate sales growth exceeding all but one of the top 10 markets. Even if California will not relent on adjusting emission control standards, and the more than 1,000 supplemental workers at the Stellantis Toledo Jeep plant who are expected to rise to full-time permanent status are laid off, on balance, local incomes are rising.

For the vast majority of individuals, a home is the largest single investment of a lifetime. The financial net worth of residents who own a home is much higher than those who do not. In many locations, including some of the other hot-housing market cities, appreciation has made homes unaffordable to those who don’t own a house they can sell for the funds needed to make a move. Toledo housing is affordable to a much higher percentage of the work force than the average city. This fact will help every employer in the region keep and attract the employees needed to make them successful.

The Realtor.com analysis of Toledo notes that we’ve seen our “share of troubles over the past few decades,” but the real estate market has remained resilient with good options in the city and the suburbs. This assessment is another powerful lure to attract people and investment dollars. Declining local economies invariably hurt home values. Resilient real estate markets are safe for investment, and it’s tremendously important that Toledo keep that label through policies like the proposed lead law that match standards in nearby suburbs and comparable Ohio cities.

Toledo is the only Ohio city in the hot-housing market top 10, and Grand Rapids is the only Michigan location on the list. The attention is invaluable to Toledo, and the analysis is reassuring to local homeowners and potential buyers and a great benefit to local economic development.

City leaders must work diligently to take advantage of the positive notice and make reality match the prediction.

LaPlante Real Estate

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