How Lakewood, Ohio Housing faired in 2015

I am a local resident in Lakewood OH. I think it's a great city, lots of young professionals swell as young families, I live in a 1bedroom apartment stones throw from the Lakewood park and Lake Erie. As I'm an rookie Realtor l'm trying to gain more listings in this city and therefore thought why not educate myself and future seller/buyers in how the housing market has come along in 2015. 

I always like to see where the housing market has come from to where it is going. Graphs have been taken from the NEOHREX MLS between Jan 2013 to Dec 2015. This is a paid service used by every Realtor to list and sell properties in NE OHIO.

Lakewood OH is a separate city in Cleveland OH. It is not part of the Cuyahoga county. It has it's own city council, police department and it's own schooling department.

From my experience, it's got a very friendly environment. Take a stroll to downtown Lakewood and experience some of the great restaurants and bars. This attracts the crowds Friday and Saturday but the rest of the week it's still lively. 

I see it as a "hot market" as the the days on markets for properties listed to sold has decreased in last half of 2015 to under 60days. This is the first time in 3years such an occurrence has happened. 

In terms of sale prices 2015 was a strong year. This year alone sold prices were at $150,000 or greater for 5 different months. Last time this happened was in July 2013 and April 2014, in 2015, 5 occurrences in the one year! Historically the spring and summer months will always yield higher sale prices. 

Not only is it good signs that sellers are getting high SALE prices but the difference between the prices homes are listed to what they are actually selling is getting smaller. In three different months during 2015 sellers were achieving 98% of their asking price.

Have sellers jumped onto this realization? Higher sale prices and lower sale times? The answer is NO. As you can see no huge jump in the months of July to November 2015, when sellers would be getting maximum dollar for their properties. Key note to take away compared to 2013, Buyers have fewer choices to buy in Lakewood. Inventory is always lower in the first quarter of the year.

In summary the statistics provided here show that Lakewood, OH is market more in favor to the Seller currently. If you are a buyer thinking about entering the property market, get yourself pre-approved and start searching. The first quarter is the better time to buy, so rug up and get out there with your favorite realtor that knows the market and how it is trending. Sellers thinking of selling, while it's cold work on the inside of the house. Give those rooms lacking a bit of color a new coat of paint. repair or replace broken fittings. Come the warmer weather work on your homes curve/street appeal to attract buyers and list with your favorite Aussie realtor.