By Carl Horst

It appears the two-plus year trend of a shrinking number of homes in the market is beginning to reverse course, according to housing expert Bill McBride at Calculated Risk.

The historic low inventory level of “for-sale” homes across the country that was one of the major headlines of the 2011 and 2012 marketplace appears to have given way to notable uptick. Says McBride:

So far in 2013, inventory is up 17.7%. This is well above the peak percentage increases for 2011 and 2012 and suggests to me that inventory is near the bottom. It now seems likely – at least by this measure – that inventory bottomed early this year (it could still happen early next year).

It is important to remember that inventory is still very low, and is down 15.1% from the same week last year according to Housing Tracker.  Once inventory starts to increase (more than seasonal), buyer urgency will wane, and I expect price increases to slow.

As the OAR Daily Buzz noted last week, inventory levels in markets throughout the Buckeye State rose in April from the prior month, but remained well below the levels posted in 2012

By Greg Stitz, OAR Director of Research

Thirty-nine percent of Ohio home buyers were first-time buyers in Ohio, according to a 2012 survey of the state’s home buyers and sellers. This is a seven percent increase from the 2011 level, when 32 percent of buyers were first-time. First-time buyers in Ohio traditionally track comparatively with the national results, except in 2011 when 5 percent more buyers in the U.S. purchased their first home.

Sixty-six percent of 2012 first-time buyers in Ohio were married/unmarried couples, 19 percent were single females and 12 percent were single males.

This information was included in the National Association of REALTORS 2012 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, Ohio Report.

OAR’s annual seminar — the Industry, Legal & Legislative Update — offers REALTORS the latest information regarding state and federal regulatory issues, legal matters including license law updates and changes, up-to-date news from the Ohio State House, and more is coming to a locale near you throughout June.

This don’t miss session, featuring OAR’s Peg Ritenour or Lorie Garland, will be making stops in Dayton (June 4), Cincinnati (June 6), Toledo (June 10), Cleveland (June 19), Columbus (June 20) and Cambridge (June 27).

Click here for more information and to register!

By Marilou Butcher Roth

One of the topics that is always fun to explore is fitness. Ah, yes, cardio, weights, pilates — we love them, don’t we! However, I want to take this idea a little further. How would you rate your fitness level when it comes to your business? Or how about your financial fitness, how do you measure up? Fitness is a state of mind and can be achieved in any part of our lives.

How can you raise your level of fitness in all areas of your life? Here are some categories to check:

• Business Fitness
• Relationship Fitness
• Financial Fitness
• Emotional Fitness
• Spiritual Fitness
• Physical Fitness

For you as a REALTOR to be at the top of your game, you must be looking not only at your business but these other parts of your life as well. I have seen it happen far too often, an agent will throw themselves totally into their business and quickly see other areas suffer. You can have it all, you know. It’s a matter of deciding what’s important and then creating some consistency to make sure it happens.

As you toss this idea around, you may want to ask yourself these questions: What result am I trying to achieve? How am I actively pursuing this result? What needs/wants to happen next?

I love the idea of creating fitness in all areas of your life. The biggest problem we encounter is not taking the time to tune into what it is we really want. Or sometimes, we set ourselves up with the idea that what we want is unattainable so we don’t even bother to attempt it. So let yourself become clear. What would “fitness” in these areas look like? If what you see seems too large to tackle, ask yourself what you can do (something small and measurable) to take yourself in the direction that you want to go — not the whole enchilada, just forward.

Be gentle with yourself. We often make things so much harder than they need to be! Ask me how I know!

By Carl Horst, OAR Director of Publications/Media Relations

A little less than a year ago, the Ohio Association of REALTORS unveiled a redesigned website as part of the organization’s total overhaul of its communications programming. Our goal was simple — create a site that would meet the diverse demands of today’s real estate professional, one that would become the “go-to resource” for information pertinent to Ohio’s REALTOR community.

It seems as if we’ve done just that and more…at least in the eyes of the judges in a national competition hosted by Hermes Creative Awards!

We’ve recently been notified that ohiorealtors.org won the “Gold Award” honor in one of the world’s largest competitions of its kind. Our website was judged against entries ranging in size from individuals to media conglomerates and Fortune 500 companies. Competition judging is conducted by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals.

“Receiving an accolade of this nature is extremely humbling, yet the true reward is in offering Ohio’s REALTOR community a viable, useful tool to help in the day-to-day practice of real estate,” said Bob Fletcher, OAR’s chief executive officer. “Our approach in redesigning the site was to make every visit a unique and enriching experience, have the information easily accessible and focus on the needs and wants of the real estate professional.”

Our website prominently spotlights the latest Ohio industry news, views and issues that are featured in our OAR Daily Buzz blog — ranging from legal opinions, to political developments from the State House, to Ohio home sales and industry trends, and much more. In addition, we offer comprehensive information on the areas of interest to today’s REALTOR under an array of categories (such as legal, education offerings, public policy, statistics and Association news and events). You also have access to our various social media outlets, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and our own You Tube channel.