Where to look, where to look...

If you read much about real estate you're already aware that inventory is down in the is area compared to historic levels. That means that there is less to look for, especially in certain price bands. I took a quick look at some of the local markets in and around Milford to see what the inventory situation is in what has traditionally been a "sweet spot" of our market - home in the $100-300 Price band. At the low end of this admittedly wide band ($100-200K) are the better first-time-buyer homes and at the upper end of the band ($200-300K) are the homes that first-time-buyers might move up to as their careers and life situations allowed. I may break those bands out in the future, but for now I've just taken a quick cursory look at the whole $100-300K price band.

Milford (Village and Township combined) has 35 homes in that band currently listed at an average price of $224,760 and an average Days On Market (DOM) time of 147 days. So there is a supply of about 4 months worth of homes on the market and likely more of them are above $200K than below. A six month supply (inventory) is considered a balanced market, so Milford is in what Realtors would call a Seller's Market - demand exceeds supply right now.

Highland Township has 54 homes listed in this range with an average price of $196,533 and an average DOM of 124 days. So Highland, too, is in a Seller's Market, but they have more lower priced homes available.

White Lake Township has 63 homes on the market in the $100-300K range with an average price of $211,224 and a DOM of 189 days. White Lake is right at the balanced market position in terms of inventory and DOM and appears to have an inventory that is pretty close to even above and below the $200K level.

The Commerce market (includes the Township and the Villages of Walled Lake and Wolverine Lake) shows 75 homes in the price range with an average price of $203,542 and a DOM of 117 days. So the Commerce Market is heavily Seller oriented and very balanced in terms of prices above and below the $200K mid-point. The 117 DOM number indicates that things are going quickly ion Commerce Twp and you'd better be ready to make a bid quickly if you find a house that you like. I can tell you that Commerce also still has a higher percentage of "Distressed Sales" that the other Townships in this report. You can see that if you go to my Web site www.movetomilford.com and look at the choice - "What have homes in this area sold for?"

The South Lyon/Lyon Township market has 55 homes for sale in the target price band with a longer DOM of 225 and an average price of $212,059. The DOM number may be impacted by the fact that a higher percentage of the homes for sale there are new-builds and sometimes those sit on the market until they get closer to completion or they are effectively "build jobs" being advertised for sale, but waiting for someone to actually commit to buy the build.

Finally, just across the County line in the Brighton  market, in which I have included the Brighton (City and Township) and Green Oak listings, there are 115 listings at and average price of $217,426 and a DOM of 196. Those numbers put that market at the balance point, too, and suggest that the Brighton/Green Oak area would be a good place to look, if one is willing to live just a little further out along I-96.

Additionally, the West Bloomfield market has 98 homes listed in the $100-300K band with a DOM of 131 days and an average price of $209,917. So if yo want to live much closer in, the WB market has plenty of homes above and below $200K but it is in a Seller's market, so expect to have to get close to the asking price to win a bid.