The housing market seems to be booming wildly as we fishtail out of the 2008 US recession.  Because of this, the houses for sale inventory has been dwindling quickly.  Stats from April say that, comparatively, the inventory that is available is down 14% from last year.   This may not be apparent to home buyers who see copious listings without realizing that most of the listed houses are under contract already.  Buyers need to be more aware of these changing markets.  For instance, there are signs of increasing inventory in the housing market.  Home values are rising which encourages more sellers to put homes on the market, where they had previously been waiting until their homes were once again worth more than the mortgage.  According to Mark Cenci, broker with ERA Martin & Associates in Chillicothe, Ohio, here are some tips for buying homes in a tight inventory market: firstly, make your offer as strong as possible for homes you really want (unless you have time to shop around, which affords you the ability to start with lower offers); secondly, increase the amount of earnest money put up with the initial offer which will go towards the down payment if the offer is accepted; thirdly, a buyer should consider the type of mortgage used (F.H.A. versus a conventional mortgage).  Also, in a limited housing market, a buyer should narrow the number of contingencies in an offer in order to strengthen the offer.

 pic citation: http://ewingsir.com/syndicated-partners/will-the-housing-inventory-shortage-affect-2013-growth/

Article Citation: Carnns, Ann.  (May 16, 2013).  Buying a house when inventory is tight.  The New York Times.  Retrieved June 15, 2013 from http://bucks.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/16/buying-a-house-when-inventory-is-tight/.