After a three month hiatus north of Tampa, Florida, I return to my beloved Twinsburg and my real estate partnership through Howard Hanna. 

My trusted colleague has forged ahead and done a herculean job keeping pace with the burst of activity this "spring".  We always sound the alarm, that buyers and sellers need to begin their real estate journey in January of each year, as this is really the "spring" market!  And true to form, the pace of selling and buying has doubled over the first four months of 2011!! 

Not only in Ohio but here in Florida, the pent up demand for housing or investments has exploded and there aren't enough homes on the market currently to keep pace with the record low interest rates.  I can see the prices beginning to drift upwards and as I shared in my last blog, even multiple offers are surfacing, unheard of in the last four years. 

The job market is improving and buyers are becoming more confident and venturing forward to buy up, or scale down or purchase that rental property they have been thinking about.  Short sales are beginning to move more quickly.  Bank of America has stepped up to the plate and is indicating they will try to provide approvals on purchase agreements in as little as 20 days.  WOW!! 

Realtors and buyers have hereto for shied away from short sales, as it used to take months to find out if they had bought a home or not. 

Americans by nature are an impatient lot and forget the real estate market took a leap over the cliff in 2008, four long years ago, and it will take that long or more to regain some of the losses.  But progress is occurring, and more and more sellers are taking the plunge and listing their homes and have good reason to expect a decent sales price. 

Realtors would invariably tell sellers that despite the loss they may take on their present property, they would usually make it up by buying another home, at a steep discount!! Companies are transferring more families across country or across the state, creating more demand for housing, and exhibiting a real example of a recovering economy. 

Builders are pulling  more and more permits to start new construction and even the remodeling business has boomed!  Developments that had sat stagnant and lots that were overgrown and unkempt, are being bought and new homes are beginning to pop up.  There were many  abandoned golfcourse communities here in Florida, and now the banks are selling them to investors, who are completing clubhouses and streets, and welcoming buyers back into their dream houses!

Ohio is also experiencing an increase in new construction with Ryan Homes and Pulte Homes opening up more and more new subdivisions in northern Ohio.  Finally all the industries related to the housing market are beginning to heat up and hopefully, we will all enjoy a more robust and profitable 2012.