There is one number in the local market reports that almost nobody outside the business notices, and it might be the most useful one for anyone about to write an offer or set a price. Across the Miami Valley, homes have been selling at an average of 100 percent of list price, month after month, for a long stretch now. Clients ask Irongate Inc., REALTORS® agents whether they should come in under asking, and that single figure is where the honest answer starts. It is not a rule about what you must pay. It is a description of what has actually been happening, and it tells you a great deal about how this market works.
The ratio is simple arithmetic. Take what a home closed for, divide it by what it was listed for, and you get a percentage. Ninety five percent means buyers negotiated the price down. One hundred and three percent means competing offers pushed it up. One hundred percent means the average...