Search Tactics for Modern Homes in Madeira & Wyoming (Norwood: new home, neighborhood)

[kleighj]

My husband and I listed our house on the east side of town a couple of months ago and received an offer in three days, more quickly than we anticipated. We are now in temporary housing and actively searching for a new home. We have found the neighborhood insights shared by contributors on this forum invaluable and have narrowed our search to Madeira (top choice) and the runners up lagging pretty far behind: Wyoming, Kenwood, and Blue Ash (while fighting a love for Amberley's land/privacy and North Avondale's wow factor/character).

That's a lot of back story for a fairly straightforward question: What strategies or tips do you have for finding a home in a seller's market where supply is low, demand is high, and homes are being sold before sent?

My efforts thus far include: reviewing MLS listings daily, reviewing Zillow listings daily, reviewing Craigslist listings daily, liking realtors' Facebook pages to see listings early, sending letters to homeowners (only one letter), and telling everyone we know to increase the likelihood of hearing about a potential listing through the grapevine. What am I missing?

Our wish list:
Areas: Madeira or Wyoming ideally
Budget: $365,000 or under -- We prefer to renovate to make the house meet our preferences but need to factor renovations into the price. If the right house comes along and is at the top of our budget, we are willing to wait on renovations so long as it's livable.
Square feet: 2,000-3,000 sq. ft. excluding basement
Land: Ideally 0.3+ acres -- We moved from Norwood to get away from houses on top of one another.
Style: Modern/Contemporary (e.g., vaulted ceiling, skylight, stone fireplace)
Floors: Preferably a ranch because we like open concept, but a two-story is an option
Bedrooms: 3 with an office or 4
Baths: 2.5
Must haves: Basement, attached two-car garage, master bath

We found a near-perfect house on Foxdale in Madeira a month or so ago, put in an offer just below asking price, and lost it without a counter offer. Since then, we've realized just how rare our dream house within our budget might be.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[mimi in cinci]

If you aren't working with a realtor who specializes in the area already, I suggest you find one. We found our home through our realtor who knew our house was going on the market. We were a "sold before sent" statistic.

[SalamanderSmile]

This is an unmeetable list of needs in Madeira at least. Updated homes with that kind of square footage won't be that cheap. You can either spend less on a smaller house and add onto/update it yourselves, or raise your budget substantially. The problem is that the smaller homes will have you competeing the developers at bid time. In Wyoming there is one realtor who controls the town, she sets the prices so there will be no bargains but she may have pocket listings she has not marketed yet as she is waiting for something else to vacate a price point she wants to list at. Wyoming will be easier as the houses tend to be bigger to start with, for every 2000sqft house in Madeira there is someone ALREADY living in Madeira in a 1200sqft house who's shopping for a bigger house. Anything highly desirable probably won't make it to market at all (word of mouth), less desireable will be sold before sent, and least desireable will hit the MLS.

Use a very local realtor and subscribe to nextdoor madeira (if it exists) and post your desires on their forum. You can also send letters to people. Our whole street just got hand delivered letters saying that a cash buyer is looking for a home for her daughter on our street and should anyone be interested in selling, blah blah. We are in Mariemont and getting the home you want can be a trying experience.

[flashes1]

I follow the MLS listings very regularly----there's not a large volume of new Wyoming listings which means slim pickins and the sellers of good homes have a lot of control. $365k will not get you a lot in Wyoming......you'd get a fixer-upper at the price and then do a lot of sweat-equity initiatives. I don't follow Madiera MLS listings as closely....but I'd think you get a nicer home for the money.

[alohamonkey]

We are concluding a very similar search. We abandoned madeira because the only homes in our price range ($350k-400k) were really small ranches with really small yards and neighbors really close by. We finally found a nice home with a nice yard on west side of wyoming. It's a tough market for buyers right now. Lots of homes are already sold before they hit MLS. I would second the recommendation of working with a realtor who is "in the know". I can give you a recommendation if you're looking for one. Good luck!