theadanews.com - Ada, Oklahoma

Local News

June 6, 2011

The truth about Ada real estate

By Kay Kelly Ada Board of Realtors President Submitted

Ada — In the past several months, Americans have been bombarded with real estate news.  Some of it is accurate, some false, some misleading and all of it confusing to the average consumer.  

Like the advertisements say, real estate really is a local industry.  What happens in California or Nevada or even Oklahoma City has no relevance in Ada.  If you want to know what’s happening in the real estate market in Ada, you probably won’t find that out from the Today Show or Fox News.  

But you still want to know, right?

So, let’s talk basics.  Two or three years ago, the market in Pontotoc County was hopping.  Lots of sellers and lots of buyers and almost everyone could get a loan.  Everything, and I mean everything, appraised.

In many ways, things are a lot different now.  We still have lots of sellers and lots of buyers, but mortgage requirements are more detailed and more stringent and appraisal criteria have narrowed.  

The federal government has made some changes in the wake of the Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac fiasco and most of those changes are designed to help the consumer.  

The truth is, a couple of years ago it was entirely too easy to get a loan.  There were a lot of products available to consumers that were risky, to say the least.  But in good old conservative Oklahoma, only a tiny percentage of the loans granted over the last decade were anything other than traditional.  Which means most of us have either an FHA, VA, RECD or conventional 15 or 30 year mortgage.  

This is good news for all of us.  There are far fewer foreclosures in Oklahoma compared to other states, which is in part due to the fact that there were very few of those risky loans made and partly due to the fact that employment has remained pretty level.

What does this mean to you?  Whether you’re the buyer or the seller, there is still a strong market in this area.   It is just a different market.   

So how does the average Adan figure out how to navigate his way through this changing market?

Ask a local Realtor.  Pick any one of the 80+ Realtors who are licensed in Ada, Oklahoma.  Ask them what’s happening in the market, what to expect when you are looking to buy a home, what to expect when you sell.  

Like any other important decision in your life, ask an expert.       

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