What’s the best source of information about available housing in your community? The answer is a well-informed professional real estate agent whose business is helping buyers find and negotiate the...

What’s the best source of information about available housing in your community? The answer is a well-informed professional real estate agent whose business is helping buyers find and negotiate the purchase of the most suitable property at the best price. However, there’s another readily available source of information: the local newspaper—in paper or online. Almost anything you want to know about the local housing scene can be found in the real estate section of the paper. For this project, you’ll gather information concerning your local housing market.

Review recent issues of your local newspaper and describe the market for both purchased homes and rental units. Look for useful information such as location, size of property, price or rent, lease requirements, and so forth. You should observe that the housing market is very fragmented, which makes good purchase and rent decisions more difficult. See if you can answer questions such as: What is the average size of a house or apartment in your community? What is the typical sales price or monthly rent per square foot? Is the purchase market competitive? How about the rental market? How great a difference exists in prices and rents between the most and least desirable areas of the community? Also check online for other sources of information, such as the county tax office, and try to find out how much property taxes and homeowner’s insurance premiums average in your area. From your study of the local market, summarize its conditions and be prepared to participate in a class discussion of the local housing market.