WI Home Sales up 5.8 Percent, First Increase Since Late 2007

Admin — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:01:05 +0000

The Wisconsin REALTORS Association (WRA) reports that statewide home sales increased 5.8 percent in this year’s third quarter compared to the same period a year earlier. It marked the first increase since the recession began in late 2007. Sales climbed 9.4 percent in Milwaukee County and 6.8 percent for the four-county Milwaukee metro area as a whole. WRA Chairman John Flor remarks, “We are finally seeing signs of recovery in the housing market.” Driving the trend, Flor noted, were low mortgage rates and the U.S. government’s $8,000 tax credit for first-time buyers. Capitol Hill lawmakers recently voted in favor of extending the credit through April 2010 and expanding it to include all buyers — a measure WRA officials said would benefit not just home sellers and buyers, but the economy as a whole. While Wisconsin home sales climbed in this year’s July-through-September stretch, the median home price in the state decreased 6.3 percent to $148,000 from the third quarter of 2008. WRA President William Malkasian reasons, “Over the past year we’ve seen a shift from higher priced homes to lower priced homes, so the median price naturally falls.”

Do Open Houses Work?

Admin — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:00:18 +0000

While some real estate professionals believe open houses are more trouble than they are worth, others consider them highly valuable in that they generate interest in a property and introduce agents to prospective clients. “It gets a lot of traffic, and we’re for anything to shake the bushes and generate some business,” says REALTOR Robby Young of Mobile, Ala.-based Coldwell Banker United Realtors. Most open houses are held on Sundays, but some agents are opening the doors on weekday nights to meet the needs of potential buyers who work on weekends. Approximately 48 percent of buyers visited open houses as part of their home search in 2008, according to the National Association of Realtors, with newer listings, reasonably priced dwellings and easily accessible properties generating the most traffic.

Property Owners Network » realtor

WI Home Sales up 5.8 Percent, First Increase Since Late 2007

Do Open Houses Work?