First Weber Group REALTORS®: Wisconsin Real Estate

Some welcome news regarding the reasons people are moving comes from Relocation.com . Relocation.com found a dramatic shift when comparing a March 2009 survey with a June 2009 survey.

In June 2009, 50% of people who recently moved did so for "normal" moving reasons like wanting a better home for their needs, be closer to friends and family or desire for a better neighborhood.  Moving because of school, job loss, foreclosure or retirement was came in with 3% or less.  

In contrast, the March 2009 survey 41% of people surveyed said the recession had a moderate to strong influence on their decision to move. 

It is encouraging to see these changes in consumer attitudes.  We hope such positives continue to benefit the Wisconsin real estate market!  Read more on the article here.  

If YOU were surveyed, what would YOUR answer be?

NAR reports Pending home sales are up for the fifth consecutive month nationally! Affordability is excellent, the First Time Home Buyer Tax credit window of opportunity is narrowing (you must close by November 30, 2009).  Think it is going to be a very exciting fall market! 

If you're ready to buy Wisconsin real estate, now is a very attractive time.  Check out what's available on firstweber.com.  Remember, here you will find listings all over Wisconsin, not just our own!  Good luck and let First Weber Group know if we can assist you in any way.

People in Wisconsin like their coupons.  If you had one good for $8,000, you wouldn't want to let it expire, would you? 

While you really do not need the "coupon" to take advantage of the first time buyer tax credit, you do need to close on your Wisconsin property before December 1, 2009. 

Please contact First Weber if you are ready to get started or have any questions about the home buying process - of if you have a story to share.   

Read more about the tax credit, and how first time home buyers in Wisconsin can use the credit towards downpayment here.

We are here to help and ready when you are.

Coming in at #4 for Cool is Milwaukee, Wisconsin with a comfortable climate and a vibrant city scene.  Milwaukee, Wisconsin's winters are in the 20's on average (reasonable for midwest cities, you may even come to like it); comfortable in summers with 70's, 80's, 90's.  We've got Summerfest, lakes, rivers and a variety of reallly real estate at affordable prices. More Milwaukee Cool (non temperature related) here such as the Calatrava and Riverwalk.

View the complete list of top 10 cool cities here . All info compliments of FrontDoor.com.

What do you think?  Do you agree with the list? 

The Wisconsin State Journal's website Madison.com reports a campus home built in 1940 can be yours for the price of $1 - plus the cost of moving the house.  Anyone contemplating this opportunity? You can read the entire article here.  Pretty nice looking house!

If you don't want to go to the trouble of moving a house, but still want a good deal, there are many good deals out there now.  In fact, there are about 70 homes for sale in Madison, Wisconsin between the price of $135,000 and $150,000.  You can find them by doing a single family property search in Madison at firstweber.com

Homes for our Troops

Spearheaded by Bob Larson, General Sales Manager of First Weber's Waukesha office and Roxanne Platz, Application Development Coordinator

Please join First Weber in our mission to support one of the brave men of our military who has been severely injured while defending our country. 

Here is his story: Army SPC Jason M. Schulz was returning from a vehicle recovery mission in November 2007 when the Salvage and Recovery Wrecker he was riding in struck an IED in Mosul, Iraq. The blast ripped through the door on the right side of the truck, hitting the location where SPC Schulz was seated, resulting in the loss of both of his legs. After first being airlifted to Germany, SPC Schulz arrived at Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas to begin his recovery process

Homes For Our Troops builds specially adapted homes for our severely injured Veterans. They have committed to building Jason and his wife a specially adapted home that will accommodate his needs and enable him to concentrate on recovery and his future. Land has already been purchased in Waukesha and groundbreaking is coming in May. To learn more about Homes for Our Troops here. 

First Weber Group is honored to have the opportunity to support the brave men and women of our military. Our First Weber Concierge Desk has already made arrangements for Excavation (donated labor & back fill materials) plus Landscaping Design (donated materials & labor). We're also pending approvals on Millwork, Windows, Doors, Wood Trim, Window Treatments/Coverings, Heating, Flooring, and Electrical.

Do you have just one extra dollar? Please help with this very meaningful cause. Imagine if everyone donated just $1 or $5 or $10 what a difference we can make together! You may donate on-line through the First Weber Team Page

Ranking as a great place for business is always good for real estate!  According to MarketWatch's 2008 50 Best U.S. Metro areas for Business, Milwaukee rose 2 spots to #16.  Milwaukee, Wisconsin outpaced such cities as St Louis, Indianapolis, Chicago, Phoenix and Los Angeles.

You can read the full article here.  Always good to see positive news about living and working in Wisconsin.  First Weber has 50 offices throughout the state and can help you move anywhere in Wisconsin.

What do you like best about living and working in Wisconsin?  Short commute?  Or are you not happy with all the snow already and just don't want to talk about it?  It may be messy, but those snow covered trees are beautiful to look at, in my opinion!

Social media and word of mouth marketing are getting a lot of press these days.  First Weber is paying attention - we are marketers whose job it is to market properties. We also need to market our brand and assist our agents in their marketing needs.  (Don't get me wrong, we do a lot more than just market!  That is just a portion of what your REALTOR does. Contractual knowledge is paramount and requires constant training and updating. Negotiating skills are used to get parties to a sale in agreement.  Knowledge of the process and preparation for the closing is another job. But I digress.)

We work with thousands of buyers and sellers each year.  You may have heard it said before, but a recommendation of an agent's services is highly desired and regarded.  Have you been happy with our services and be willing to share?  We welcome your comments and hope to increase our word of mouth marketing in 2009.  Post a comment here or become a fan of us on Facebook.

A reader asked a question and you can too.  She wanted to know the number of homes sold in the Wausau area in 2008.

Ron Zahrt, a President of First weber Group in Wausau, provided the answer with data from the Central Wisconsin Multiple Listing Service.

Wausau area single family home sales from 1/1/2008 - 10/5/2008

1034 homes were sold so far in 2008.

Average sales price is $142,803. 

Average number of days on the market is 130 days.

The median sales price in the Wausau area is $129,900.

We hope that was helpful. If you have a question, please send us a note using the "ask a question" button on the top left of the screen.

Sick of hearing negative real estate stories in the media? 

Us too!

We are happy to share the results of the Multiple Listing Service's Economic and Market Watch report.

All average sales prices are up, and the number of homes sold in quarter 2 is up.

Looks positve to me! 

Continue reading "Postive statistics for metro Milwaukee real estate"

According to an article in the Wall Street Journal online "The Housing Crisis is over"

Written by Cyril Moulle-Berteaux, the article states despite the gloomy headlines in traditional media, April 2008 was the likely the bottom of the U.S housing market.  Reaching the bottom doesn't mean by next year we will be seeing double digit increases in prices, but at least things will no longer be getting worse.

Well, that is something.  We'll take it!  But of course it is not that simple.

Mr. Moulle-Berteaux, a managing partner with Traxis Partners LP which is a hegde fund firm in New York also stated "We are of course experiencing a housing bust, with serious consequences that are still unfolding. The odds are the reverberations will lead to subtend growth for a couple of years. Nonetheless, housing led us into this credit crisis and this recession. It is likely to lead us out. And that process is underway right now."

PMI Mortgage Insurance Company recently published a report called United States Market Risk Index.  In it, the 50 largest metro areas (MSAs) across the country are given a US Market Risk Index score which predicts the probability that house prices will be lower in 2 years than they are at the time of the report.  The worst markets, including Las Vegas and Phoenix, have a Risk rank of 1, or High.  Their PMI US Market Risk indexes (percentage of probability that prices would be lower two years from now) were 91.9% and 84.0% respectively

Milwaukee/Waukesha/West Allis Metropolitain Statistical area (the only statistical area in Wisconsin tracked in this report) received a risk rank score of 5 = Minimal risk. 

The PMI US Market Risk Index for this area was just 1.5%.  In other words, according to this report, there is less than 2% chance for price declines in Milwaukee/Waukesha/West Allis MSA the next 2 years.

That's the best news I have heard in a long time and hopefully the last piece of the puzzle for any buyer wondering if buying real estate in Wisconsin is a good idea.  To move ahead, please contact First Weber Group, we sell real estate all over Wisconsin and can help.

CnnMoney.com and Fortune Small Business have rated the top 100 places in the country to "Live and Launch" a business.  Two cities in Wisconsin made the list and they are...........................

#46 Madison, Wisconsin

#71 Brookfield, Wisconsin

Not bad!  More businesses equal higher tax base and potentialy lower property taxes.  And being on lists like these, of which there are many variations, adds the the attractiveness of our Wisconsin Communities.

As posted a while back on this blog, Milwaukee was listed as a top place to live by AARP if you are over 50 and Middleton, Wisconsin was voted #1 place to live by Money Magazine in July of 2007.

Every state has it's share of bad news in the national press, which includes Wisconsin, so it is kind of nice to get a pat on the back everyonce in a while!