First Weber Group REALTORS®: Wisconsin Real Estate

October was a fantastic month for Metro Milwaukee residential real estate! (November had good news too, but we'll get to that later)  These statistics are courtesy of the Metro Milwaukee Multiple Listing Service.

Sales soared 33% over October of last year. 

1191 homes were sold MLS wide October, 2007.

1093 homes were sold October, 2008

1464 homes were sold this October, 2009.

The First Time Homebuyer credit certainly had something to do with this. The credit, due to expire November 30, had many buyers scrambling to close by then. Thankfully, on November 7, 2009, the credit was extended until April 30, 2009 with extra time added to close.  (That's November's good news so far)  Normally, November's sales slow down - a simple seasonal thing.  It will be very interesting to see November's sales this year. I am betting they will be strong!

This is all great news for Wisconsin homeowners!  If you have Wisconsin real estate market question, please send us a comment and let us know what you are looking for.

WRA: Wisconsin Housing Market May Be Stabilizing The Wisconsin REALTORS® Association (WRA) reports that the state’s residential real estate market is showing signs of stabilization. The WRA recorded a 10.5 percent decline in statewide home sales during the second quarter, which was well below the steep reductions in Wisconsin sales volume that have been reported over the previous few quarters. WRA Chairman Michael Mulleady comments, “Overall, the reduction in existing home sales of 10.5 percent, comparing the second quarter of 2009 with the second quarter of 2008, was much more moderate than we experienced earlier in the recession where the average decline has been much steeper. . . . This is the first indication that we may be getting ready to turn the corner on real estate in the state.” WRA President William Malkasian added that the new federal tax credit for first-time home buyers has definitely enticed more purchases of so-called “starter homes,” a trend that brought down the state median price. Read the whole article at Milwaukee Business Journal (WI) (08/12/09)  As posted in the REALTOR Newswire

By Scott Swick, General Sales Manager, First Weber Group Fond du Lac

We work so hard to help sellers learn to think like buyers instead of like sellers. We help them price their home so buyers will see it as the best deal on the market, assist them in preparing their home for sale so they get the highest price. And we help them get those buyers’ attention.  And one of the smartest things a seller can do to get their home sold, especially if they have an older home, is to offer a home warranty.

A home warranty is like putting an insurance policy on your home. It covers many of the things that homebuyers are most worried about: will the furnace fail right after I buy this home? What do I do if the plumbing springs a leak? What happens when the dishwasher stops working?

First-time homebuyers are even more fearful. Because it’s their first home, they worry about getting taken advantage of because of their inexperience. And if you think about it, the first time homebuyers are often buying older homes that might have issues with their electrical system, the roofing might need to be replaced, or some other nightmare.   

The basic home warranty policy covers all the mechanical issues: the heating and cooling system, the plumbing system, the electrical system, and the appliances. If they want to upgrade the warranty further, they can get coverage for roof leaks, for additional mechanical items such as hot water heaters or hot tubs, etc.

But the best part of it all is that a home warranty doesn’t just protect the buyer, it protects the seller in two ways.  First, the home warranty covers the home as soon as it is listed for sale. If any of the covered items fail during the listing period, the home warranty pays for the repairs.

The second way is that after you sell your home, you have a wonderful peace of mind. You don’t have to worry that something is going to go wrong with your previous home and the buyer is going to get upset and start calling you demanding you fix it, or harassing you if you are reluctant to do so. You know that it is covered with the home warranty. 

 At First Weber Realtors, our home warranty company, Universal Home Protection, has the basic coverage for approximately $425. Additional coverage for other items are available. That may sound like a lot, but it is nothing compared to the peace of mind it offers.  The best part is though that it really helps buyers feel confident about buying your home.  If you had a choice between two fairly equal homes, and one had a home warranty and the other didn’t, which one would you choose?

By Scott Swick, First Weber Group. Article originally appeared in July 14, 2009 in the FdlReporter

When my parents enrolled me in school, there was a widespread belief that if a kid started early, he or she would do better in school.

But unlike the early education opportunities we have today, this just meant you were the youngest kid in your class…and I didn't do so well at first.

My elementary school days were marked with great fear and trepidation twice a year: report card day for each semester. It wasn't until my junior high years that my grades started steadily improving. So in my elementary school days, most of my dad's withering inquiries into my grades (he was a college professor), my response was frequently something like, "Yes, but…"

So today, as we look into Fond du Lac Real Estate's mid-term report card, I can offer three "Yes, buts…" for people to understand the current real estate market accurately.

Home sales are lower than at this time last year

Yes, but they are improving.

By the end of June, home sales in Fond du Lac County were down 24 percent year-to-date compared to 2008. If we take a look into 2008, home sales were down that year as well, but were improving steadily as the year went on. By August, sales were showing year-over-year increases each month.

But then the "second 9/11" happened. It was during the ninth month of 2008 that the banks, starting with Lehman Brothers Bank, started filling Chapter 11 (bankruptcy). The stock market dropped dramatically, Americans stopped spending, and the real estate in the stable markets like Wisconsin fell off 30 to 35 percent each month year-over-year.

This continued into February of 2009, and then we started to a lessening of the real estate sales decline. The decreases in March, April, May and June were not as bad of decreases compared to October through February.

But the real news for Fond du Lac is the big jump in buyer activity (showings, offers and accepted offers) that has occurred over the last 45 days. These will translate into higher sales (closings) in July, August and beyond. In our office, we had more than twice the number of accepted offers in June than in May (117 percent increase) and July is also ahead of June. And we're starting to get calls from people who, as they watch their neighbors' homes get accepted offers, now want to get their homes listed as well.

The biggest question that remains for Fond du Lac right now is simply: What will happen with Mercury Marine?

Our nearest neighbor, the Milwaukee metro market, has already seen improvement in home sales this year. For the last two months in a row, Milwaukee County sold more homes in May and June than they had in the same two months of last year. The surrounding counties saw less decline than they had since the banks started imploding in September.

There is an adage in real estate that the market always heals itself from the bottom up. The lower-priced homes, for first-time home buyers and foreclosures, are selling well now. As these folks sell their homes, they are ready for their move up homes, and these sellers can see their home sold, and so on.

 Home prices are holding

Yes, but those who have homes over $300,000 to sell have taken a hit.

Depending on which report you read, the Fond du Lac real estate market's home prices have either increased approximately 1 percent or decreased approximately 1 percent since a year ago. Either way, it is safe to say that, contrary to the rest of the country (especially the bellwether states of California, Arizona, Nevada, and Florida), people here have not been losing value in their homes over these tumultuous two years.

In fact, there are several "sweet spots" in the Fond du Lac market. For three-bedroom ranch homes between $100,000 and $140,000, prices have actually increased for many sellers. The other price ranges that have done well so far in 2009 are: $140,000 to $160,000, under $50,000, and homes between $200,000 and $250,000.

For homes valued at more than $300,000, this has been a tough price range to sell so far this year. In the entire county, Fond du Lac has seen only seven homes sell for more than $300,000, and only one of those sold for more than $400,000.

Except for two of those homes, the sale price was 76 percent to 85.8 percent of the original list price. Ouch! These sellers probably had to take the loss because of the need to sell. But on the whole, home prices are holding up well in Fond du Lac County.

It's still a buyers' market

Yes, but this window will most likely close by the end of the year.

It has been a buyers' market for the last two years. A buyers' market is measured by many things, but one of the most reliable methods is called the absorption rate. This compares the pace of home sales to the amount of inventory currently for sale.

In Fond du Lac County, our last sellers' market was in 2005, when we had only 7.7 months of inventory for sale at that sales rate. We moved into a balanced market in 2006 (around 10 months supply), but by the later half of 2007, we moved into a buyers' market.

Every market shift has a beginning and an end. Why do I say that the buyers' market window is closing? Consider these facts:

Between October 2008 and March 2009 we had 18 to 23 months of inventory for sale. But by the end of June, it had dropped to 11.7 months. We're getting close to a balanced market.

The list to sale ratio is improving. My last five homes I had listed, I negotiated an average sold price of 97.5 percent to the list price. The closer to full price, the more the seller is in control.

Foreclosure rates are down. That means fewer homes are being dumped on the market. Good homes are being listed and the buyers are starting to increase their urgency to get those homes.

Couple this with a gradual increase in interest rates, as well as an $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers, and it's apparent many buyers are starting to feel confident enough about the economy and their jobs, and are ready to jump back into the real estate market again.

A seller could wait until next semester's report card, but then it might be too late.

Scott W. Swick, a Fond du Lac Realtor with 10 years of experience and a partner in construction company Winfield Homes, can be reached at sswick@firstweber.com

.  Welcome Emmy Probst, Deb Jenny, Steve Hochhausen and Dan Lyne to the First Weber Team. We sincerely hope the past clients and customers of Rountree become satisfied customers and clients of First Weber Group as these 4 REALTORS sell real real estate in their new home.Roundtree Realty has merged with First Weber Group, Platteville