We are mid way through the month of September, isn’t it great that summer has finally arrived? We had an exceptional run of nice days last week and the weather over the weekend was as nice a weekend as I can remember in a long time. I had occasion to attend our statewide Wisconsin Realtor Convention last week and had an opportunity to brainstorm with a number of agents from across the state on the current market conditions. Many areas, especially the in larger markets, are definitely seeing signs of the market picking up and much of that credit is being given to the $8,000 tax credit being offered to first time Buyers. That program is due to expire at the end of November and there is some talk of a possible extension or expansion of the program in the works. That would be good news for those of us in markets with higher price ranges, especially if the program is expanded to go beyond just first time Buyers. The second home market here is the southern part of the state as well as the northern part of the state remains sluggish with lots of questions in terms of what it will take to give the second home Buyers the confidence to decide to move forward and take some action now. With much concern about job losses, healthcare debates, talk of higher taxes and the possibility of increasing deficits, it makes the job of selling people on the idea of considering a second home purchase at this time increasingly difficult. I’ve had several discussions the last couple of weeks with potential Buyers who think that they can come in with extremely low, unrealistic offers and that Sellers should be willing to give them serious consideration. There was an article in the Chicago Tribune recently that I have been able to use with many of these types of Buyers that basically says Sellers in several of the resort markets are not giving their properties away and that Buyers need to keep this in mind when it comes to second homes. There was a local real estate agent interviewed who has done very little second home business around the lake but in spite of that, he made some good points and the author of the article did not seem to try to change the basic message he and the agents from the other markets seemed to be making. I’ve included a link to that article below. I remain hopeful that this will be the year that the post Labor Day selling season will outperform the traditional summer season and that we’ll end the year on a high note.
Chicago Tribune Article