Let’s all hope the politicians in Washington have gotten it right. The details of the “Housing Rescue Plan” are due to be released this week and it has the potential of offering some badly needed help to get the real estate market back on track and moving forward in a positive way. My understanding is that it will be a plan to help those who are headed for the foreclosure process as a way to help them avoid losing their homes and in doing so, give the market a shot in the arm by reducing the negative effects foreclosures are having on the market. Another program announced last month as part of the Stimulus Package was geared specifically to help first time Buyers and offered an $8,000 tax credit to those who step up and purchase a home in the calendar year 2009. Under this program the credit does not have to be paid back provided the Buyer stays in the home for 3 years. You can click here to learn more details of the program. There were high hopes that this program would have had a broader scope and applied to other purchases, such as second homes, but that was not the case.
We’ve seen the activity in our market begin to slowly pick up although the sales are still somewhat spotty with many Buyers driving a hard bargain and expecting a lot of negotiating on price, based on what they are hearing and reading. This is typical of the kind of mind set that many people have based on what they hear in the news these days. In response to a question from a customer this week, I ran a report from our Multiple Listing Service showing that year to date in 2009 the average list to sell ratio for sales in Walworth County is at 92% or close to just an 8% reduction off the asking price. Of course there is a difficulty with looking at averages, meaning that it does not take into account a number of important factors such as how realistic the initial asking price was and more importantly whether there had been any reductions on the Sellers part to the asking price, which would lead one to logically assume that the percentage would be smaller. It just makes it that much more important for good agents to have a positive outlook and be armed and ready to present the real facts and figures to help the public see the light. I believe the market will continue to improve as we get into the nicer weather, assuming we are close to having seen the last of the snow and extreme cold weather.
For all your Real Estate needs in Lake Geneva, WI contact Bob Webster at Keefe Real Estate at 800-364-7579 or go to www.LakeGenevaProperty to search for a home or condominium anywhere in the Lake Geneva area.