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With all the talk about the real estate markets across the country, you're probably wondering how our market did during 2011. Amazingly, 2010 and 2011 showed almost identical home sales. The number of home sales in the area was approximately 2900 in both cases.
About 25% of those home sales were short sales. Of course, this is probably no surprise given the turmoil in the economy and real estate market in the last several years. However, experts are now predicting about 15% less short sales this year than before. This is a good sign that things are on the upswing with the economy and housing market.
We're also noticing the buyers feel that we are now at the bottom of the real estate dip. In fact, inventory is shrinking, and bank rates are still very low. In addition, some sellers are more understanding of the situation now than ever before. When you add these three factors together, you have a great combination for the real estate market.
Experts are also predicting a 5% drop in home prices in our area, which will give us a median price of around $165,000. For the first time in 20 years, we are also seeing the population drop a bit due to people moving to get deals in other depressed housing states.
Our area is still a great place to live, work and play! One popular rocker has always said “live life like you're on vacation” and we definitely do that here.
Now is a great time to buy a personal residence or even a second home. I would love to share the full details of what the market is doing here by sending you a 10 to 12 page report. I can mail it to your home or even email it. You are also welcome to call me anytime on my cell phone.
My team and I are so excited because we can now see that this year will be even better than last year!
