Realtors are cautiously optimistic about recent trends in home sales. They held a conference call with reporters Monday to talk about the latest statistics from the first quarter of the year. WUWM's Ann-Elise Henzl reports.
According to the Realtors' analysis, home sales dropped 8.1 percent in southeastern Wisconsin. That's not necessarily bad news, according to Mike Ruzicka, president of the Greater Milwaukee Association of Realtors. He says in many of the last 12 months, sales decreased at a much higher rate.
"Last year there were several months (where) we were in the double digits as decreases go, and it seems to indicate that there's a little bit of leveling out of the market," Ruzicka says.
Tammy Maddente is executive vice president of First Weber group, in the city's north shore and east side neighborhoods.
"I'm very cautiously optimistic. We're actually stringing more than five good days together right now, which is something we weren't able to do the last year," Maddente says.
Maddente says several factors are driving sales these days, including low interest rates and the fact that first-time homeowners are eligible for a new $8,000 federal tax credit.
"I think there's a combination of having the pent-up demand that's been out there. I can tell you I'm housed here in our northshore office and in the last week we've had five multiple offer situations, with one property having four offers on it. These people are actually pulling the trigger now," Maddente says.
Maddente also says home prices continue to be appealing.
"My husband and I had this conversation about two weeks ago: Should we be looking? We (haven't even) thought about being in the marketplace, but the prices are so good, the interest rates are so good, how can you not be looking at this marketplace," Maddente says.
However, real estate agents say buyers should realize that times are changing. Now that sales are picking up, homes aren't selling for the bargain basement prices from when the foreclosure crisis first hit. Bob Larson is general manager of First Weber in the Waukesha County area.
"The buyers haven't hit the reality yet. They're so indoctrinated by the media and by public opinion that 'now's the time to go and drive as low offers as you can,' not realizing the sellers have already adjusted their prices. They're down. So I see very, very difficult transactions, buyers are coming in with ridiculously low offers which really impedes the whole process," Larson says.
The agents say they're encouraged by recent sales trends. Mike Ruzicka of the Greater Milwaukee Association of Realtors says it's actually possible that a recovery is underway.
"It seems like 'ok, things could be gelling here, we could be on the right track,' and especially I think -- I would guess -- that the Milwaukee market is probably going to be one of the first national markets to break out of the downturn, because we didn't go up that high, we didn't go down that far," Ruzicka says.
Ruzicka says in just a few months, the trends will become more clear. He says that's when Realtors will be able to look at second quarter sales, and see if sales continue to creep upward.
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