Finally ... Pier Protection Act Signed into Law
By: Tom Larson
After more than four years of confusion and uncertainty about the legal status of existing piers, waterfront property owners can now breathe a sigh of relief. On April 1, 2008, Governor Doyle signed into law the Pier Protection Act (2007 Wisconsin Act 204), legislation that grandfathers 99 percent of existing piers from future regulations.
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Thursday, June 12, 2008
Saturday, June 7, 2008
State of the Market
According to the News, the real estate market is in dire straights.
The fact of the matter is, its a great time to be buying a home, with many great deals being offered, excellent interest rates and a good ion to choose from.
Dont get me wrong, is the market off a bit for sellers? Yes, but having come off a long aggressive appreciation run, the market had to correct some to balance out property values vs. income increase. Bottom line, housing affordability was getting out of reach and something had to give.
With that said, many sellers have owned their homes for a number of years and are sitting on a decent equity position, and although they wont profit as much as theyd hoped, they are still in a good position for selling.
Its ironic how sellers were excited to sell during the "boom" at a good price and then pay top dollar for a replacement property, which had a 50/50 chance of appreciating or going down in value. Conversely, now they struggle with the concept of having to accept a bit less for their property to get a great deal on a replacement property that assuredly is in a much better position to appreciate???
In summary, if youre a potential buyer, get out there and BUY! If youre a seller, consult with a real estate professional to determine a REALISTIC value for your property, do what you have to do andtake advantage of positioning yourself for better equity gains in the future as the market recovers. Yes, it will recover, the sky has not fallen.
The fact of the matter is, its a great time to be buying a home, with many great deals being offered, excellent interest rates and a good ion to choose from.
Dont get me wrong, is the market off a bit for sellers? Yes, but having come off a long aggressive appreciation run, the market had to correct some to balance out property values vs. income increase. Bottom line, housing affordability was getting out of reach and something had to give.
With that said, many sellers have owned their homes for a number of years and are sitting on a decent equity position, and although they wont profit as much as theyd hoped, they are still in a good position for selling.
Its ironic how sellers were excited to sell during the "boom" at a good price and then pay top dollar for a replacement property, which had a 50/50 chance of appreciating or going down in value. Conversely, now they struggle with the concept of having to accept a bit less for their property to get a great deal on a replacement property that assuredly is in a much better position to appreciate???
In summary, if youre a potential buyer, get out there and BUY! If youre a seller, consult with a real estate professional to determine a REALISTIC value for your property, do what you have to do andtake advantage of positioning yourself for better equity gains in the future as the market recovers. Yes, it will recover, the sky has not fallen.
Are we at the Bottom Yet?
Are we near or at the bottom? This is a question Im often asked and I want to share some insight on the subject.
In our area, we are seeing a steady level of buyer activity. Not as much as a couple years ago, but buyers are out looking and making offers. Couple that with a lessening inventory, due to a slower rate of new listings entering the market and some sellers taking their properties off the market to wait things out (because they havent been there long enough and have enough equity to adjust to the market) and it appears that the market has reached or is very near the bottom.
So where do we go from here? Well, dont expect a race back up to 2004 sales levels, but we should see a steady market improvement, as sellers continue to accept the current market conditions and buyers begin to worry about prices going up and having missed the bottom.
A few factors that will greatly infuence the recovery the News Medias overblown negative coverage of the markets condition (negatively infuences consumer confidence) and the level of forclosures.
I beleive once the presidential election is over and the media can move on from trying to influence change in the oval office, theyll move on to other things and slack off on trying to convince us that the sky is falling in on our economy.
Foreclosures are less predictable. The Feds interest rate cuts will help some home owners with adjustable rate mortages, but many are delinquent on their payments already, so keeping their interst rate the same wont help them. Therfore the number of new forclosures is somewhat unpredictable.
The challenges the foreclosures have facilitated are banks have on average settled on 15% less than their originall asking price, making regular price cuts until buyers take action on it and when foclosure properties sell, they dont free up a homeowner to become a buy up buyer, it simply gets the bank off the hook.
Currently, were seeing a leveling off of the new forclosure listings rate and buyer numbers are steady to slightly increasing, which has them moving on to considering more privately held properties, therfore freeing up the buy ups. If this continues, well see the return of multiple offers on properties and sellers will begin to hold out for a little more, and the recovery will have begun.
In our area, we are seeing a steady level of buyer activity. Not as much as a couple years ago, but buyers are out looking and making offers. Couple that with a lessening inventory, due to a slower rate of new listings entering the market and some sellers taking their properties off the market to wait things out (because they havent been there long enough and have enough equity to adjust to the market) and it appears that the market has reached or is very near the bottom.
So where do we go from here? Well, dont expect a race back up to 2004 sales levels, but we should see a steady market improvement, as sellers continue to accept the current market conditions and buyers begin to worry about prices going up and having missed the bottom.
A few factors that will greatly infuence the recovery the News Medias overblown negative coverage of the markets condition (negatively infuences consumer confidence) and the level of forclosures.
I beleive once the presidential election is over and the media can move on from trying to influence change in the oval office, theyll move on to other things and slack off on trying to convince us that the sky is falling in on our economy.
Foreclosures are less predictable. The Feds interest rate cuts will help some home owners with adjustable rate mortages, but many are delinquent on their payments already, so keeping their interst rate the same wont help them. Therfore the number of new forclosures is somewhat unpredictable.
The challenges the foreclosures have facilitated are banks have on average settled on 15% less than their originall asking price, making regular price cuts until buyers take action on it and when foclosure properties sell, they dont free up a homeowner to become a buy up buyer, it simply gets the bank off the hook.
Currently, were seeing a leveling off of the new forclosure listings rate and buyer numbers are steady to slightly increasing, which has them moving on to considering more privately held properties, therfore freeing up the buy ups. If this continues, well see the return of multiple offers on properties and sellers will begin to hold out for a little more, and the recovery will have begun.
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