A Spring Thaw Indeed!

Traditionally, Chicagoans could count on two springtime occurrences: an early April snowstorm and a ramp-up in real estate sales. The former came right on schedule this year, socking the Windy City with up to 5 inches of the fluffy white stuff. But the latter? Well, many Chicagoans weren’t so sure. However a number of recent data points, including @properties’ own sales figures, do indeed point to a spring thaw in the real estate market. And the news is as welcome as the season’s first tulips peeking through the soil in Grant Park.

First comes word from the National Association of Realtors® that pending home sales rose 2.1 percent between January and February. The leading indicator is a sign that sales activity is due to pick up in the coming months. Contributing to this theory is another NAR report from late March that shows housing affordability at its highest level EVER. According to NAR, “The Housing Affordability Index shows that the relationship between home prices, mortgage interest rates and family income is the most favorable since tracking began in 1970.”

Yes, it is literally the best time to buy a home in 40 years.

At least that’s the view from 30,000 feet. But what’s happening on the ground? At @properties, we’ve been experiencing a steady increase in web traffic, showings and most importantly sales. In fact, sales have increased week by week throughout the spring, climbing from $14.8 million for the last week of February to $29.8 million for the last week of March.

In addition, first-time buyers seem to be warming up to the $8,000 federal tax credit, which requires that a home purchase be made within the next seven and a half months — by Nov. 30. According to the National Association of Home Builders, 1.5 million visitors logged onto the government web site (http://www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com/) between February and March.

Yes, it’s springtime in Chicago, and after a long, long winter, things are finally beginning to heat up. For more information about today’s real estate market or any other questions on buying or selling a home, please contact us today at kjpremier@atproperties.com.

What does all this mean anyway?!

Well, the house voted down the bailout bill yesterday.  I’ll be honest, I had to do some further research to understand myself a little better what this means for me and you.  From what I can tell, this is good news.  We obviously need something to happen, but we don’t want the government to buy all of these bad loans.  We want the investors, those who have the money to burn, and who are liquid, to buy up these bad loans.  For them, this means that when the market rebounds, they will have bought distressed properties at an extremely low price, and be doing very well once prices surge upwards again.  In turn, it will relieve the lending institutions of the bad loans that it’s been having to bare.

We want the government to INSURE these loans, not bail them out.  If the government assumes them, then this will trickle down to the taxpayers, aka, me and you.  We merely want the government to insure them, thus giving the lending institutions more confidence to start lending again.  Let the banks that are in trouble get bought out by those that are thriving. 

I realized that I had explained this several times on the phone today to friends, family, and clients, and thought that others out there might be confused too.  Hang on, the government will get its act together and put together a plan that makes sense, and will hopefully enable the economy to rebound after a tough Monday.  Don’t watch too much of the news, it will only depress you.  Besides, the city of Chicago is on a roll, we’re hoping for a Cubs/Sox World series.  Now that would be a shot in the arm for our city’s economy.

For more questions or help in wading through the puddles of all this talk, contact us at kjpremier@atproperties.com.