Home Buyers Relocation’s Weblog

Home Buyers Relocation Services:Our 20^th Anniversary —  Twenty Years on the Road Less Traveled By…. 

An Overview, in 4 parts: (a bit long…but we hope the serious reader would want to know…)

1)  What We Are Today - 2) In the Beginning - 3) The Enduring Business Plan - 4) Expectations

Today, as originally intended, we still are a small, highly personal, specialized real estate agency,  exclusively for buyers, primarily supporting families relocating into southwest Illinois….executive, military and otherwise.  Our domain is area-wide, but focused on finer homes in the best relocation venues. Paul and Merrill Ottwein, son and father, were and are the principlals of the company.  This basic business model has not changed in these twenty years, except for many enhancements, the plan deliberately and carefully matching the service to the unique needs of relocating families. .

In January of 2011, we will have been in this service niche for 20 full years, during which time we have not taken a single real estate listing.  But we have served more than 3000 home buyer families with consistent win-win results….our buyer satisfactions are consistently high, and so therefore, are ours.  It’s been such a pleasure serving this classy group, and often, their sponsors as well.  Even more than we anticipated, they feel the differences and appreciate the delivery of truly professional services. 

We’ve had comfortable offices in two great communities for nearly all of these years, friendly, functional and easy to find. With decor more brassy than classy, the family atmospher prevails.  Paul is the broker of record in Edwardsville, Merrill in O’Fallon.  While centered in top communities, others are easily accessible.  Resources within have built, too.

We are not very large…just 5 active licensees at the moment, with another on medical leave, but we consider ourselves an elite highly professional team, on the “high road” of real estate representation.  Our long-held measure of service is that we intend to deliver that which we would want for ourselves and our family.  So we’ve always been very focused on quality as opposed to quantity, and we will not compromise the overall level of service for the sake of growth.

In addition to the satisfactions born of delivering top service, our reputation is of paramount  importance to us.  The majority of our clients are referrals from other clients, or from companies that we have otherwise served, a trust we won’t betray.  

We’ve had, in fact, astonishing stability in our staff.  Paul and Merrill have each been here the entire 20 years of course, but three others are all in the range of 15 years to 18 years. (The total years all of us have been in the real estate business is in the high hundreds).  This kind of stability is unheard of in the profession.  We call ourselves in fact, “disciples” of exclusive buyer representation…we obviously like and respect each other, and very much believe we’re functioning at a very professional level, and that’s satisfaction itself.

In the very beginning, more than 20 years ago,

Paul and Merrill Ottwein, were operating a traditional franchised agency in Edwardsville and doing things pretty much the same as every other realty firm.   But we saw the relocation segment of the market growing, and over a period of time, we began to consider it more carefully.  Southwest Illinois had become a targeted residential area for the entire St. Louis area, so it appeared to be a growing opportunity. There was no single agency then devoted to that segment, nor are there any others than ours even now. 

As a market segment, relocating families had, (and have,) attractive characteristics.  They are almost always serious, dedicated buyers, with a short buying-time window.  They tend to buy larger homes.  They are intelligent and educated, and very discriminating in many ways.  They are often very experienced…except they are can be “babes in the woods” in their understanding of a new area. (They therefore are considered a class “vulnerable” to problems with agent representation.)  Their experience often includes some bad events, so many are students of agency relationships.  Finally, we suggest a bit tongue-in-cheek, they are an attractive market segment because they have no cousins in the business.  

We quickly determined that a relocation specialty was worth consideration, but to be done professionally, it would require special characteristics.  So then started the “specification” process for determining the ideal business model.

In approaching that design, we determined the best service would need these characteristics:

 

        Deep knowledge of the best relocation venues, area wide———-Experience in the business, area wide.——   A highly professional, even sophisticated level of service. ———A deep body of resources, freely delivered long before clients come to town. ——-A willingness to always commit the best agents to one-on-one service when scheduling actual community visits.———Probably, a team approach, to pool the experience and knowledge.——A totally open (now called transparent) service, full disclosure, absolute loyalty. ———-Hospitality that we would want for ourselves….off the chart. ——–In service terms, a level greater than common expectations justify.——-In terms of emotions:  ultimate comfort, confidence, convenience.

As these studies progressed, it was obvious that whatever good intentions otherwise prevailed, the package could not be consistently delivered without eliminating the potential for conflicts of interest, a  policy of NEVER serving sellers. We came to feel that we needed in fact to eliminate not only the reality but also the perception of potential conflicts of interest….that buyers could only be open and comfortable with us under those circumstances.  It therefore had to be absolute….even a few listings would seriously jeopardize the comfort and confidence we intended.  That really upped the ante.

 

So we considered this most carefully, and had learned there were a few others around the country experimenting with it.   So our research included ranging a bit to distant places, visiting with these other pioneers.   Adding to the magnitude of change this suggested, real estate service in the entire nation at that point considered itself as serving sellers exclusively, and laws supported hat. Adding to the pressure for change was that most buyers thought they were represented but indeed were not.  A watershed study of nationwide consumer attitudes by the Federal Trade Commission in 1983 found that over 80% of all buyers thought they were being  represented, but in fact, were not.

 

            Finally, we carried from the beginning an attitude that if we were going to do it at all, we were going to commit to doing it well, enhancing the differentiation, serving at the highest truly professional level possible.  We felt that clients would know and appreciate the difference…and they certainly do!

So therefore was the business plan finalized, and it hasn’t been diluted an iota over the 20 years, except that we’ve found additional avenues of service borne of the separation of representation; it’s amazing what additional opportunities we’ve found in that fact.  Of course technology has taken us into a new world, although we still adhere to a lot of old-fashioned stuff….hospitality, for instance.  A good specific example is that we still have a policy of having a human person answer the phone, even forwarding the office phone to one of the principles after hours and weekends and a few other older-fashioned ideas of personal service.  Otherwise, we’ve tried to stay “with it”!  We have great tech support in our offices, and even have a growing presence on Facebook and LinkedIn.  And we have these blogs (soon to get a major facelift and it’s supposed to be a surprise, but a separate new blog is coming called “Family Matters”, for, about,and from our wonderful alumni families. 

And the benefits of this fact were a bit of a surprise: we have this wonderful horizontal relationship to the best relocation targets, as opposed to the average agency’s more vertical relationship with a town or two.  We often do agent-switches to get the best experience to a client, of course always using the whole team for knowledge and opinion. No other agency around can touch this team’s approach to knowing this segment throughout southwest Illinois. 

And we’ve always delivered “Client-Level Service” according to the old, (still valid) Common Law of Agency.  It’sa level of service higher than real estate law requires, which calls only for “Customer Level Service,” basically, honesty and fairness.  Client-Level Service requires undiluted loyalty, full disclosure and more, which obviously can’t be delivered to more than one party in a transaction. (The Common Law of Agency has been in fact, legally abrogated or attenuated for the entire real estate community.  Oklahoma even tried to outlaw the higher-level Common Law service, in 1999, which was quickly struck down by their supreme court as blatently anti-consumer.)             

Of course, at the beginning, serving only buyers was considered a form of heresy, but we quickly got past the suspicious issues on the part of traditional agencies, and we now enjoy, (and cultivate, in fact,) a great relationship with the rest of the real estate world…cooperation to the betterment of both sellers and buyers.

 

In the beginning, we chose to have offices in the two recognized centers of relocation activity, Edwardsville/Glen Carbon and O’Fallon/Shiloh.  The Edwardsville community enjoyed the presence of Southern Illinois University, and O’Fallon nestled next to Scott Air Force Base.   That decision has been very strongly validated, although there are some great smaller communities around too, that offer a different kind of relocation community.   (Glen Carbon was named, in fact, in 2009 as one of the top 100 communities in the US by CNN’s Money Magazine, and Edwardsville was just selected as one of the top ten in the USA as most desirable in which to raise a family, by Family Circle Magazine.)   We’ve greatly appreciated serving the military community from our O’Fallon office, and almost half of our clients have military connections.  

And we had the opportunity to participate locally and nationally in the “Exclusive Buyer Agent” movement, and especially in the formation of The National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents.  Formed 4 years after we started our local business, Merrill was a charter member, and in fact, it’s first Treasurer.  Serving on the Board of Directors for more than 10 years, he served as its fourth President in 1998.  We have contributed, and have gained enormously because of this affiliation.  It’s been a great experience for us, especially Merrill.  He still contributes to several national real estate columnists and has a wide circle of industry acquaintances.  (You might google his name sometime.  These affiliations are paramount.) 

So the expectations of our buyer clients may exactly follow the specifications outlined in the above story, although we might qualify a few facets of service.  (Obviously,our sites abound with other supportive information. For overviews, there’s an “Overview” (duh!) item low on the menu, and nearby, “Differences”.)

         Free access to lots of information early still prevails. Our stuff is constantly under construction with major web site revisions on the way, plus enhanced visibility on Facebook and LinkedIn. We still require registration only where rules require, or for certain proprietary products we’ve developed with other agencies, notably, “Homework” and the “Wiser Homebuying Manual.”

            We’ve developed a detailed set of promises that are sacrosanct.  Among them are the promise to give this higher client-level of service, the promise not to assume a comitment to use our services until agreed, sometimes only after an interview, and a certain list of offenses that “We won’t do!.”  The last is based on the fact that not all deception is active….so we’ve tried to identify some passive forms in a reverse set of promises.

            And early in our practice we added a “no hustle” pledge.  We’ve always felt that decisions needed to be “built” so that when the time comes, they’re natural.  And of course, no one likes to be hurried, or “hustled” into decisions before they’re comfortable.  So for lack of a better term, we have the “No-Hustle Pledge”.  (We admit it’s a bit weaker than the successful “No Wine Before it’s Time” campaign.)  And we do not make uninvited phone calls.

            We quickly and greatly elevated the importance of resaleability in the specs of our relocation buyers.   We consider it, for the whole, and especially the military community, an essential  buying goal.  That’s all consistent with the principle that we believe we set our clients up to  make the most money when they resell the home we help them buy!  (We can’t always promise  big discounts from asking price, but we can promise consideration of re-sale potential.)

            Finally, we’re still committed to one-on-one service with an outstanding, experienced agent while clients are in town.  We schedule an “agent-week”, which usually starts on a weekend, or on Monday, with a week being a good conservative average time for a great search to a good conclusion, assuming the client does some homework before arrival, easy nowadays.

            But we can’t schedule more than one client per agent, either.  On occasion, even already lately, we’ve had to suggest an alternative schedule, or a different agent.  And if search times don’t exactly mesh with “agent-weeks”, then we may need to do a bit of tag-teaming with other agents  or sometimes, even refer the clients to another agency, heaven forbid!   So we need to request careful advance scheduling and very much appreciate the consideration.

            There is therefore, a certain incompatibility with local clients, who are in and out over a longer period.  While we do take some locals, we do need to warn them of the potential for schedule conflicts, out-of-towners having preference.

Wow….it seems we’ve covered a lot here, even a recitation of our mission, our policies and procedures and even our intentions.  As we work in our 20^th year, we’re trying to re-work much of our materials, and do hope this is a more interesting way of presenting it.

Enormous thanks goes to all of our former clients, with deep appreciation for their confidence and patronage, and for their many referrals of their friends.  That we recognize as a precious gift and we won’t betray that kind of confidence for anything!  This has been a wonderful journey for us with enormous satisfactions borne of serving simply-incredible people!

 

Paul and Merrill

With increasing frequency, the popular news media are talking about “Exclusive Buyer Representation.     The first 5 below have been published in recent months.

 

There’s also been an interview recently with NAEBA’s president, on Good Morning America.  We should be supplied with a clip of that soon.

But the most recent one indorsement, a very open recommendation from HUD, follows.  Please review it.  Most of us are astonished that HUD first of all knows the difference, but also has the courage to publish it, knowing many main-line realtors will be reading. 

 Applause from Informed Observers: Regularly, there are comments from informed observers in the consumer press that laud the concept of exclusive buyer representation.  Recently, articles have appeared in these publications lauding the exclusive brand of buyer representation:              Smart Money - Newsweek  - USA Today  -  US News & World Report, and Kiplinger’s And….

But in a brand new HUD brochure on “Shopping for your Home Loan”, this text is quoted:

US Department of Housing and Urban Development Releases Latest Version of Shopping for your Home Loan
HUD Booklet advises buyers to search for an agent who will represent their interests in real estate transaction
 
AVONDALE, AZ January 01, 2010 – In its first revision in over 10 years, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) advises home buyers that it is their responsibility to search for a real estate agent that will represent their interests. In Shopping for Your Home Loan - HUD’s Settlement Cost Booklet, HUD states: “If you want someone to represent only your interests, consider hiring an ‘exclusive buyer’s agent,’ who will be working for you.”
 
The National Association of Exclusive Buyers Agents (NAEBA) views this as an important element of the new era of home buying.             (Merrill has had a prominent role in the National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents.  He was a charter member, its first Treasurer and its fourth President…more under “scrapbook”.)
 

End

Wow….are Edwardsville/Glen Carbon ever on a roll!   Big-time publicity for both!  (remember, they’re sister cities and have a common school district.)They both get national recognition for great places to live! First, Money Magazine ranked Glen Carbon among the top 100 places to live in the entire

USA!  (a short resume is below including a link to Money Magazine.)Then, Family Circle Magazine has just named Edwardsville as one of the top 10 cities in the entire USA in which to raise a family!  The entire news story is reprinted below, (which includes links to

Great

Schools and Family Circle Magazine.) 

Best Places to Live - Money’s list of America’s best small towns.   

Glen Carbon Ranked Among Top 100 Best Places To Live in USA    Glen Carbon is ranked among the top 100 best places to live according to (click link) Money Magazine. Glen Carbon, with a population of 12,500, is praised for its wide selection of affordable housing, abundant vegetation, and its strong community spirit. Money Magazine’s researchers surveyed small towns across America, gathering data on their unemployment levels, crime rates, school systems and housing costs. Based on this research, Glen Carbon is recognized among American’s best places to live!   

—————————————————————————    

(The following is the announcement of the most recent Edwardsville honor, as published in the Edwardsville     Intelligencer, that Edwardsville had been named in the top 10 cities in the nation in which to raie a family….an award from “Family Circle” magazine:)     Edwardsville gets top 10 nod  

District 7 a big selling point   By ANN NICCUM aniccum@edwpub.netPublished: Thursday, July 8, 2010 11:14 AM CDT   The news is spreading about the city ofEdwardsville being named one of the top 10 places across the country to raise a family by “Family Circle” magazine.  

Edwardsville Mayor Gary Niebur was obviously excited about it. “Our community is pleased and honored to receive such distinguished recognition,” Niebur said.  Niebur said the magazine is properly heralded as one of the nation’s leading and most highly respected publications.“  It is one of the largest national magazines with a circulation of 3.8 million and an estimated readership of 20 million,” Niebur said. “This wonderful recognition is a tribute to our residents, volunteers, community and service organizations, service and program providers and our business and professional community.”  

Niebur added, “What we see is seemingly simple: a quiet community that is viewed by others as an amazingly wonderful place. It is seen as one of the country’s 10 best places to raise a family. But, it is actually the product of hard work, constant self-evaluation and the dedicated involvement by volunteers who give of themselves in many, many different ways. Those volunteers offer a community spirit not seen everywhere.” 

Edwardsville/Glen Carbon Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Carol Foreman agreed.“It is nice to receive national recognition for what we’ve always known to be true,” Foreman said. “We at the Chamber are excited that the word is out about Edwardsville.”

Edwardsville School District Superintendent Dr. Ed Hightower said he too was thrilled with the news.“I think most of our residents would agree that this is an outstanding place to raise a family and educate our children.”Hightower, one of a very few around the community who knew the city was being considered for the honor, said the school district was “very involved” in the selection process.Hightower said Family Circle contacted District 7 early on in the process recognizing that a strong school district and strong community go hand-in-hand. However, he did note those involved had to keep the news under wraps, because any leaking of the information to the press or public would have resulted in disqualification from consideration. 

Hightower said that what the Family Circle staff seemed most impressed by, however, was the District’s goal of giving back to the community and the fact that students, parents and staff fully embraced the challenge to do just that.“They were astonished that athletes do volunteer work, performing arts students entertain at senior centers and kids from kindergarten through high school have raised more than $100,000 for local, national and international charities. I think our students commitment to community service really helped set us apart from other communities. We also want to thank the Gianaris family for taking the time to promote our town and our school district,” Hightower said.“District 7 covers 185 square miles and encompasses two suburban communities, several small towns, and a large, unincorporated rural area within its boundaries. We are fortunate to be home to quality communities and quality citizens from border to border. Whenever one of our District 7 communities is recognized, we can all take pride.” 

According to Seema Nayyar of Family Circle, one of the most useful references they found was the District 7’s Web site www.ecusd7.org. Nayyar said it served as a great window into the District 7 community, its students, staff and parents and led the Family Circle staff to the kinds of information that cemented Edwardsville’s place in the top 10.Nayyar also noted the community’s support of new school buildings through building referendums and the philanthropic support of the EGHM Foundation and other private donors that have brought outstanding athletic facilities to District 7. 

Niebur added that the city has been blessed with several quality schools. “This is a community that enjoys and insists upon high quality education for our children. But, we are not only blessed with an outstanding public school system, we have great parochial schools as well. Moreover, we have the tremendous honor of serving as home  to Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and hosting a local campus of Lewis and ClarkCommunity College.”  

Along with Edwardsville, the other cities named to the list were: Edmond, Oklahoma; Hampton Township, Pennsylvania; La Verne, California; Windsor, Colorado; Round Rock, Texas; Simpsonville, South Carolina; Bristol, Rhode Island; Meridian, Idaho; and Bettendorf, Iowa.  

The magazine said the cities were selected based on the results of its exclusive survey to identify the best towns and cities cross the country for families.“The communities featured in the magazine’s annual roundup of perfect places to call home combine affordable housing, good neighbors, green spaces, strong public school systems and giving spirits,” the magazine stated in a news release. 

The magazine said it partnered with Onboard Informatics, a New York City research firm that provides real estate, demographic and other data, to assemble an initial list of 1,700 cities and towns with populations between 15,000 and 150,000. The magazine then selected approximately 800 of the communities with a high concentration of households with an average income of $75,000 and assessed them further based upon which places met their “family-friendly criteria” including affordable homes, quality schools, access to health care, green space, low crime rate and financial stability. 

The cities were ranked based upon the information above and narrowed down to 25 and then they began conducting interviews with school district and community officials and other local residents to determine their 10 best list. In addition, the magazine used Greatschools.net, a nonprofit Web site with a mission to improve education by inspiring parents to get involved, to provide them with the public school ratings used in the town rankings.  The magazine gave the city of

Edwardsville the following ratings: Population: 25,263; Median Income: $63,490; Median Home Price: $152,000; Households with Children: 31 percent; Student/Teacher Ratio: 15:1; and Great Schools Rating: 9 (out of 10).

The magazine also used the story of Ted and Jennifer Gianaris and their six children to illustrate why Edwardsville is a top 10 city for families – from the quality of the schools to the students involvement of in the community to the volunteerism of the community as a whole and the fundraising efforts put forth that have given the community things like its newest YMCA building to the Watershed Nature Center.   Even the Humane Society is mentioned as it is one of many places students from District 7 volunteer.Executive Director of the Metro East Humane Society Charles “Skip” Schmidt said the city is “very deserving” of the award.Schmidt, a long-time resident, has been active in many organizations in the community and most recently was named the director of MEHS, a non-profit organization that serves five counties and is based in Edwardsville.  

As part of the city’s profile, the magazine states, “students from all grades are asked to step up, whether it means visiting senior citizens or walking dogs for the Humane Society.”Schmidt said that is a true statement. He said the community is very supportive of MEHS and the students from District 7 are part of their volunteer base.“  

This is definitely a volunteer community,” Schmidt said.Schmidt said his family was very fortunate to find this community after his wife received a position at SIUE.“We moved here in 1989 to raise our family,” Schmidt said. “We love it here.”  

The magazine also used a photo provided by Edwardsville Police Lt. Scott Evers, who is also know around town for his talent and love of photography.The rankings are available in the August 2010 edition of “Family Circle” or can be currently seen on the Family Circle Web site at www.familycircle.com by clicking on “10 Best Towns for Families: 2010.” 

Could this be the time to buy?

The following article is quoted in its entirety.  It was written and published by Amy Hoak, in Market Watch, recently.  It’s a great summary and we generally agree, except that the comments about new home construction does not prevail in our community.  That was worked off a year ago.  Builders are back to building “inventory” homes, but they are not ahead of the real market at all.Could this actually be the best time to buy? It may be moment you’re looking for By Amy HoakMarketWatch CHICAGO—People are afraid to buy a home in times like these, with the economy tanking and home prices continuing to fall.  But if you’re brave enough to stray from the herd, you might be in for the home-buying opportunity of a lifetime. Ask for price reductions, improvements, closing costs—whatever—and the seller, desperately trying to get a contract, is very likely to work with you, said Jay Papasan, one of authors of the book “Your First Home.”  When the market starts improving, your negotiating power starts to diminish, he added. If you’re qualified to buy a home now, the purchase makes sense for your situation and you’re prepared to live in that home for at least five years, there are reasons why you may be headed for a great deal: 1.  Affordability is better than ever.According to the National Association of Realtors’ housing affordability index, homes were more affordable in December than at any other point since the group started the index in 1970.  The affordability index is a measure of the relationship between home prices, mortgage interest rates and family income. John and Julie Chilman, for example, recently have been able to stretch their dollars in the

Las Vegas area.  The listing price for the five-bedroom home they’re buying was $265,000; they offered $250,000. “Our Realtor was like `Yeah, pipe dream. Like they’re going to take that,’” John Chilman said.  “And all they did was counter $255,000 … and they’re paying all closing costs.” The home had lingered on the market, and was listed for $310,000 just six months ago, he said. 2.  You have a large inventory to choose from.In many places it is taking months to sell a home, creating loads of inventory — from new homes to existing homes to foreclosures.  There was a 12.9-month supply of inventory in December given that month’s sales pace, according to NAR.  A large selection gives buyers more choices and drives down prices.  And home sellers have gotten the picture. 3.  Builders are offering big discounts.Homebuilders are getting even more aggressive with their pricing.  In fact, Fadel recommends looking at completed new homes first because builders are offering such steep discounts.  Plus, you’d have a warranty not only on the home itself, but also on the home’s appliances, he said. 4.   Mortgage rates are historically low.It’s not just the price of the home that will affect affordability; mortgage terms will also affect your monthly payments. 

The Perfect Rainbow, Revisited

This is a re-work of a letter published here last fall, but the sentiment is so appropriate, I thought it justified an update. Of course, you will recall the popular movie of a couple of years ago called The Perfect Storm!   It was an unlikely but memorable name, and The Perfect Rainbow is a lot more positive!  And this is not to say the storm we have had was perfect, but it was a pretty darned good one. So it’s good that we should expect a pretty-darned good rainbow. And that’s what we believe prevails, market wise, so it’s an appropriate analogy.  It’s a bit counter-intuitive, because the media and others have installed high levels of wariness, but we do not recall circumstances any more promising in recent years, and the surge in the market so far in 2010 says that many consumers feel the same. 

·        There is good inventory fromwhich to choose.

·        The values are stable and realistic, and not likely, it appears, to go lower.

·        The asking price versus selling price ratios are getting smaller.

The competition is not yet outrageous, but building.

• Money is easily available, at all-time low rates, (but rates appear anxious to rise.)
• The affordability index is at an all time high.

 

(please pardon the disparity of button size above….I can’t get them = for anything!)Of course we would more than ever recommend great care in buying; to minimize risks and maximize enjoyment and resale.   That is where we come in.  

But we’re envisioning historically “best times to buy” that may not return even in (some of our) lifetimes!   If you want to talk about it with me, use 800-231-5588.

 Merrill Ottwein

New market study and important links.

Here….we simply have two new references for you, to help follow the real estate markets in southwest

Illinois.  And, until we find a place for it on the main site, a new school tool, especially oriented toward the military family.  Here they are: www.YourIllinoisHome.com is a site provided by the Illinois Association of Realtors that follows market trends and has great comment about home buying in general.This is a site produced by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight.  They are the government folks that are in charge of the recovery, supervising Fannie, Freddie and all those new tax dollars.  Here is their site, if you have an urge to look inside the whole.   If the URL of the link above doesn’t work, it is www.ofheo.gov/newsroom.aspx.

A great school survey, especially for the military family, is being provided by our friend Cindy Doil, (Rotary-friend that is, our outgoing, wonderful president.)  This should be Cindy’s link, but the url is www.Webpages.charter.net/cdoil.

Then, it was interesting to see that Family Circle magazine, in bestowing the honor of the 3^rd best city in the

USA upon Edwardsville this last week, used

www.greatschools.com for their school data.Thanks….Merrill

Local Real Estate Market Data –

Southwest Illinois Multiple Listing Service First half of 2010: The data below shows we’re normalizing and all moving in the right direction.   Significant, and consistent with what we’re finding locally, the list to sell ratios have stayed about the same, as well as the days on market.    We’re finding that values have really not changed much, (comparing it to national data where reports of continued value losses abound.)  And these days on market for good properties are not significantly different than in boom times…it takes 60-90 days at best to close on a listing.   (There are homes for sale that have been on the market for extremely long periods of time, usually because of problems.  A minimum of those must be included here, or the averages would have been higher.)    

We do observe that the second quarter showed more interest in higher-value homes, probably a result of the termination of the first-time buyer incentives at the end of April.Finally, it’s consistent with our experience that good product, even in these days, does not stay on the market long.  We’ve experienced some competition, even, on these.  We persist in believing it’s truly a great time to buy a home.   Earlier comments about “The Perfect Rainbow” are valid, provided extreme care is used in the purchase process.

So, residential sales for the first 6 m0nths of 2010:

         Madison County sales were up 21.39%

         St. Clair County sales were up 20.24%