Julie Sells Dreams in Wisconsin's beautiful Northwood's

Year End Number for 2012

Some great market news for you! The real estate market across the US is performing well and the Northwoods market is too! Our second home market is finally on the rise and showing positive signs. There was an approximate increase in sales of about 20% and 2013 is starting out strong too. The numbers for January and February are looking good too! This chart is a great piece and shows you every township in Oneida and Vilas County and how they fared in several market segments. First we have broke it down to both Oneida and Vilas County and then within the county down to on and off water homes.  From here we looked at each market segment and determined the Quantity of sales; Sale price to Fair Market Value ( the value the assessor uses to establish your taxes ) and Sale price to List Price.  Things have improved over last year and below are some of what I feel are the highlights…

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·        <!--[endif]-->First, Sales price to FMV ( Fair Market Value )  has shown a stabilization in almost every market segment compared to last year (the only one slightly down was off water homes in Vilas County and that segment is down only about 3%). This is most likely due to re- assessments within several townships and the catching up of the townships to market conditions. However, either way it will help with the large discrepancy that has perplexed buyers in our market over the last 3 years. It also shows which markets were MOST hit by foreclosures – the off water markets- and you can see the effects; esp. when looking at Rhinelander which had one of the lowest Sales price to FMV in Oneida at 70%.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·        <!--[endif]-->Second again Volume was up in Both Oneida and Vilas County! One thing to note this report is on homes only – no condo’s - and we did have a lot of bank owned condos in Vilas in 2012 which may have changed these percentages quite a bit so we kept them out.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·        <!--[endif]-->Third, I think these numbers really show the strength of our waterfront market and it supports those in the industry who say that we have hit bottom.  Now there are some oddities in this report but we have some every year so we have chosen to keep them in.One example is a home in Plum Lake with a FMV of 190,000 that sold for 900,000. The other is a home in Land O Lakes with a FMV of roughly 1.5 million which sold for 3.2 million; but again we have these every year.

• Lastly, List Price to Sales price ratios… Well, I generally don’t put a lot of stock in this number because it shows the last list price NOT the original. To get a better gauge of this talk with your real estate professional to see what their personal average is. Overall, the MLS hovers around 89%-90% market wide and this chart supports the Multiple Listing Services numbers as well

So, again, what does this mean to you?

As a buyer it means IT IS TIME TO JUMP OFF THE FENCE YOU HAVE BEEN WAITING ON. Interest rates are still fantastic!

As a Seller it means come out of the gate priced to sell… if you do we are seeing buyers draft offers even in what is typically our slow season. You need a professional that prices well and can prove that to you. You also need an agent that can help you feature the BEST of your property.

As always call me Julie Winter-Paez 715.891.1236 with any questions or guidance needed in regards to real estate!