This is the Beginning!

This is a great week for me to start my blog. Being involved in residential real estate sales, these last 18 months have been unlike any I've seen before. After having said this, I have to admit that although what we are experiencing in Greater Lafayette is not what a Realtor would dream of, it is no where close to being as difficult as what is portrayed in other parts of the country on the national news

The Lafayette Realtor community has been fighting hard to inform our local consumers that our market has not faced the dramatic declines in value that California, Florida, Nevada and Arizona have experienced. It continues to be safe to buy and own real estate in Greater Lafayette. In a later post I will present the findings of some research I did last month about home values in Tippecanoe County. However, to give you a sneak peak, the results are encouraging.

So here is where I am going. I was excited to learn on Monday afternoon while in a meeting with Randy Williams, President of the Lafayette Savings Bank, that the most recent Federal Housing Finance Agency's Housing Index Report states that of the 292 Metropolitan Statistical Areas in the US, Greater Lafayette measured number 26 in home appreciation rates. According to their data, in the fourth quarter of 2008, home prices were up by 2.28% compared to a year earlier.

We have been boasting all along that Greater Lafayette's housing experience is different from the rest of the country. It is nice to have some nationally prepared data to back it up. What is equally encouraging is the news was the headline story on the front page of this morning's "Journal and Courier" newspaper. I will include a link below.

http://www.jconline.com/

Congratulations Greater Lafayette....Charlie