Home Buyers' Tax Credit

June 30th has come and gone.  Even though early evening on the 30th, Congress passed an extension of the closing date to September 30th, we got our deals.  However, it would have not been possible without a lot of extra effort expended by everybody involved with closing a real estate sale (lenders, inspector, appraisers, title companies and Realtors).

It is too early to capture the June, 2010 closing data, but I'm sure we will see a noticeable blip in closings compared to June, 2009.  I will report in a week, when the data is available.  Let's see if I am right.

"Not So Sixties" Home and Garden Tour

For those of you who can't get enough of HGTV, love to see what your neighbors have done to renovate or decorate their homes or enjoy the beauty of a fine residential garden, you might want to consider attending the Barberry Heights "Not So Sixties" Home and Garden tour in West Lafayette. Barberry Heights is a West Lafayette neighborhood developed in the 1960's and early 1970's, north of Sagamore Parkway and south of Cumberland Avenue between Salisbury and Soldiers Home Roads.

Here's a snippet from the material promoting the event.

"REMEMBER THE 60’S? Acres of avocado green and harvest
gold shag carpeting inside, with rows of round trimmed yew
bushes, looking like big fat birds, for landscaping in the yard?
Barbarry Heights is NOT SO SIXTIES now! Five neighbors
are inviting you to see their remodeled family homes and four
more are showing their gardens. All have been updated and
remodeled, highlighting what owner effort and imagination
can do to transform homes and landscaping.
Please join us to see large open spaces, lofts, wide windows,
new kitchens, and family antiques mixed with new colors and
collections. Gardens include Japanese, cottage, with medicinal
and aromatic plants, and just beautiful.
--Maybe a few new ideas, and at least a lovely afternoon!"

Tickets can be purchased in advanced at Ace Hardware and Gretel's in WL or Bennett's Garden Center in Lafayette Tickets can be purchased the day of the event in Lomell Park near the intersection of Barlow and Wilshire Streets in Barberry Heights. Tickets are $5 a piece. Children under 12 years old are free.

Life after the Home Buyers' Tax Credit

When I last wrote, I commented that it has been hard to quantify the impact of the Federal Home Buyers' Tax Credit Now that we have sales numbers, it's easier to measure. The results are very exciting.

Overall, sales volume in the Greater Lafayette residential market area through 4/30/10 were up by 38% from the same period of 2009. As I suggested in my prior post, the increase in activity was not equally spread across all price points. Although designed to assist home buyers at a multiple of price ranges, the value was found to be the highest among first time home buyers. Sales volume below in homes priced below $150,000 was up by 64%. On the other hand, volume between $150,000 and $300,000 was only up by 13%. But the important work in that sentence is "up". A very interesting occurrence took place in the market between $300,000 and $450,000, where volume rose by 80%. That is amazing.

On a more troublesome note, the softness in demand in houses priced above $450,000 continued to be slow. Sales volume in the first four months was 88% below the same period in 2009. Take a look at the link I created that shows the quality of homes for sale above $450,000.
Homes for sale above in Lafayette/West Lafayette above $450,000.

In the weeks that followed the 4/30/10 expiration of the tax credit eligibility, we saw a significant decrease in the number of showings of our listings. This is comes as no large surprise. There is no doubt that the attractive terms of the tax credit accelerated some demand that might have occurred otherwise later in the year. However as a group of real estate professionals, we would be remiss if we did not remind all members of our community that now, more than ever, is an excellent time to purchase a new home.

• Interest rate are very attractive.
• Our major employers are calling employees back to work.
• The Lilly to Evonik sale is complete and jobs are saved.
• There is an abundance of well priced homes for sale.
• Greater Lafayette continues to be a national leader in the stability of property values.

There is still more than enough time to identify and purchase a home before the 2010/2011 school year begins.

P.S. The Barn is at Historic Prophetstown in the Prophetstown State Park.

Spring in Residential Real Estate

We have made it through another winter and are enjoying the good weather and final days of the Federal Home Buyer Tax Credit program. The current program provides up to an $8,000 federal income tax credit to eligible first time home buyers and up to a $6,500 credit for eligible non-first time home buyers. In order to qualify, an accepted offer must be in place by April 30th and the sale must close by June 30th. Our office is very busy. Many agents are working late into the evening and often seven days a week.

It is hard to truly measure the impact the program has had on demand, but most of us would suggested it has been considerable. Year to date unit sales of existing homes in Tippecanoe County through March 31st are 17% higher than the same period last year. However, as I have mentioned in other writings, the strong demand has not been enjoyed by all price points. Here is a break down of 3/31 year to date unit sales in Tippecanoe County by price range compared to the timeframe last year.

1. Unit sales of home price less than $200,000 grew by 21% from 214 to 260.
2. Unit sales of homes priced between $200,000 and $400,000 grew by 4% from 44 to 46
3. Unit sales of homes priced above $400,000 dropped by 40% from 5 to 3.
4. Total unit sales grew by 17% from 263 to 309

These numbers would indicate that: 1) the middle price and upper price ranges are still soft and 2) the Federal Tax Credit is driving demand in the typical first and second time home buyer price ranges. It will be interesting to learn in early May what happens to our demand after the first eligibity deadline has passed. We are all hoping that the natural momentum of spring buyers season and the pleasant weather will support much of the demand we are enjoying. I'll report back in mid-May and report what we find.

US Housing Prices Fall Modestly in the Fourth Quarter: 2009/Greater Lafayette Fares Better

Recently published data from the Federal Housing Finance Authority reports existing home sale values dropped by 1.2% from the fourth quarter of 2008. That compares very favorably to a 8.2% decline in the fourth quarter of 2008 over 2007.

The numbers for Greater Lafayette are more encouraging. Of the 298 Metropolitan Statistical Areas, Greater Lafayette's appreciation in housing value in the fourth quarter on a year over year basis, ranked number 32 with an average 0.19% appreciation. Other Indiana MSA's also fared well. In fact, Terre Haute was ranked number one.

City/Rank/Year to Year 4th Quarter Appreciation

Terre Haute/1/3.11%
Bloomington/20/0.83%
Evansville/29/0.43%
Lafayette/32/0.19%
Indy/53/-0.55%
South Bend/93/-1.70%
Anderson/102/-1.95%
Fort Wayne/123/-2.55%
Gary/149/-3.38%
Kokomo/208/-5.98%

Again, the processes measures and ranks appreciation in housing value from the fourth quarter of 2008 to the fourth quarter of 2009.

For those who spend time in the south, Florida continues to struggle. Here are the same statistics for selected Florida MSA's

Punta Gorda/191/-5.48%
Fort Meyers/263/-9.71%
Tampa-St. Pete/271/-10.75%
West Palm Beach/272/-10.86%
Naples/287/-8.03%
Miami/288/-14.02%

For those who are interested, the lowest rank MSA was Las Vegas, with a 19.30% average 12 month loss in value. Our issues in central Indiana appear less complicated as one reviews the economic statistics in other communities.

2009 Awards

Last Tuesday, Coldwell Banker Shook hosted its annual awards breakfast at the Holiday Inn. Our featured speaker was Mayor Tony Roswarski, who gave an interesting overview of the many capital projects the city embarked upon in 2009.

After Mayor Roswarski's comments, the 2009 awards were announced. The company had a very impressive year, during what was one of our country's more difficult years in residential real estate. The company ended the year with a commanding 22.4% of the market and 43.4% for properties above $300,000. Amongst its friends in the Coldwell Banker community, Coldwell Banker Shook was the number one office in the state and the largest office in its size category in the Northern Region, one the three geographic Coldwell Banker regions.

Coldwell Banker National is proud to present awards to its top sales across the country each year. Many of the Coldwell Banker Shook agents earned these national distinctions. 2009 national award winner from Coldwell Banker Shook are as follows.

INTERNATIONAL STERLING SOCIETY

Julie Runner-Boyce
Jan Dowell
Kathryn Oreovicz
Dolly Poston-Zollars

INTERNATIONAL DIAMOND SOCIETY

Individual

Cheryl Butcher
Olga Jeffares
Sherry Peck
Kelly Schreckengast

Team

Corbin-Flock Team

Brenda Hatfield Team

Mary Holtz and Kent Brewer

The Junius Group

INTERNATIONAL PRESIDENT’S CIRCLE

Kathy Lafuse
Leslie Weaver

In addition, we learned that Kathy Lafase was the number one Coldwell Banker agent in the state.

The breakfast was adjourned by the company's management sharing how proud it is of the entire sales staff and the loyal and dedicated staff of administrative and management professionals that hold the organization together. Before leaving the breakfast we played a short, but rousing game of trivia.

2009 Real Estate Report

My cousin and business partner, Steve Shook, and I have recently completed our annual real estate report. It is an indepth study of the what occured in the Tippecaone County commercial and residential real estate markets in 2009 and a set of projections for 2010.

If you are interested in a copy of the report, please send me your emial address and I'll forward you a copy in the form of a Word document. My email address is cshook@shook.com.