Sherman Village Market Statistics

Sherman Village is a nice neighborhood in a great location on Madison's north side.  It is located a few blocks north of Warner Park, where you can see the Madison Mallards baseball team, Rhythm & Booms, and other activities&events each summer.  It's also far enough away from Sherman Ave & Northport Dr, so there is not a high amount of traffic.  There is easy access to downtown, just head south on Sherman Ave about 10 minutes or so to get to E. Johnson and the downtown area.  Or for a quieter setting, head northwest 5-10 minutes to Governor Nelson State Park on Lake Mendota. 

Sherman Village connects to Northland Manor and Wheeler Heights, and they are all essentially the same neighborhood.  Most of the homes are small ranches built in the 60's.  It is a great neighborhood for first-time home buyers and young families.  There is even an elementary school (Gompers), middle school (Black Hawk), and 3 parks (Sherman Village, Northland Manor & Wheeler Heights) located right in the neighborhood. 

Here is a market update for the Sherman Village area (Sherman Village, Northland Manor & Wheeler Heights neighborhoods):

These are market statistics from the MLS for January-October each of the past 5 years.  As you can see, and as expected, the average sale price has seen a decline this year.  Dane County as a whole has seen a 9% decline in average sale price over the same time period (see Dane County Market Statistics).  So Sherman Village area's decline of 5.5% is actually better than the Dane County average.  The recession is obviously one reason for the decline.  Also, the fact that there was 89% appreciation in home values from 2000-2006 is cause for decline in values the past couple of years. (see Home Value Depreciation was Inevitable).  Another factor, which is connected to the recent recession we have seen, is the large number of foreclosures.  For example, there are 12 active listings in the Sherman Village area, and 2 of these listings have accepted offers - both are foreclosures with an average list price of $142,400.  One of these is 4414 Maryland Dr, which needs A LOT of work, and will probably be worth around $200,000 when fixed up.

Here is a link to the 10 current houses for sale in the Sherman Village area: View Properties.

Madison WI Homes for Sale - Deal of the Week

1416 Prairie Rd, Madison - $80,000

1416 Prairie Rd is located on the west side of Madison.  Perhaps not the most desirable area of Madison, but certainly not the worst area.  This 1/2 duplex is a foreclosure and currently listed at $80,000.  It has a newer roof & siding on the exterior.  The interior has all new carpeting, paint, cabinets & fixtures!  Washer and dryer are included.  There are cathedral ceilings in the living room.  The basement walks out to the backyard.  Total of 1313 finished sq ft (888 above grade, and 425 in the exposed basement).  The 2009 assessment is $136,300.  You can have this property for less than $80,000.  See the MLS data sheet here: 1416 Prairie Rd details

 

If you would like to search all Madison WI Homes for sale, then visit my website - www.SethPetersonHomes.com.  Thanks!

Real Estate Newsletter - November '09

Dane County Market Update

Dane County Real Estate Market Stats for January-October the past 5 years:

The number of houses on the market is much lower than a year ago, but the actual number of homes sold is almost identical.  Also the average days on market for a home in 2009 is almost identical to last year.  The drastic change from 2008 to 2009 is the average sale price.  As mentioned in my last blog post, it is possible that this is not 100% depreciation.  It is important to note that there are probably fewer high-priced buyers on the market, and more than average first-time home buyers (due to the $8,000 credit) compared to previous years. 

Home Sales Increase in Third Quarter

The third quarter of 2009 saw the first increase in Wisconsin home sales since the recession began in the 4th quarter of 2007.  Compared to the 3rd quarter of 2008, existing homes sales increased 5.8%.  This surge in sales is largely credited to low mortgage rates and the $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit.

Wisconsin's home sales increase compared favorably to the country as a whole, which saw a 5.9% increase.  The Midwest region was at 5.2% increase.

Although sales increased, the median home price in Wisconsin fell 6.3% in the 3rd quarter of 2009 compared to same period of 2008.  The national reduction in median price was at 11.2%, so Wisconsin managed much better than the national average.  It is likely that a part of the reason for this decrease was a depreciation in house values, but another reason may be the abundance of lower priced homes being sold due to the first-time home buyer credit.  With this in mind, Flor stated "Wisconsin home prices are not nearly as volatile as we have seen in other parts of the country and so purchasing a home in Wisconsin remains a very stable way to build household wealth."

John Flor, Charman of the Board of the Wisconsin Realtors Association, sees a bright future for the economy as we head into 2010: "The extension and expansion of the federal tax credit is not only good news for home buyers and sellers, but also for the economy as a whole. Families buy a wide range of goods and services after they purchase a home, which helps the entire local economy, and sales of starter homes create opportunities for sellers to trade-up to a new or more expensive home."  

See the article from WRA here

New Home Buyer Tax Credit

It's official!  Obama signed an Unemployment Insurance bill today, which included provisions to extend the first-time home buyer credit of $8,000 and create a new home buyer credit of $6,500 for repeat buyers.

This will almost certainly give a boost to the real estate market, as now many current homeowners have incentive to move to a new home.  Many homeowners have been hesitant to move, because they aren't comfortable with selling in this market which has depreciated the past couple of years.  But the incentive of a free $6,500 should change some minds.  Especially considering the house they will be buying should also have a depreciated price, and interest rates are near all-time lows.

Here are the basics of the New Home Buyer Tax Credit:

• First-time buyer is defined as someone who has not owned a home for the past 3 years. 
• First-time buyers receive $8,000 tax credit.  
• To qualify for the $6,500 tax credit, you must have owned a primary residence for at least 5 of the previous 8 years.
• You do not qualify if your income is $125,000 or more ($225,000 for married couple)
• You must have an accepted offer by April 30, 2010, and closing must be no later than June 30th, 2010.
  
• Both of these tax credits are such that you actually get cash from the government (unless you owe money after doing your tax returns, in which case you would owe less money thanks to the $8,000 or $6,5000 credit)

Go to Home Buyer Tax Credit Info to see an easy to understand chart, FAQ, and other information about the new homebuyer tax credit.

Mortgage Backed Securities Explained

Here is a simple explanation of Mortgage Backed Securities, so you can understand the concept. Mortgage Backed Securities can certainly vary from and be more complex than this...

1) Someone buys a house, and to obtain the money to purchase the house, they get a mortgage loan from a bank.  So over the next 30 or so years, they will owe the bank the total loan amount (principle) PLUS interest payments. 

2) This bank gives out a lot of mortgage loans to different people.  Let's say 1,000 mortgage loans.

3) The bank then sells these 1,000 loans to an Investment Bank.  So now all the interest and principle payments will go to the Investment Bank. 

4) The Investment Bank creates a separate company, specifically a corporation.  They transfer the 1000 loans to this new corporation.  So now all the interest and principle payments will go to this new corporation.

5) The Investment Bank issues shares of ownership in the corporation (which are called securities…i.e. stocks).  These securities are then sold in the free market. 

6) Each owner of one of these securities will get a part of the cash flow from the loan payments that are now being paid to this corporation.

7) These securities are called Mortgage Backed Securities.  They are securities which are backed by mortgage payments.  Hence the wikipedia definition: "A mortgage-backed security (MBS) is an asset-backed security or debt obligation that represents a claim on the cash flows from mortgage loans, most commonly on residential property."

The SEC's explanation of Mortgage Backed Securities