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Here are some interesting statistics recently published in “The Residential Specialist” magazine. (Their source for the information was Harris Interactive.) This magazine is available to all real estate agents who have earned their Certified Residential Specialist certification through the National Association of Realtors.
Several of Hometown Realty agents in Hutchinson, MN have earned this CRS designation.
What percentage of Americans participated in energy-saving activities within the past year?
Installed more energy efficient light bulbs: 63%
Purchased energy efficient appliances: 36%
Started paying bills online: 46%
Switched to paperless financial statements: 40%
Donated an electronic device for recycling: 41%
Swithed from bottle to tap water: 29%
Installed a low flow showerhead: 17%
Installed a low flow toilet: 16%
Made home improvements that provided government tax credits: 14%
Bought a more fuel efficent car: 13%
None of thes: 13%
So, how do you and your family compare?
According to the National Association of Realtors “Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers 2009″, 90 percent of buyers used the Internet as an information source in their home search, up 30 percentage points during the past six years. First-time buyers were even more likely to use the internet.
Also reported was that 47% of recent buyers were first-time buyers, 21% of recent home buyers were single females, and 10% were single males.
The housing market in Hutchinson, MN would be in line with these findings.
The first full week of reporting for the 2010 Twin Cities housing market is in and while there are a few “green shoots,” it’s becoming apparent so far that the market won’t see the same spectacular growth in sales it saw at the beginning of 2009.
There were 520 pending sales for the week ending January 9, down 1.7 percent from the same week in 2009. That’s the seventh week of the last nine to see slightly fewer sales than the prior year, a time period that coincides closely with the initial expiration date of the first-time home buyer tax credit. However, we’re still 21.2 percent higher than the pace in 2008 for that period.
As you likely know, the credit’s been expanded to include a $6,500 incentive for buyers who have owned a home for five years of the last eight. Since we can safely assume that many of these buyers will need to sell their home first before buying a new one and receiving the credit, new listings numbers might shed light on how much effect the new credit is having. So far, it doesn’t appear to be much.
Over the last three months, the number of new listings has been 11.7 percent behind the same period one year prior. With many looking for continued “seedlings” of hope in the local housing market, this isn’t welcome news. As always, we’ll be keeping a close eye on the evolving market and reporting back what we see.
As we anticipated, the Spring Real Estate market seems to have arrived early this year here in Hutchinson, MN. Despite the extra cold weather, buyers and sellers are anxious to get moving.
We expected this based on the fact that both the First-Time Homebuyers’ Tax Credit and the other Homebuyers’ Tax Credit require that buyers have a signed and binding purchase agreement in place by April 30, 2010 and close by July 1, 2010.
Sellers don’t want to miss out on any of the market time between now and the end of April, so they are calling to get their homes put up for sale as soon as they can.
With the interest rates still staying low, buyers and sellers are smart to get a jump start on the housing market.
Judging from the number of cars in all the parking lots and along Main Street in downtown Hutchinson, MN it appears that the economy here is perking up. Since Black Friday, I have observed that the stores have many shoppers in them no matter what time of day it is. And, if you haven’t been to the Hutchinson Mall, you need to see all the new stores! It’s great to live in an area where the economy appears to be improving each month.
The real estate market continues to be very busy for what is seasonally a slower time for homes to sell and people to put their homes on the market. We’ve also got people moving into Hutchinson because of job transfers and new positions with local companies. This is wonderful news because a number of our manufacturing companies have had significant layoffs and now are hiring people back. Let’s all be grateful that we live in such a wonderful place!
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