The housing market has truly rebounded in the past few years, with more families looking to buy and sell their homes since the housing bubble burst. At Shorewest, REALTORS®, we’re seeing record growth and sales this year and are excited to celebrate the successes of our offices.

Shorewest’s Lake Geneva Office located at 623 Main Street in Lake Geneva broke an office sales record for units in April. The office sold more homes in April 2013 than any other April in the office’s history.

“That’s a huge indicator of the real estate market’s growth,” says John Tisdall, sales director at the Lake Geneva Office. “Our agents are busy and excited to be helping people buy and sell homes.”

If you’d like to buy or sell a home, contact Shorewest, Realtors® Lake Geneva Office at 262.248.1020 or visit Shorewest.com.

Shorewest, Realtors® is Wisconsin’s Largest Home Seller, a position it’s held since 1951. Shorewest currently controls more than 27% of the metro-Milwaukee real estate market, according to Metro Milwaukee MLS.

It’s spring allergy season in southeastern Wisconsin, and many people are suffering from the uncomfortable symptoms that allergies bring each year. Use these tips to prevent each room in your house from irritating any family members or visitors. They’ll thank you when their sneezing, sniffling and itchy eyes are greatly reduced!

• Encase all of your bedding in dust-mite-proof covers, including pillows, mattresses and box springs.
• Choose bedding made of synthetic materials.
• Close windows and rely on your air conditioning during pollen season.
• Use your exhaust fan to reduce moisture while taking baths or showers.
• Use curtains made of washable cotton or other synthetic materials, and be sure to replace horizontal blinds with washable roller-type shades, and wash them often!
• Use a dehumidifier in the basement to get rid of any excess moisture. Be sure to empty it often or risk an overflow!
• Start a weekly cleaning routine that includes wet mopping any wood or linoleum floors and vacuuming carpet. Use a damp cloth to clean any other surfaces and be sure to wear a mask while cleaning any mold.
• Consider keeping your pet outside or confined to one room or floor of your house.
• Clean or replace small-particle filters in your heating and cooling systems at least once a month. Also check any in-room air conditioners at that time.

In addition, you can always check the Pollen Counter on weather.com to get a good forecast for any seasonal allergy flare ups each day. With these simple tips, you can reduce allergy symptoms in your home and enjoy the season of new life once again.

BROWN COUNTY

DODGE COUNTY

JEFFERSON COUNTY

KENOSHA COUNTY

MILWAUKEE COUNTY

OZAUKEE COUNTY

RACINE COUNTY

ROCK COUNTY

SHEBOYGAN COUNTY

WALWORTH COUNTY

WASHINGTON COUNTY

WAUKESHA COUNTY

Interested in becoming part of the happiest profession in the United States? CareerBliss.com recently ranked the happiest jobs of 2013, with real estate agents coming in at number one.

“Real estate agents have definitely weathered quite a financial storm over the past few years,” says CEO and co-founder of CareerBliss Heidi Golledge. The market has improved, inventory is low and mortgage rates are still affordable, “making it a real estate agent’s dream as new homes hit the market and are getting multiple offers in the first week. Real estate professionals say that the way they work and the rewards they are seeing with a growing market have helped boost overall happiness for those in this career.”

How did CareerBliss rank these professions? The firm evaluated job reviews by taking into account work-life balance, compensation, growth opportunities, company reputation, job control and work environment.

Embrace a new opportunity with our FREE career seminar on Saturday, June 1 at Shorewest, REALTORS’® Corporate Office in Brookfield. This 10am seminar will explain:

• How to get your Real Estate License
• What a Real Estate Agent Does
• How to be Successful as a Real Estate Agent
• What Shorewest, REALTORS® Can Offer You as an Agent
• Investment Required to Start a Career in Real Estate

After the seminar, you can meet one-on-one with sales directors, who manage our 23 local offices, as well as a question and answer session. Learning more about a career in real estate is as easy as signing up — visit this link to sign up directly or go to joinshorewest.com for more general information.

Any questions? Feel free to contact one of our career representatives at 414.476.1231 or email careers@shorewest.com.

We hope to see you on June 1 to learn how to kick-start your real estate career!

From John Inzeo, Vice President, Wisconsin Mortgage Corporation

Financing a new home can be both a stressful and satisfying experience. Unfortunately, in today’s lending environment, much of the stress is created during the process of getting your loan approved. A good lender will prepare you for the financing portion of your journey. With today’s regulations, it can seem like common sense has gone out the window. Many of the new regulations are necessary and good lenders have adapted their systems to soften the impact on consumers. As I described in Part 1 of this series, the best way to begin the process (and avoid stress) is to get a valid pre-approval.

Our goal is to create more satisfaction and less stress. Your next step to moving into your new home is formally applying for your financing. But beware of any spending that could halt your homeownership dreams! These include:

• Buy a new car.
• Purchase new furniture for after the move, discounted by opening a new credit card account.
• Take a vacation, using existing credit cards.
• Order blinds, drapes and few new appliances online to decorate, no doubt, using a credit card.

These are the spending and credit traps we need to talk about. A good lender will talk with you about the time period between applying for your loan and the closing. Believe it or not, any of the actions described above could increase the cost of your financing or, in extreme cases, cause you to no longer be qualified for financing. Take our first example — a new car payment will likely affect your purchase power or your ability to qualify at all. Even the second example could prove costly, as opening up new revolving credit will often lower your credit score and increase your cost to get financing. What about using existing credit cards? Charging up existing cards for any of the reasons described above could both lower your credit score and affect your ability to qualify.

The answer is simple: once you’ve applied for your financing, refrain from making any major purchases. If you do have a need prior to closing, discuss your plans with your lender before taking any action. A good lender will take the time to advise you and create a plan of action that everyone can live with. Buying a home is the most expensive investment most people will make. Surround yourself with experts that will make your journey a satisfying experience.

Although mortgage rates for the 30-year Fixed Rate Mortgage (FRM) hit their all-time lows in September and October 2012, low rates continue, making house buying affordable. The Federal Reserve has been artificially holding rates down to stimulate the economy, and it has been working! The growth we have seen, especially in the last year, shows the economy is responding. HSH Associates, the nation’s largest publisher of mortgage information, recently stated, “If not otherwise manipulated, higher rates are the natural result of a growing economy, as rising demand for available credit supply and concerns about inflation allow costs to rise.” The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) agrees, stating “mortgage rates are expected to creep up slowly in 2013.”

Here you can see a graph that shows the 30-year FRM rate each week of 2013. Rates have increased this year, spiking in mid-March, but consistently growing over the four-month time period shown. The MBA’s latest Mortgage Finance Forecast predicts that the 30-year FRM rate will be 4.3% nationally by the end of 2013, which is about .8% above our current rates. John Inzeo, Vice President of Wisconsin Mortgage Coporation, states they expect interest rates to increase to 4% in Wisconsin by the end of the year and will affect how much home you can afford. No one knows for sure where rates will be one year from now, but based on expert’s opinions and the general health and growth of the economy and housing market, it is unlikely rates will stay low for long.

Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of REALTORS^® (NAR) says that home sales are “stuck” this spring due to the limited number of homes available to buy. Though the spring market usually brings a larger supply of homes to market, this year does not reflect that common pattern. The current supply of homes for sale is 17% below 2012 levels, according to NAR data, and March 2013 inventory levels fell 21% year-over-year in all 38 major metropolitan areas.

Year-over-year, metro Milwaukee’s housing inventory level has decreased by 13.9%, with Wisconsin’s levels down to just nine month’s supply. Inventory levels are down from a 12.1 months supply a year ago and 18 months from July 2011.

With increased demand for the few houses on the market, many home sellers are pricing their homes higher and seeing multiple offers. According to the Wisconsin REALTORS^® Association (WRA), median prices rose 9.7% in March, up 5% in the first quarter of 2013 compared with 2012. WRA President and CEO Michael Theo states, “very low mortgage rates have certainly stimulated sales activity, and this combined with a decline in new listings has brought our unsold inventory levels down.” Every region of the state saw its median price sales increase, where the south central region was up 10.1% and the southeast up 4.8%. In a recent study, 30 out of 38 cities witnessed an average annual 11.5% increase in list price per square foot.

If you’re looking to sell, don’t wait! With days on market dwindling, prices rising and mortgage rates staying low, there is sure to be a buyer out there looking to buy your home.

Foreclosure rates continue to decline in southeastern Wisconsin, reaching a new low of 1.93% in February for the Milwaukee region. According to CoreLogic, this is down .7 points from the same month year-over-year. This local foreclosure rate is higher than Wisconsin’s average rate of 1.65% but it is still lower than the overall national rate of 2.85%.

The total U.S. loan delinquency rate — loans 30 or more days past due but not in foreclosure — dropped nationally to 6.8%, according to Lender Processing Services (LPS). This rate has fallen 6.51% in the past year. About 5.1 million U.S. homes are either in foreclosure or are delinquent on payments.

Shorewest, REALTORS®

All data shown above reflects January 1-March 31 of that year.

Shorewest, REALTORS®, Wisconsin’s Largest Home Seller™ since 1951, continued to grow in the first quarter of 2013. From January 1-March 31 of 2013, Shorewest reported closed sales of 2,051 units and over $396 million. Compared with the same period in 2012, sales grew by 19.6% and dollar volume by 26.5%. Our average sales price also increased by $10,400, a year-over-year rate of growth of 5.6%. As you can see from the numbers above, Shorewest has continued to grow throughout the housing recovery, and we can predict strong numbers for the entire year based on the growth shown in Q1.

Wisconsin Mortgage Corporation

All data shown above reflects January 1-March 31 of that year.

Wisconsin Mortgage Corporation also showed growth in the past years from January 1-March 31. From 2012 to 2013, loan applications were up 11.2%, closed volume was up .5% and closed loans were up 8.6%.Wisconsin Mortgage continues to provide quality, in-house lending services to buyers throughout the state.

The S&P Case-Shiller index showed the biggest year-over-year gains in prices since 2006. The index measures the 20 largest markets in the nation each January and has posted the change in home prices each year above. Since the housing bubble burst in January of 2006, home prices have continued to decrease, with the lowest rates in January of 2009. Since then we have seen growth, but have yet to be back in positive gains until this year. With 12% of growth from 2012 to 2013, it is clear that the market has turned the corner and we will continue to see price appreciation in the future. Some of the largest gains can be seen in areas hurt most by the housing bubble burst, led by a 23.3% gains in Phoenix, with greater than 10% growth in eight cities including formerly foreclosure-ridden cities like Detroit, Las Vegas and Miami.

We see a similar pattern reflected in Wisconsin home prices. With volatile shifts in the market, we saw a price difference of over 39% from 2009 to 2010, only for prices to decrease again in 2011. With double digit growth over the past two years, it is finally safe to say the housing market has recovered and will continue to grow this year. For more in-depth analysis of how much growth will increase, read our segment “Market Analysts Revise 2013 Projections” in this newsletter.