Fritz Pfister

Welcome to Springfield Illinois, a home good enough for Abe Lincoln, but not good enough for Rod Blagojevich. Then again Lincoln wasn’t the product of a modern Chicago political machine that has nothing but disdain for Springfield, and downstate.

The governor continues his quest for political retribution by cutting, and transferring state jobs out of Springfield. A friend commented he believes the governor is guilty of committing economic terrorism upon Springfield. Hard to dispute. The bottom line is the governor and his policies not only have the state ranked as the 39th best state to do business, he’s single handed depressing the real estate market.

I can hardly believe Illinois ranks as high as 39th with the Gross Receipts Tax proposing, sell the Lottery, quadrupling business/personal fees, bond selling, fund sweeping (rob Peter to pay Paul), health care for everyone (including illegals), with party machine Blagojevich at the helm. He can’t find the wheel, but he is at the helm.

Live by the sword, die by the sword. For decades the state has been Springfield’s number one employer. The bright side is that if Blagojevich eliminates those jobs through continued economic terrorism, the good people of the community will rebuild creating private sector jobs, relieving the community from dependency upon state government. This will be a painful transition, however the transformation will be worth the effort. Economic freedom.

With the fourth of July behind us, and the slowest second quarter in home sales since 2002, will the local housing market rebound? Doubtful with so many jobs on the line, and in the hands of the governor. Not to mention the malaise generated by the Presidential election.

There may not be a rebound, however neither will there be a crash. The first half home sales remain on pace to surpass those years prior to the record setting years. A Springfield Illinois real estate market that is good by historical standard.

The primary challenge is the negative perception of the market. With a record (for this date) 1980 homes listed for sale with Realtors, people see for sale signs everywhere. This is giving the false perception that homes aren’t selling. True, it is taking longer to sell, the median sale price is back to the historical norm of +2.1%, more listings will fail to sell than will sell, however homes are selling.

This translates into tough times for home seller’s, but opportunity time for home buyers. Interest rates remain extremely low while inflation rears its’ ugly head. How long will these low rates be available in conjunction with record numbers of homes for sale? Only time will tell.

The one thing for certain is that home buyers have the ultimate market conditions to purchase a home. Let the Dog Days begin. The Springfield housing market will be just fine.