Fritz Pfister

The Capital Area Association of Realtors (CAAR) through a press release Valentines Day, provided a breakdown of home sales in the greater Springfield housing market for 2006. Repeating earlier reports, home sales in 2006 were down slightly to 4153 from the record of 4182 home sales set in 2005.

CAAR reports that sales were up in the surrounding communities of Chatham, Petersburg, Athens, Riverton, and Taylorville. Sales decreased in Springfield, Rochester, Sherman, and Jacksonville. The median sale price dropped 1% to $99,000 in 2006.

What was not reported by CAAR yet, is that January 2007 set a new record for closed home sales. The better news was January was the fourth straight month the number of new listings decreased. Should this trend continue, the record number of unsold homes remaining for sale will return to more normal levels.

A falling inventory will help support home prices. The wild card is whether the demand side will continue to be strong. January 2007 saw the number of homes sold pending drop, and has continued that pattern through the first couple weeks of February. That begs the question; whether demand is weakening, or is the weather weakening demand?

Two ice storms, and a near record setting blizzard since the first of December is in contrast to last years milder than usual weather. I may be wrong, however I believe 12 inches of snow, 40 to 50 mile per hour winds, followed by consistently below zero wind chill factors, may just influence one’s decision to go look at homes for sale!

Regardless the weather, the year is too new to establish trends. March 1st will mark my twentieth year in real estate sales. Entering my twenty first March in business, my feeling is the weather is creating a missing ingredient from the past several years; cabin fever. Watch out when the weather turns nice, there could be stampeding herds of home buyers rushing the market.

The window of opportunity, created by the oversupply of homes for sale, could be closing for home buyers. Low interest rates, lower prices, and fewer buyers in the market today are all subject to change in the spring. If in fact we return to a more normal number of homes for sale, and there is pent up demand being created by this winter’s weather, buyers may find the best home prices of the year during the next several weeks.

Remember the old saying; buy low, sell high? If you are a serious home buyer, my advice is you had better bundle up, and head out to look at homes now. Why? Another old saying in real estate is never going to change; sellers want to sell high and buyers want to buy low. The past year didn’t treat sellers very well, however that all could change with the seasons in 2007.

You are invited to the free “Home Buyer” seminar to be held Thursday Feb. 22, 6pm to 9pm at The Crowne Plaza Hotel. Learn the process, avoid the mistakes. Call 217-391-1811 or register at SpringfieldHome.com. Bonus for the seminar, learn how to save thousands on your mortgage loan.