An interesting week in the Lake Geneva real estate world. No, we didn’t light the world on fire with new pending contracts, rather, it was interesting because of some “new” inventory. A new lakefront home at the very upper bracket of our price range came on this week, making it the only lakefront addition for the week. Email me if you’d like to see the details, and get a complete personalized lakefront market update. This week we also had a condo at Bayshore go to foreclosure auction, so we’ll be sure to watch for that property when it is born again as an REO listing. See me to learn more about this, as the REO properties can represent tremendous value. In fact, I may personally be in the bidding for this condo, but as always, I’ll bow out if you’re interested.
Abbey Springs saw an influx of inventory this week, primarily in the single family home segment. A possible short sale candidate hit the market in Country Club Estates, with a very appealing asking price. Properties that are preforeclosure will sometimes sell for lower than actual REO properties, as the banks are defensive in their negotiating, preferring to sell now for a loss than assume ownership of the property. If you’re interested in seeing a list of possible short sales in the market you’re interested in, email me for the details. Many of the properties that we’ll see hit the market over the next several weeks may very well be regurgitated properties that failed to sell in 2008. What will be interesting to watch for is whether or not the sellers cling to their old list prices. A few properties came back on the market this weekend with the same old inflated prices. Let’s hope that’s not a trend, or we’ll kill our chances at a 2009 volume increase before the first quarter ends.
As a whole, I’m quite encouraged by some of the activity that we’re seeing in the market. If we can add some solid, well priced inventory over the next 4-8 weeks, we should have a decent Spring market. If you’re a buyer, these frigid winter weeks are just the time to be hunting for a bargain, and I’m just the guy to help.