Check out what DIDN'T happen to the Lakeville Real Estate Market

I absolutely love doom and gloom market reports.  Who doesn't?

The fact is this: we're doing OK.  Lines are still long at Starbucks on Kenwood Trail, and for some unknown reason the parking lot at Fleet Farm has been full since 1998. 

The Lakeville real estate market has about 300 active listings right now - WAY WAY down from this time last year.  Sales this month were up nearly 50% as well.  The overall market trend shows increasing prices for the last quarter and that is expected to stabilize throughout the winter.

Here's why this happened:

1.  Foreclosures are DOWN.  Like, less than 5% of the incoming home listings are foreclosures.  At this time, there are only 38 foreclosed homes in Lakeville.  Less than a third of what we had 2 years ago. Personally, I'm glad the homes I'm showing no longer smell like urine, cigarettes, and regret...

2.  Short sales are DOWN.  Simply put, banks are negotiating with homeowners and the unemployment rate is dropping. There are only about 48 short sale homes in Lakeville. This means that homeowners are staying put.  Banks have also pulled their heads out of their asses (for the most part) and are now processing short sales faster and with less drama.  

and that leads us to:

3.  Money is CHEAP.  As of today interest rates for a 30 year fixed FHA mortgage are around 3.0%.  Ask anyone who lived through Jimmy Carter - that's GREAT.  The principle and interest payment on a $264,514 home (the average price of 3 bedroom homes in Lakeville right now) is around $1,100/mo.  Consider that the same property would rent for nearly $1800-$2000/mo.  The motivation of today's buying public is clear.  

Things are moving in the right direction in Lakeville!