Things are looking up ! (Somewhat)

In February Rapid City area residential real estate was just beginning to emerge from an unusually long winter (in both a meteorological sense and an economic sense), when March roared in with market-disruptive blizzards.

But when I look at the weekly charts of activity there seems to be lurking a promising leading indicator. Future (pending) sales are trending up. That measures the number of homes that are under contract, but not yet Closed. That cycle typically requires 4-6 weeks.

More and more of my clients, and people who call about properties for sale, are truly responding to the Federal housing stimulus incentives. Most notably the First Time Home Buyer tax credit. That's $8,000 cash in the pockets of most buyers, if they have not owned a home in the past three years. Even if you don't qualify for that, many middle class folks still qualify for over $1,000 in stimulus money.

Hopefully the blizzards have passed, just as all these stimulus incentives kick in. Based on the number and types of calls I am getting, this could be one of the best times to buy or sell a home.

If you want to discuss opportunities further please give me a cal at 605.863.0806.

-Lee