Special offer

The Active Rain Realtor Nationwide Survey About Nebraska

By
Services for Real Estate Pros with Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Ambassador

Regarding the market for Omaha, Nebraska and surrounding communities.

After a banner April, May has slowed a bit but there are still a lot of active buyers out there. In comparison, in April of 2009, there were 1108 accepted contracts on residential properties. In April of 2010, there were 1518 accepted contracts on residential properties. (so far as of today, May 23rd, we have 397 new pendings since May 1st)

My Current Housing Market Conditions... Our sellers are reducing prices slightly and buyers are buying. Of course, this is a real general statement. We are also not talking about drastic reductions but we are seeing more concessions made than a normal May market (Dang, is there such a thing as 'normal' anymore)

Underwriting continues to be somewhat of a challenge but we are muddling through. The tax credit had played a part in 76% of my contracts so far this year. As busy as April was for me personally, May could end up being a bigger month. Oddly enough, I had a contract come in on a listing on May 1st from a first time buyer. Not quite sure why they didn't write a day before but we got it together that weekend.

So yes, there is definitely a market after the tax credit! One thing we've found is that we did have some sellers 'rush' their homes into the market to capture those tax credit buyers so right now, in our hot areas and hot price ranges, there is a bit of a shortage of well priced, nicely presented properties. If you know of anyone that has a house to put on the market, have them call me right away!

Bill Swanson is an agent with CBSHome Real Estate in Omaha, NE; an affiliate of Berkshire Hathaway. With over 20 years of experience, let Bill know of anyone moving into or out of the Omaha area!

Comments (0)