What to Watch For in the 2014 Madeline Island Real Estate Market
As I wrote in a recent blog post, making forecasts about real estate market trends and future activity can be a risky business. But after all, risk-taking is what real estate brokerage is all about. And the end of 2013 is a perfect time to review the past year and to make a few predictions about what 2014 may be like.
Below are a few encouraging signs which point to the likelihood of continued market growth in Madeline Island real estate sales activity in 2014:
- Property showing traffic remained strong up to the close of 2013. We had property showings on Madeline Island on December 18th and submitted a full-price offer for an Island property on December 20th. We have not witnessed consistent and ongoing buyer activity on the Island this late in the year since 2006.
- Web traffic has also remained brisk. Listing views and virtual tour viewings on our website have shown surprisingly high numbers throughout November and December of this year. We try to counsel our sellers that it's not a good idea to pull their listing off the market during winter months, and this would be a good year to follow that advice. Buyers may not jump in the car and drive up to the Island during winter months to tour your home in person, but as long as they're repeatedly viewing your home online, you have their attention.
- Buyer inquiries about Madeline Island homes and lots continue to be brisk. Again, new inquiries by prospective buyers have remained steady throughout December. We have also received multiple inquiries from potential sellers during the past week.
- Madeline Island Realty closed over $1.2 Million in sales of waterfront dwellings on the Island between November 13th and December 12th, 2013. This has been the busiest thirty-day sales period for Madeline Island Realty since April 5 2012, when we closed total sales in excess of $1.7 Million.
In addition to the above factors, we are encouraged by the recent pending sale of 219 Colonel Woods Avenue, LaPointe, Wisconsin. This commercially-zoned property located across the street from the Madeline Island Ferry Line pier is now scheduled to close in early 2014. While this property has been a single-family dwelling for decades, we are told that the buyers plan to use the existing home for commercial purposes. The sale reinforces what we have been telling customers and clients for years, that there appears to be a healthy demand for commercial property in our relatively small downtown LaPointe, Wisconsin business district.
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