Wisconsin Housing Market Falls Upon Hard Times

Important news for anyone who owns a home or is thinking about buying one. A change in the Milwaukee housing market could change your bottom line.

For sale signs are everywhere.

Jenny and Paul Maciejewksi are among many thousands of Wisconsin mortgage holders who have been trying to sell their home (in South Milwaukee) for months (since April).

“I have confidence we’ll sell,” Jenny said.

Should she be?

They bought the house three years ago for $169,000. They’re trying to sell it for $15,000 more at present.

But even if they succeed in getting a Wisconsin mortgage applicant to buy it at that price, they’ve put in $30,000 in improvements, so they’re going to lose money.

Does it seem impossible to believe that despite the low cost of Wisconsin mortgages, you can actually sell a house today and lose money?

“You wouldn’t think so,” Paul explained. “But the reality is yes because it’s going to happen to me.”

They’re sure not alone in today’s Wisconsin housing market.

Home sales in Milwaukee County, specifically, are down almost 15 percent from last year. Even though the average home price is now $192,000s, up $13,000 from last year.

But in Waukesha County home sales dropped seven percent and the average home price is now under $300,000. That’s a drop of more than $11,000.

Robin Fazio with Buyers Vantage said, “The dilemma that we are seeing for the first time ever is that there is so much inventor that sellers have to be thinking about their competition.”

Buyers are buoyed by low mortgage loan costs and content to wait for the right deal. That competition is forcing sellers not only to be creative, but to lower expectations.

Jenny and Paul aren’t giving up.

“What do we think its going to take to sell thr house? The right person and a little bit of luck!!”

SOURCE: WTMJ-4 TV