The real estate market is experiencing dramatic and exciting changes both nationally and locally, and Porter County has been no exception, according to Steve Baker, Managing Broker for the Porter County office of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage which recently reported significant increases in the first half of the year, exceeding 2012 units sold by 32 percent and volume by 59 percent.

In fact, Coldwell Banker is outpacing the Porter County market, where year-to-date sales are running 23.9 percent above 2012, based on information from the Greater Northwest Indiana Association of REALTORS® (GNIAR) for the period January 1 through June 30, 2013.

Findings from the first half of the year have shown a shift in the real estate market that puts home sellers at an advantage. For months now, the best-priced and most appealing properties in a number of different northwest Indiana locations have been selling, often with multiple offers at or above asking price, at a very brisk pace. As a result, the number of homes for sale throughout the area is at the lowest level in years.

According to Coldwell Banker, low inventory levels and a surplus of potential buyers puts savvy homeowners in a position to sell their homes quickly and at prices we haven’t seen in years. GNIAR reports that the median sales price for Porter County homes in the first half of the year was $186,422, up 2.6 percent from 2012, while the total inventory of properties available for sale at the end of June was 1,139, down almost 20 percent from last year with the number of listings taken in Porter County up just 5 percent in June. As a result of the shortage of homes for sale and how fast the market is moving, many homeowners will continue to receive multiple offers.

“I don’t think the average consumer truly understands the changing market right now, so it is our job as real estate professionals to educate our clients on why this is the time to sell,” Baker said. “Much of our success in this first half of the year can be attributed to the quality of our agents and their ability to provide clients with necessary guidance when handling multiple offer situations. It is important that sellers turn to a professional real estate agent to negotiate the best price possible for their home and to ensure a smooth closing process. The best offer isn’t always necessarily the highest offer.”

The recent change in the tide of the housing market is expected to continue with sellers loving the rising home prices and buyers maximizing affordability while mortgage rates remain near historic lows. It’s a win-win situation for everyone involved. As this trend continues both sellers and buyers alike need to be well informed and prepared before entering the market.

“With bidding wars on the rise the best way for a buyer to get ahead of the competition is to be prepared to move fast and present themselves as a serious buyer,” Baker explained. “This means getting pre-approved by a mortgage lender before the process begins and making the strongest offer possible with few contingencies.”

Sellers who take the facts from a current Competitive Market Analysis, as well as the advice of a proven real estate professional, when it comes to pricing their property for today’s market – no matter what the condition - will reap the rewards of this hot market right now.

A leading residential real estate brokerage company serving Chicagoland, Northwest Indiana, Southeast Wisconsin and Southwest Michigan, Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage operates a total of 51 offices with 3,250 sales associates.

Home prices continue their upward ascent. According to the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the governmental body in charge of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, nationwide home prices increased by 0.7% in May compared to April and by 7.3% over the same month last year. As you can see in the chart below, it was the 16th consecutive month that home prices improved after a long spell in which they declined.

There are two primary catalysts behind this trend. First, mortgage rates, although recently on the uptick, remain exceptionally cheap from a historical perspective. Freddie Mac reported at the end of last week that the average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is currently 4.37%. By comparison, as I noted here, the average rate for the same type of loan since 1971 is 8.61%.

And second, there's a widely acknowledged lack of supply in both the new and existing home markets. The National Association of Realtors said yesterday that the inventory of existing homes equates to a 5.2-month supply and remains 7.6% below a year ago. As its chief economist Lawrence Yun noted, "Inventory conditions will continue to broadly favor sellers and contribute to above-normal price growth."

Catalysts aside, there's no question that an increase in home prices will help the economy. CoreLogic recently estimated that 19.8% of homeowners are underwater on their mortgages. Zillow puts the figure at 25.4%.

"These homeowners owe more on their mortgage than what their house is currently worth, which means in order to sell it, they would have to come up with additional money at the time of closing to pay off their loan," Zillow's senior economist Svenja Gudell explained last month. "Since many homeowners are not in a position to do that, they cannot list their homes, greatly restricting the supply on the market."

In addition to this much-needed buoyancy, the increase in prices is also spurring homebuilders into action. At the end of June, Lennar Corp , the nation's third largest homebuilder, reported that orders for new homes in the second quarter climbed by 27% over the same time period last year. And similar trends have been observed at D.R. Horton and PulteGroup , both of which report earnings later this week -- for charts of these two companies' quarterly home sales, click here and here, respectively.

The net result is that the housing market continues to improve. 

source: fool.com