The national news, which we local Realtors generally tell you to ignore, was good this week. There are positive signs of recovery around the nation being reported. The stock is showing rallying points. Another good sign, depending upon your viewpoint, is the fact that interest rates are beginning to tick up per Freddie Mac. They released the results of their Primary Mortgage Market Survey in which the 30 year fixed rate mortgage averaged 4.84% with an average 0.7 point for the week ending May 7th. That was up from last week’s average of 4.78%. For a bit more perspective, last year at this time this rate averaged 6.05%. Overall, it seems that April was a good month by the numbers.

Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke is forecasting the economic activity to bottom out then turn up later this year, noting that the housing market is beginning to stabilize.

Existing home sales rose for the second consecutive time in March and represented the first back-to-back monthly increase since March 2008. This is all good news.

There is growing activity in our area with the interest of buyers looking for properties. Again the government stimulus program is a major factor there for first time buyers. These first time home buyers are very important to our market. They are buying the homes of the people who wish to “buy up” to their next house. Without the first time buyers we have had a stagnant market waiting for those homes to sell.

Spread the word – it is an encouraging time to be in the real estate market.

Call me and let’s talk about your future plans. I would be delighted to help you.