Close to Home: Low-ball offers common in Lincoln, Neb.
— -- The real estate market in Lincoln, Neb., is usually as good or as bad as the annual harvests of soybean, corn and other crops, which are big drivers of the local economy. Not last year, says Marcia Weddle, an agent at Century 21 Home & Farm Realty.
"Farmers had a great crop, it didn't get hailed out and real estate has gone to heck in a hand basket," she says. And now, foreclosures, though still relatively low, are popping up in a city that 30 years ago rarely saw one.
Fortunately, the steady jobs provided by the state government and the University of Nebraska have kept a floor under existing-home sales. Those sales were down just 3.6% last year from the record set in 2005, according to the Lincoln Association of Realtors. The median price for the year was virtually flat compared with 2006, but still a record at $128,000.
Sales of newly built homes, on the other hand, have been falling since 2003, when it seemed every door framer had become a contractor and built homes on speculation, says Bob Moline, CEO and broker of Woods Bros. Realty.
"Those guys are gone," Moline says. Most of the excess inventory has been sold, he says, and the market for entry-level town houses was strong last year.
Sales last year of new homes fell 15% from 2006, and the median price dipped about 1% to $194,000 from the record set in 2006, according to the Lincoln Association of Realtors.
As of November, the most recent period for which Moline had figures, there was a 6.4-month supply of homes on the market, which is generally considered a balanced market.
Still, he says, many buyers assume they have the advantage. They're coming in with low-ball offers of 15% to 20% below the asking price, so sellers have to negotiate to get the deal done.
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