St. Charles County Association of REALTORS(R) Presidents’ view of the market – Part two

Dennis Norman

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

Yesterday I began my E-View with Karen Vennard, the 2009 President of the St. Charles County Association of REALTORS(R) to get her take on the real estate market in St. Charles County.

Karen’s extensive knowledge of the market was apparent in her informative answers in yesterdays E-View.  Now we’ll pick up where we left off yesterday:

Karen Vennard, 2009 President, St. Charles County Association of REALTORS

Karen Vennard, 2009 President, St. Charles County Association of REALTORS

Dennis – Where do you see the real estate market in St. Charles County at now?

Karen – I see the market recovering; there has been an increase in pending sales in St. Charles county over this time last year.  That trend has been seen for the past 4 months now in the County.

Dennis – That’s encouraging news and also is fairly consistent with what I have seen in the metro market.  Now, lets talk about home prices.  People in most markets would be happy just to see some price stabilization and aren’t even talking about any appreciation in the near future.  Has, or is, St. Charles County seeing any price stabilization at this point?  Any idea when appreciation may come back into existence?

Karen – St. Charles County has seen a slight decrease in home prices; about 2% a year from the high in 2006.  We were fortunate enough to see about a 7% a year increase from 1998 to the top of the market in 2006.  With the increase in foreclosure and short sales I believe there will continue to be a slight decrease until those sales diminish.  However, if you have owned a home in St. Charles County for the past 8-10 years you will see appreciation over what you paid for it.  I still feel that over time home prices in St. Charles County will stabilize and still be the best investment that one can make.

Dennis – Wow, a decrease in value of only 2% a year is incredible!  Just yesterday I did a post on Real Estate Consumer News in which I was talking about how home price declines in the U.S. were continuing to improve, and for May were down 9.2% over a year ago.  At 2% St. Charles County is clearly fairing much better than a lot of other areas.

On this positive note we’ll stop for today and pick up with Karen tomorrow where we left off for the final part of our E-View.   If you wish to contact Karen directly with questions about the St. Charles County market, below is her contact info:

Karen Vennard – Office phone – (636) 379-3699, Cell phone (314) 602-1600, email kvennard@charter.net.

To read part one of this series please click here.
To read part three of this series please click here.

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