(Guest Post) What Are Milwaukee Homes Selling for Now?

Sometimes you get a great opportunity to help others in your area. Well if you are living in Milwaukee and wondering about selling your home in the near future, "What can I expect to sell my Milwaukee home for?" Our new friends of Zillow.com gave us a little insight to that question. Our neighborhood of Brown Deer for a single family home is right around $129,500, according to Zillow, at this time. If Max and I decided to sell, we'd be looking at around a $39,000 profit after our initial investment of $80,500 and around $10,000 of improvements  And that's just at the average home listing price. Who knows, an appraisal might say something else. That makes for a really nice down payment on another home.

Anyways, be informed. You always want your home to sell well but do not set yourself up for disappointment. Know your neighborhood. Watch what similar homes are selling for in the area.

By: Tali Wee of Zillow.com

Thinking about selling a home in Milwaukee? Before considering buying or selling a home in the Milwaukee region, review the statistics of home values throughout Milwaukee county, examine the listing prices of homes verses their sales prices and compare these numbers to the state of Wisconsin and the United States. Having this information on hand gives real estate consumers greater understanding of their initial investments and potential listing prices for their current properties.

According to the Zillow Home Value Index for Milwaukee, home prices are estimated at $91,600 as of June 2013. Prices are on the rise in comparison to this past winter when the median home value dipped down to $84,000. This was an all-time low for Milwaukee real estate since 2008. Luckily for home owners, Milwaukee’s home values are rising at a steady pace of 1.6 percent year-over-year.

The list price of a home is the dollar amount that homeowners expect for the sale of their homes. The current median list price for homes in Milwaukee is $100,000, an increase of 16.4 percent from last year.

List prices are often set by the seller’s agent who best understands the market value of the home. However, due to multiple offers and bidding wars in competitive markets, the final sale prices of homes can fluctuate significantly from their initial list prices.

The current median sale price in Milwaukee is $116,500. The higher sale prices are good news for sellers who are receiving more for their properties than originally expected. The median sale price has also increased 5 percent year-over-year.

The neighborhood with the highest median list price of $669,000 is Northpoint. The neighborhood is located right on the shores of Lake Michigan, which inflates home prices.

For mid-range real estate in Milwaukee, check out Riverton Heights, where the median list price is around $82,500. Although it is a bit farther away from the beach, most who live in Riverton Heights are higher-income urban families, upper-scale singles and young married couples. Location, including whether a neighborhood is family-friendly, is an important factor when gauging a home’s value.

Purchasing a home in Milwaukee is less expensive than homes in the state of Wisconsin. The statewide Home Value Index is $141,600. The median list price of Wisconsin is $159,900 and median sale price is slightly higher at $172,600.

These numbers suggest a less competitive market across the state than in Milwaukee, where the list prices are significantly lower that the sales prices. Therefore, selling a home in Milwaukee may be quicker and homes may close higher than the seller asks.

So, how does this compare to the national housing market? As of June 2013, the median sale price of U.S. homes was $214,500 with a median list price of $199,900. This figure is significantly higher than Milwaukee, but note that highly affluent neighborhoods and individuals are included in the data.

Almost half of the population of Milwaukee owns a home. These homeowners should be relieved to know that 56.4 percent of Milwaukee homes have increasing values, which is a 23.3 percent increase from last year.

Based on the home value trends in Milwaukee, selling a home now is of better return than just one year ago.