RuhlHomes.com provides easy access to ALL properties for sale by all companies in our region, and now allows consumers to search properties that have recently sold in their area.
RuhlHomes.com is the only area website to provide information on properties that have recently sold – including details like days on market and property details – helping our clients make more informed decisions when buying or selling real estate.
RuhlHomes.com remains the source for up to date real estate information, continuing to offer a wealth of information on mortgages, real estate trends by market, the home buying and selling process, relocation, new construction, investing in real estate, which includes free investor calculation tools and an online seminar at ruhlhomes.com/investor, and so much more!
Visit the new RuhlHomes.com today and you’ll be smarter by the click!
Davenport NOW, a city established tax incentive program that launched in July of 2009, provides a 50% rebate of the City’s share of property taxes for 10 years to people who build a home or renovate an existing property in Davenport, Iowa. The program has now been extended to June of 2014!
Davenport NOW was passed to improve economic development, as well as provide more opportunities to small business owners in construction and remodeling. Since the program was established in 2009 the city of Davenport has already rebated over $2.8 million with most participants receiving over $6,000.
In August of 2010, the Davenport City Council approved the expansion of the Davenport NOW program to include a special program for historic properties, which provides an additional tax benefit to homeowners completing historic improvements. Applicants can receive a rebate on the value of the improvements of up to 100% of the city’s share of your property taxes for 10 years. Under both programs, eligible participants may choose a single one-time payment or multiple payments over ten years.
To qualify for the Davenport or Historic Davenport NOW programs this is some of the criteria:
The property must be in a local or national historic district or listed on the national registry of historic properties.
The property must be a single family, owner occupied home.
Improvements must lead to a minimum $5,000 increase in assessed value.
Exterior improvements must receive a certificate of appropriateness from the Davenport Historic Preservation Commission. City staff can assist you in submitting your improvements for approval.
If approved you will then need to choose how you would like to receive you rebate. There are two different methods: Upfront One-time Rebate and Multiple Rebates over 10 Years.
Keep in mind that those receiving a single payment shall do so at a discounted rate. Multi-family residential and commercial properties are not eligible for an upfront rebate.
According to City ordinance, both business and residential property owners may be eligible, as long as the owner occupies the structure. Rental property improvements may also be eligible, but not new rental properties or those converting owner-occupied structures into rental properties.
For more information or to see if you qualify, contact the City of Davenport at 563-888-3380
Please join us for the upcoming Fall Preview Parade of Homes event. The parade will be held September 15th- 16th, 22nd – 23rd from 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m., as well as September 19th from 5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. As always, the parade of homes is free to the public.
Many of the top builders in the Quad Cities participate in this event as it showcases new building trends in new construction homes. There are nineteen homes to tour with half of them being held open by Ruhl&Ruhl sales associates. Please see the homes represented by Ruhl&Ruhl below:
This is a great event and Ruhl&Ruhl REALTORS looks forward to participating it in every year. This year there is over $1,000 in prizes that the public is able to enter to win at each home on the tour. For a full list and map of the homes being held open please check out www.qchba.com.
A family-owned company since 1862, Ruhl&Ruhl REALTORS has grown to 280 sales associates, 58 employees and eleven offices, selling more than 4,100 homes in eastern Iowa, western Illinois and southwestern Wisconsin. The company has residential sales offices in Bettendorf, Burlington, Cedar Rapids, Clinton, Davenport, DeWitt, Dubuque, Iowa City, Maquoketa and Muscatine, Iowa; and in Moline, Illinois. In addition to residential sales, the company offers services in relocation, property management, real estate investments, new home sales, land development, farm sales, senior services, home vendor services, insurance services through the Nelson Brothers Agency and mortgage services through 1862 Mortgage. For more information on Ruhl&Ruhl REALTORS, visit their website at www.RuhlHomes.com.
Davenport NOW, a city established, tax incentive program that launched in July of 2009, (provides a 50% rebate of the City’s share of property taxes for 10 years to people who build a home or renovate an existing property in Davenport, Iowa) the program has now been extended to June of 2014.
Davenport NOW was passed by Alderman to improve economic development, as well as provide more opportunities to small business owners in construction and remodeling. Since the program was established in 2009 the city of Davenport has already rebated over $1 million with most participants receiving over $5,000.
In August of 2010, the Davenport City Council approved the expansion of the Davenport NOW program to include a special program for historic properties, which provides an additional tax benefit to homeowners completing historic improvements. Applicants can receive a rebate on the value of the improvements of up to 100% of the city’s share of your property taxes for 10 years. Under both programs, eligible participants may choose a single one-time payment or multiple payments over ten years.
To qualify for the Davenport or Historic Davenport NOW programs this is some of the criteria:
The property must be in a local or national historic district or listed on the national registry of historic properties.
The property must be a single family, owner occupied home.
Improvements must lead to a minimum $5,000 increase in assessed value.
Exterior improvements must receive a certificate of appropriateness from the Davenport Historic Preservation Commission. City staff can assist you in submitting your improvements for approval.
The home must be built as new construction or purchased new.
According to City ordinance, both business and residential property owners may be eligible, as long as the owner occupies the structure. Rental property improvements may also be eligible, but not new rental properties or those converting owner-occupied structures into rental properties.
For more information or to see if you qualify, contact the City of Davenport at 563-888-3380 or DiscoverDavenport.com
Keep checking RuhlHomes.com for the most up to date information on the Quad Cities real estate market!
Regional real estate sales are strong. Sales volume is up in almost all of our markets for the first 6 months of the year compared to 2011:
Burlington Area +17%
Cedar Rapids Area +16%
Clinton Area +34%
Dubuque Area +17%
Illinois Quad Cities +18%
Iowa Quad Cities +21%
Iowa City Area +28%
Muscatine/Wilton Area +12%
Ruhl&Ruhl REALTORS sales volume is up 29% through June and sales pended but not yet closed in June were up 23.5%, so the momentum continues.
Regionally, new construction sales are up 15% through June, while our new construction inventory has dropped 28%.
According to Eric Belsky, Managing Director of the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, “people are slowly getting more confident…more Americans are deciding that it’s a good time to buy…you know, the opportunity to buy at or near the bottom of a cycle is great. And I think people are beginning to appreciate that… meanwhile, the cost of renting a house or apartment has been rising. When you compare the cost of owning versus the cost of renting, it hasn’t looked this good in 40 to 50 years.”
“And we are sitting in the ‘sweet spot’ in the country, both for real estate sales and appreciation,” notes Caroline Ruhl, President of Ruhl&Ruhl REALTORS. According to the Real Trends Housing Market Report, housing unit sales for May 2012 were up 20.1% in the Midwest, the strongest showing in the country for the fourth consecutive month. According to the Federal Housing Finance Agency, of the 303 MSA’s (Metropolitan Statistical Areas) ranked by home price appreciation, all of Ruhl&Ruhl’s markets ranked in the top 20% in the nation.
“The Housing market recovery is charging ahead with units in the double digit range while prices were up from a year ago for the second month in a row,” observes Steve Murray, editor of the REAL Trends Housing Market Report. “The market is being charged by the strong presence of investors and first-time buyers but far more move-up buyers are appearing. The shortage of inventory…is also starting to drive prices upward.”
Inventory in our region is declining. Properties listed for sale have fallen compared to June 2011: down 11% in the Burlington area, down 10% in the Cedar Rapids area, down 22% in DeWitt, down 26% in the Dubuque area, down 16% in the Illinois Quad Cities, down 4% in the Iowa Quad Cities, down 12% in the Iowa City area, down 17% in Maquoketa/Preston/Bellevue and down 6% in the Muscatine/Wilton area.
“Properties are selling faster than we can list them,” notes Ruhl. “In the Quad Cities, for example, we have the lowest inventory on the MLS that we have had since the summer of 2005. We really need more properties listed for us to sell.”
A family-owned company since 1862, Ruhl&Ruhl REALTORS has grown to 280 sales associates, 58 employees and eleven offices, selling more than 4,100 homes in eastern Iowa, western Illinois and southwestern Wisconsin. The company has residential sales offices in Bettendorf, Burlington, Cedar Rapids, Clinton, Davenport, DeWitt, Dubuque, Iowa City, Maquoketa and Muscatine, Iowa; and in Moline, Illinois. In addition to residential sales, the company offers services in relocation, property management, real estate investments, new home sales, land development, farm sales, senior services, home vendor services, insurance services through the Nelson Brothers Agency and mortgage services through 1862 Mortgage. For more information on Ruhl&Ruhl REALTORS, visit their website at www.RuhlHomes.com.
Please join us for the upcoming Spring Parade of Homes event. The parade will be held April 21st, 22nd, 25th, 28th and 29th from 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday and 5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. Wednesday. As always, the parade of homes is free to the public.
Many of the top builders in the Quad Cities participate in this event as it showcases new building trends in new construction homes. There are twenty three homes to tour with nearly half of them being held open by Ruhl&Ruhl agents. Please see the homes Ruhl&Ruhl agents are showing below:
This is a great event and Ruhl&Ruhl REALTORS looks forward to participating it in every year. This year there is over $1,000 in prizes that the public is able to enter to win at each home on the tour. For a full list and map of the homes being held open please check out www.qchba.com.
A family-owned company since 1862, Ruhl&Ruhl REALTORS has grown to 279 sales associates, 58 employees and eleven offices, selling more than 4,100 homes in eastern Iowa, western Illinois and southwestern Wisconsin. The company has residential sales offices in Bettendorf, Burlington, Cedar Rapids, Clinton, Davenport, DeWitt, Dubuque, Iowa City, Maquoketa and Muscatine, Iowa; and in Moline, Illinois. In addition to residential sales, the company offers services in relocation, property management, real estate investments, new home sales, land development, farm sales, senior services, home vendor services, insurance services through the Nelson Brothers Agency and mortgage services through 1862 Mortgage. For more information on Ruhl&Ruhl REALTORS, visit their website at www.RuhlHomes.com.
Our local markets are reaping the benefits of stronger home prices compared to the rest of the country, ranking in the top 15% in the nation.
Nationally home prices have fallen 19.16% in the last five years, but all of our markets’ home prices are up: 7.84% in Dubuque; 3.25% in the Quad Cities; 3.04% in Iowa City; and 1.72% in Cedar Rapids. This compares to other cities: Des Moines, IA down 2.34%; Chicago, IL down 22.86%; and the Daytona Beach, FL area down 46.24%.
According to the Federal Housing Finance Agency, of the 306 MSA’s (Metropolitan Statistical Areas) ranked by home price appreciation, all of our markets in eastern Iowa ranked in the top 15% in the nation – Dubuque at 4th, Iowa City at 16th; the Quad Cities at 45th; and Cedar Rapids at 47th.
Analysts report that although there was an overall decline, 12 states showed price increases this quarter, which shows that real estate markets are seeing some signs of life. Our local markets continue to provide a much more stable environment for purchasing homes and investing in real estate. In fact, our current listing inventory is declining and multiple offers are being seen on existing properties for sale. Now is the time to start your home search and get your property listed in our markets, noted Caroline Ruhl, President of Ruhl&Ruhl REALTORS.
A family-owned company since 1862, Ruhl&Ruhl REALTORS has grown to more than 275 sales associates, 58 employees and eleven offices, selling more than 4,300 homes in eastern Iowa, western Illinois and southwestern Wisconsin. The company has residential sales offices in Bettendorf, Burlington, Cedar Rapids, Clinton, Davenport, DeWitt, Dubuque, Iowa City, Maquoketa and Muscatine, Iowa; and in Moline, Illinois. In addition to residential sales, the company offers services in relocation, property management, real estate investments, new home sales, land development, farm sales, senior services, home vendor services, insurance services through the Nelson Brothers Agency and mortgage services through 1862 Mortgage. For more information on Ruhl&Ruhl REALTORS, visit their website at www.RuhlHomes.com.
Ruhl&Ruhl Realtors believes now is the time for young families to buy a home!
We have reported that almost six million adults between the ages of 25 to 34 are currently living with their parents. That number reflects an almost 50% increase since 2003. These young adults are now being advised to jump into homeownership.
Who are the people selling them on the American Dream? Their parents! It seems that parents of some adult children are strongly suggesting that their children take advantage of the low cost of homeownership available today. Some moms and dads are helping financially and are even co-signing for the mortgage. Middle age parents who have owned a home understand its true value. A home has always been a good long term financial investment. However, homeownership also has many other benefits.
In Fannie Mae’s most recent National Housing Survey, they asked the question directly: Is this a major reason to buy a home?
The study broke up the answers into financial and non-financial reasons. The top four reasons and six of the top ten reasons were NON-FINANCIAL. The top four are below:
It means having a good place to raise children and provide a good education.
You have a physical structure where you and your family feel safe.
It allows you to have more space for your family.
It gives you control over what you do with your living space (renovations & updates).
Should this surprise us? Aren’t these the same reasons our parents bought their home? Aren’t these the same reasons we purchased our home? These are the same reasons parents have suggested their children buy a home. They want the same things for their grandchildren that they believed to be important for their children.
And today, the cost of homeownership is at all time lows:
J.P. Morgan
“The numbers on housing have an important message for American families today, and particularly younger families setting out on life’s great adventure: Five years ago, at the peak of the home-buying euphoria, it was emphatically a time to rent. Today, when home ownership is depreciated more than ever before, the numbers tell us it is a time to buy.”
MSNBC.com
“[S]omeone who plans on staying put for seven years would come out ahead by about $9,000 if they bought a median-priced home rather than being a tenant in a median-priced rental.”
HUD
“Homes today are more affordable for average families than they have been since 1971. Median-income families today have nearly double the funds needed to purchase the average home.”
Bottom Line
Now that the economy is beginning to show signs of stabilizing, people are getting back to the core values that families have always embraced. Homeownership is definitely high on that list. And today, from a financial standpoint, it may be the opportunity of a lifetime.
For the most up to date information on the housing market. Keep checking RuhlHomes.com.
Across the region served by Ruhl&Ruhl REALTORS, new home sales dropped by an average of nearly 14% (see chart below for more detail) while Ruhl&Ruhl REALTORS experienced a company-wide increase of over 6% in unit sales for the year. Price level preferences were consistent with sales in the Quad Cities market, but the rest of the region expressed a much stronger preference for ranch style homes; at over 90% of sales in most areas. Inventory levels across the region fell by nearly 30%, compared to last year.
The Quad Cities Area Realtor Association’s Multiple Listing Service sales and inventory figures for new homes in the Quad Cities have been compiled and the overall results for 2011 reflect a decrease in both sales and year-end inventory levels.
Inventory of New Construction at the end of 2011 dropped 16% from a year ago, with available new houses down 29%. Inventory of available condos is at the same level as this time last year. Scott County is home to 79% of the 114 new homes listed on the MLS. Overall unit sales in the market dropped by 20% when compared with 2010, with new house sales down 28% and new condo sales down 1%. Scott County experienced a 29% decrease in houses and a 3% decrease in condos for a combined drop of 22%. Rock Island County saw an 18% drop in houses and a 9% increase in condos for a net decrease of 4%.
Ranch style houses represented 48% of sales. Of the combined total of 217 new construction home sales reported by the MLS; 136 (63%) were houses and 81 (37%) were condos. Scott County reported 196 (90%) of the total sales for both counties. The most active price range for new houses remained from $200,000 to $300,000, followed by $300,000 to $400,000. These two ranges together represented nearly 57% of new house sales in 2011, but when compared with 2010 results, they also combined for 75% of the total sales decline in 2011. In 2010, they represented 62% of house sales. Condo sales were dominated by sales below the $175,000 level with 65% of sales falling under that point.
A family-owned company since 1862, Ruhl&Ruhl REALTORS has grown to more than 275 sales associates, 58 employees and eleven offices, selling more than 4,300 homes in eastern Iowa, western Illinois and southwestern Wisconsin. The company has residential sales offices in Bettendorf, Burlington, Cedar Rapids, Clinton, Davenport, DeWitt, Dubuque, Iowa City, Maquoketa and Muscatine, Iowa; and in Moline, Illinois. In addition to residential sales, the company offers services in relocation, property management, real estate investments, new home sales, land development, farm sales, senior services, home vendor services, insurance services through the Nelson Brothers Agency and mortgage services through 1862 Mortgage.
For more information on Ruhl&Ruhl, visit their website at www.RuhlHomes.com.
Anyone in the real estate industry for any length of time realizes that the education required and the resources necessary to be a true industry professional have dramatically increased over the last two decades. In today’s volatile market, it is necessary to have a true real estate professional if you want to sell your home for the best possible price in the shortest amount of time – and make sure the deal gets to the closing table!
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) explained in a recent Existing Sales Report that 18% of all contracts were cancelled in the previous month. This compares to 16% the prior month and 9% in August of 2010.
The good news is homeowners have realized that attempting to sell their home on their own is an arduous process best left to an industry expert. According to NAR’s 2011 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, the percentage of sellers selling on their own, known as For Sale By Owners (FSBOs), has dropped almost in half over the last 20 years:
Bottom Line
If you are selling a home in today’s confusing real estate market, it is best to take on the services of a local real estate expert. He/she will guide you through each step of the transaction thereby increasing the likelihood that there will be fewer inconveniences for you and your family.
Keep checking RuhlHomes.com for the most up to date information on the real estate market.
