Is the housing market recovering? - YES...

Sales of new U.S. homes surged in April
Biggest gain in 14 years as median prices fell by record amount

Read the full article here http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18842917/

I have been saying it for the past few months, it is picking up and picking up fast! My listings are getting offers, multiple offers, I am in contract on many homes right now. Buyers are tired of waiting (they have been waiting for over a year and 1/2) and are buying. In Jan 2007 I saw a huge increase in buyer activity, tons of calls and emails from prospective buyers inquiring about listings. I told my worried sellers that the market is not going to be bouncing back any time soon but the increase buyer traffic will help a lot to offset the price drops and market slowdown, and that is exactly what has happened.

I see some sellers finally realizing their overpriced home will not move and I also get some sellers who refuse to drop any more and wait it out, some did get lucky with the recent buyer activity, they held to their prices and they got pretty close. I have told my buyers that they better not wait too much longer and the prices we are seeing these days as asking prices, they are getting very close to asking because they have already dropped 10-15%. Some buyers are not listening and they learned the hard way by being out bid by others. You can't low ball any more. Overall I think both the buyers and sellers ready to make things work.

So sales are UP, prices are DOWN... that is A LOT better than sales down AND prices down... so it is a start... I predict it will slowly get better, this will be a great year and 2008 will be even better.

I know this article is talking about new homes, but I am seeing the same surge in existing/resale home sales.

Michael Trinchitella

Mahopac NY Real Estate