A Glance At Local Sheriff Sales

I recently took a random look at the current sheriff sales listed for Brown and Outagamie County. My sample included 10 from each county. I kind of wanted to see what the average value of a foreclosure was. In Brown County the average was roughly $132,436 and in Outagamie the average was roughly $119,640. OK, now both of these averages are under $135000 so I would guess that a good number of these foreclosures were 1st-time home-buyers (not a scientific conclusion)but not that far of a stretch based on the values.

I think it's good to look at these types of numbers though. It helps in pinpointing where there may have been product failures.

Draw your own conclusions, but as far as the fox valley area it's not the big dollar homes that are being foreclosed upon.

Brown County Median Sale Price
	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Total
2008	$136,700
2007	$144,000	$150,800	$150,800	$150,000	$149,200
2006	$150,800	$153,300	$151,400	$146,200	$150,700
2005	$149,300	$151,700	$153,700	$147,700	$151,400
Outagamie County Median Sale Price
	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Total
2008	$131,400
2007	$128,600	$138,600	$147,700	$137,300	$138,600
2006	$140,000	$137,300	$140,000	$140,000	$138,700
2005	$138,600	$138,500	$140,000	$130,800	$ $138,300

Source WRA

Wisconsin's median price in the 1st quarter of 2008 was $154,000, according to the Wisconsin Realtors Association. The foreclosures I looked at, are on average, quite a bit below the WI median price. Thus these are generally below average valued homes being foreclosed on. The very price range that oftentimes attracts 1st-time buyers.

Love to know how many of these were 1st-timers?ARMS?

Brown County Foreclosure Snapshot

According to today's Green Bay Press Gazette, Green Bay is currently leading Brown County with 42 of it's 69 foreclosures.

I don't really find anything overly startling about these numbers. Green Bay is the largest city in Brown County, so it only makes sense that their foreclosure numbers would be a substantial proportion of the overall county numbers.

It will be interesting to see how this graph looks over the course of the next few months.

Spotlight Green Bay - It's a Great Time to Buy

In yesterday's USA today there was an interesting article about the Green Bay housing market. For the most part it reiterated what we've been seeing in the Fox Valley area.
The median home price in Brown County is actually up 2.6% to $150000 while the state average is the same as last year at $160000.

As for the foreclosure crisis, Brown County has not had a huge number of home foreclosures. In the first nine months of 2007, there were 277 foreclosures in Brown County, up from 240 a year earlier, according to the Green Bay Press-Gazette.

Rates are still great and there are plenty of houses to choose from. If you are a first-time homebuyer it's a great time to be in the market. There are some really good deals out there!