Snow Country Real Estate
continues with positive sales growth through the end of March!

According to the Western Upper Peninsula MLS Board statistics the total sales dollars for this year in our region is over $8.6 million with SCRE contributing almost 16% of those sales. As a region, we stand at almost double over the same time period in 2007, which was $4.5 million!

Individual agents in our firm are in positions 5, 6, 7, 12 and 21 in sales volume! We've had several closings in April and a number of others scheduled for later in the month and early May.

At our last staff meeting we discussed the general economy of the area (improving), the benefits of Walmart moving into town (more real estate transactions and more jobs available), and the affect gas prices will have our tourism industry (positive, because people still take vacations, but will avoid air travel and long-distance trips so we'll get more regional visitors). All of this bodes well for real estate sales in Ironwood, Bessemer, Hurley and surrounding areas to keep going at a steady pace.

Another phenomenon of the area is the steady influx of retirees. The Western UP is still a place to buy a relatively inexpensive home in a nice, safe community. Many of these buyers are selling homes in metropolitan areas, buying a home here and then planning to travel to Florida, Texas, or Arizona for a month to two months during our winter months. They see this as living the best of all worlds. Many of these people are young retirees, still wanting to work part-time. A very good example is of a couple I sold a home to this winter; she plans to work a few hours per week for an in-home health services company. It's great to welcome these new folks to our community and have them contribute to our neighborhoods and businesses.