Hopefully you have been keeping up with my monthly homes sales report for Kansas. I actually explain the numbers so you can understand them without any fluff or excuses like all the local, state, and national associations. As I have indicated in the last couple of reports, home sales are down and it is no different for March . Kansas home sales (number of homes sold) fell by a whopping

13.7 percent according to the Kansas Association of Realtors (KAR). If you take a look at national real estate sales, they fell by 6.3%.

Here is the excuse -  According to KAR's president Jamie Holt with Coldwell Banker Plaza Real Estate (Wichita, KS), "Although sales are down considerably from last year, this comparison is misleading because we don’t have the homebuyer tax credit this year and we did last year". What Holt is saying is without the money give-a-way from the government, sales would have been bad last year too. It might have made this year look better – or would it? 

Now here's the bad part; the National Association of Realtors (which I am not a member) were running TV ads, radio commercials, and advising their member agents on how great the government tax credits were and buyers should take advantage of it.  I bet those people who bought last year are feeling kind of stupid right now. They allowed some so called REAL ESTATE PROFESSIONAL talk the into buying a home they couldn't afford to buy in the first place, all because the $8,500 tax credit was a once in a lifetime awesome deal.

Here is what happens when anyone gets involved with an inexperienced real estate agent. By the way, the average real estate agents has been in the business for less than 2 year. Using March 2010 and 2011 figures from KAR, here is a picture of the sinking ship you would be in today if you bought a home last year using the governments $8,500 gift and a clueless real estate agent:

March 2010 Kansas Statewide Average Purchase Price – $151,114

March 2011 Kansas Statewide Average Purchase Price – $142,661

That is a loss of $8,453. In other words, all but $47 of the tax credit government gift is gone and the buyer now owns a property worth less than what they paid for it. Guess what, that's only over the past 12 months, if they bought 24 months ago the picture is even worse. I guess free government money really isn't free.

Over the last 2 years I have advised my clients as well as potential clients not to buy or sell unless it was an emergency. Good for my clients, not so good for me in the short run. Sure it is hurting my pocketbook, but good experience isn't always about the money? In the long run I believe educating people by being truthful will payoff tenfold for everyone involved.

The key is to keep yourself informed by becoming a member of my blog. You will be glad you did!

The statewide average sale price last month was $142,661, compared to $151,114 in March 2010.  This represents a decrease of 5.6%. The statewide median sale price last month was $126,600 compared to $135,700 for the same period last year. According to the National Association of REALTORS®, the median home price in the Midwest fell 7.1% to $126,100. The national median existing home price was $159,600 which is 5.9% below last year. The median price is where half sold for more and half sold for less.

According to Freddie Mac, the national average commitment rate on a 30-year conventional fixed-rate mortgage last month was 4.84% which is down from 4.95% in February and 4.97% in March 2010.