While many of us Brokers, Agents and industry experts expected home sales to drop dramatically after the Homebuyer Tax Rebate ended on April 30^th, homes in Overland Park and other areas of Johnson County have continued to sell at a good pace. In fact, this is also true of home sales throughout the entire Kansas City Metro area.

April Contracts                        May Contracts

Overland Park                                207                                                160

Kansas City Metro                       2,049                                            1,670

Olathe                                              164                                                 107

Leawood                                           35                                                  41

Lee’s Summit                                   94                                                  75

With home prices and interest rates lower than they have been for many years, buyers realize that this may be the best time ever to purchase a home, even when a tax rebate is not available.

It makes sense. With interest rates hovering around 5% on 30 yr. mortgages and the price of existing homes as low as they are; do buyers want to take a chance of waiting for rates to go up even 1%,  on a $200,000 loan that 1% will add $45,000 in additional interest over 30 years? I’d say no way!