Great questions. For the Evanston single-family market, I have not seen this year a noticeably larger influx of first time buyers who are motivated by the federal tax credits. Those buyers are typically seen in the condo market. I have not seen too many FHA loans in the single-family market or an uptick in those loans as a Realtor or appraiser. FHA loans seem to be more common in the condo market. As for percentage of down payments in the single-family home market, I think there is probably a greater number of buyers with less cash for down payment and earnest money simply because there is a portion of the home buyer market that is having difficulty selling their condos to purchase a home. These buyers are seeing their equity melt away, and they are coming into the single-family market with less cash. This in part is affecting the value of single-homes.

I have seen a large number of single-family home buyers in Evanston who are young couples with small children or ready to start a family looking to move-up.

It has been my experience without researching significant data that homes below the jumbo rate do sell faster and more often simply based on the logic that there are more buyers in that price range. I hope this helps. Thanks.

It’s always interesting to see this comparison data for the Evanston market.

I’m curious what sort of differences you’ve seen in the mix of buyers this year compared to 2008 and 2007. First-time buyers vs. move-up buyers, FHA loans vs. non, % of down-payment used. Also, any thoughts on differences in how well properties above and below the jumbo mortgage line are moving?