Ready to buy or sell a home in Erie?  According to new Wall Street Journal/Realtor.com rankings, you're in the 28th best place in the nation to do so.

In the rankings of 200 metro markets across the U.S. released by the Wall Street Journal last week, Erie landed higher than 7 other Pennsylvania real estate markets across the state.

That's not surprising to Mary Smrekar, longtime broker and real estate agent with Coldwell Banker Select in Erie.  "It's no surprise, Erie's a wonderful place to live, to raise a family, to work, there's an ease of living here," Smrekar said.  "There's affordability in the housing market, and in grocery shopping...we have natural resources, parks, the peninsula lots of wonderful things," she added.

First time home buyer Margo Dowd and her husband have an appreciation for those wonderful things.  After renting in the area for about 6 years, they just moved into their first home in Millcreek Township. "I have multiple friends who live in New York City and Pittsburgh and they are definitely jealous of our housing prices, Margo said.  "We do feel blessed that we're able to purchase a home in this area that's within our budget because it's a great neighborhood. We love being here, we want to raise a family in a neighborhood that's safe, and we think Erie provides all of that."

Talking with us from inside a new builder spec home on the way up, Smrekar said new home construction is starting to come back too. "We have builder construction from the lower end to the higher which is about the 800's where we're standing now in Asbury woods estates."

The WSJ/Realtor.com list used a combination of real estate data and quality of life factors to rank markets.  

According to Smrekar, low climate risk is one area where Erie looks good. "We haven't had the hurricanes, floods, and fires that they're seeing in other areas. Our property taxes are level, are reasonable, so affordability is good and also the ability to get homeowners insurance.  In some areas you can't even get homeowners insurance or it's doubled or tripled," Smrekar said.

And while Margo found home buying stressful, she credited Smrekar as her helpful realtor and had this advice for other buyers. "Keep your notifications on on your realtor app, go see the house in person because it's so different from seeing it on line, and try to make that personal connection when you put your offer in," Margo said.

Smrekar agreed.  "Buyers should select a real estate agent with whom they're comfortable, who can advocate for them, who can search out listings that will be coming on the market and help them negotiate the process all the way through -- not just to locate the house, but to get across the finish line with the purchase."

As for that personal connection?  "We wrote a personalized note to the seller," Margo said.  "She lived here her entire life, her family built the home and it feels really special that we're able to kind of carry on her legacy."