Are we at the light at the end of the tunnel or are we still walking towards it? While I continue to say that it is a GREAT time to buy (especially if you want to start dipping your toe in real estate investment)  Below is an article I came across during my “research hour” today.   Happy House hunting this weekend!

‘Corrections Continue in 2007 Twin Cities Housing Market

Twin Cities, Minnesota (January 16, 2008) – On the heels of several uninterrupted years of frenziedgrowth, the Twin Cities housing market finished its second full year of corrective declines in 2007,according to new analysis from the four Twin Cities area REALTOR® associations.Despite abundant inventory, motivated sellers, low interest rates and dramatically improved affordability,buyer activity declined, and the year ended with 40,055 closed sales, a decline of 16.4 percent from 2006.Newly signed purchase agreements—pending sales—showed a similar decline of 15.5 percent, posting43,560 units. While home sales cooled, so too did sellers and builders. The number of new listings on themarket during 2007 decreased by 2.8 percent compared to last year.Despite the decline in listings, lowered demand meant that buyers remained firmly in the driver’s seatthrough the year, and this dynamic showed in home values.

The 2007 median sales price was $225,000,a decline of 2.2 percent compared to 2006.“Given the run-up in home values we saw in the early part of this decade, it’s not surprising that some ofthat value would be taken back by market corrections,” said Kay McDonough, 2007 president of theSouthern Twin Cities Association of REALTORS®. “While this year-over-year decline is rare, the drawnoutprice increases we saw previously are even more uncommon.”“One of the key ingredients to our eventual rebound will be improving the affordability of our region’shomes, which had become problematic,” said Rod Schimmel, 2008 president of the North MetroREALTORS® Association. “It was a great year for affordability, which created new opportunities for firsttimehome buyers.” “No doubt about it, we still face some tough times ahead,” said Kevin Knudsen, 2008 president for theMinneapolis Area Association of REALTORS®. “Anyone who tells you that the rebound will be quick andpainless just isn’t paying attention.”“The eventual return of home buyers will be gradual and take time,” Greg Bauman said, 2008 president ofthe Saint Paul Area Association of REALTORS®. “But it’s important to recognize that positive changesare taking place in the local market and they are setting the stage for a healthy future.”The 2007 Twin Cities Housing Statistics were released at the Residential Real Estate Summit on January16, 2008—a joint event from the four Twin Cities REALTOR® associations and the Minnesota RealEstate Journal held at the Earle Brown Heritage Center in Brooklyn Park, MN. This first-ever gathering ofinfluential real estate players also featured a keynote address from Martha McMurry from the MinnesotaDemographer’s Office and panels on such wide-ranging subjects as lending laws, market projections, thenew real estate consumer, generational marketing, emerging markets, foreclosures, and newconstruction.’

This information was gathered from a recent press release from the SPAAR website (www.SPAAR.com) and is deemed reliable but not guaranteed.  Other contributors may have included:Southern Twin Cities Association of REALTORS®North Metro REALTORS® AssociationMinneapolis Area Association of REALTORS®Saint Paul Area Association of REALTORS®

VOTE FOR PUMPKIN #7!

 

My “virtual pumpkin” is on display for one and all to see and VOTE FOR!!  www.StPaulRealEstateBlolg.com

I don’t win anything but God knows I like to WIN!!!  Please hit this link and vote for pumpkin #7.  It is the coolest one after all!

Why worry? Now is a great time to BUY!

Whenever someone finds out I am a Realtor, I get the inevitable question:  “So how’s the Real Estate market?”  I really love that question, and I’ll tell you why.  Never before in the history of Generation Y & Xer’s has the market looked so good to BUY.  First time home buyers are presently being catapulted past what would “normally” be their typical “first home” right into the home that they’ll probably stay in for at least 10 years.  My considerable experience with first time home buyers has led me to certain conclusions.  If the buyer is single, they typically buy a place that is large enough for 2.  If the buyers are newly married without children, they typically buy a house that is big enough for the two of them and 2 dogs/cats.  If the buyers have small children they normally get a 2 or 3 bedroom house.  Typically, as soon as there is a lifestyle change (i.e. first child, additional child, newly married and looking to adopt a new pet or 2) they will start looking at houses very close in price to what they currently own, between a 30 to 50 thousand dollar scale increase.  That’s all changing.  In a market like this, buyers are moving above their typical scale increase by several thousand dollars and then low-balling the seller.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.  I recently participated in a transaction in which I suggested we counter offer 20 thousand less after the home inspection revealed some red flags.  The sellers agreed and both  myself and the Realtor representing the seller were pleasantly surprised.  In a market like this sellers should look at ALL offers.  I don’t believe that there is such a thing as an “insulting offer” (and believe me I’ve been on the receiving side of some LOW offers..)  to me, there are no insulting offers.  I always tell my sellers when they are signing listing paperwork; “Don’t be insulted if we get a low offer, be insulted if we get NO offer.”  Remember that selling for a little less than you want in this market will still help you buy more house than you probably thought you could. 

Say what?

This is how one of my clients reacted when I told him what his house was really worth… 

Blogging from my MotoQ

I just wanted to send a blog from my moto q to see if I’m smart enough to do so. The good thing is if no one sees this due to my innability to figure out my “phone” no one else will ever know but me!

my new clients

I have a trio of investor clients that I picked up through a referral-we went today to a section of Minneapolis called NorthEast (or Nordeast as it’s commonly referred to.)  We went to look at 3 properties today and were only able to look at one.  Fortunately they really like the one.  I feel Realtors are going to see more disinterest in listing agents that have foreclosures on the market in trying to actually get the listing sold.  What I mean is with the abundance of foreclosures, the listing agents are not dealing with common problem solving in order to sell a house.  Also, I know that many of these houses go through different companies before they sell and as they get passed around like one of Madonna’s groupies-it’s hard for the “new” listing agent to care about one of many. 

This observation comes from my showings today.  I tried in vain to reach an agent that had the wrong keys in his combination lock box. 

 I tried all the doors twice.  If this were my listing, I would be taking all phone calls (I normally do whenever I have a lisiting, period), and if I didn’t get to them in time I certainly would certainly try to reschedule.  Am I asking too much?

It rained…I canceled.  I stayed home and tried to deal with a problem on my blog (unsuccessfully so far)…crap

Is it going to rain on my open house?

I am selling my duplex in St. Paul.  I’ve been planning an open house all week and I’ve had a sign in the yard advertising the fact that it will be from 3:30-6:00.  It seems that Mother Nature is waiting for me to get all dolled up with my shiny Realtor pin and my best suit (which is a little tight on me right now), before she unleashes her maddening thunder storm fury.  No, wait a minute, She will probably wait until I begin to put my open house signs out on the boulevards before it starts to rain.  She knows that trying to run in my latest Steve Madden acquisition is damn near suicidal.  I’m going to post this before it rains…

Open House Alarms

I did an open house yesterday and I set off the alarm.  This was not my first open house for this property and I remembered that it had an alarm.  I called KW and Laurie our wonderful office assistant was working so I asked her for the code.  She said she did not have a code for it and that there were no instructions that would make her think there was an alarm.  Against my better judgement I obtained the key from the lock box and opened the door.  The alarm gave me a demanding, agressive warning noise for about 30 seconds and then it let me have it.  The alarm started to BLARE and it really sucked.  It was LOUD.  So I calmly step away and closed the door to call my office.  ILaurie and I frantically tried to figure out who to call and what to do when she reccommended that I try and hit the #1 button.  I tried it and the alarm stopped.  Laurie is SO smart! It finally was quiet but as I hung up the phone I noticed the St. Paul police department rolling up to the house to verify that I was actually supposed to be on the property.  (That’s the second time the cops came because of an open house alarm)

I wrote this post to mention to other Realtor’s out there to make sure the alarm info is added to the showing instructions.  That is kind of important.  Thanks-

 I was previewing houses today and I went into a home that had a fur-less cat.  He was cute in a hideous way and I was thinking to myself that I really liked it.  Then I started to notice that it looked kind of evil, but I was determined to like it.  Then I tried petting it because initially it was very friendly, but I didn’t know how to scratch it properly.  (Trust me that scratching the neck of a fur-less cat is somehow different than a furry one)  Then it tried to bite me several times, gently but enough that it made me concerned that it may try to corner me and not allow me to leave.  I stayed away from it until my tour was over, even though it followed me throughout the property.  It was very wierd.  I’ll take my half boxer half mutt dog any day.