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Twin Cities Buyer Showing Activity

May 20, 2013 by Leave a Comment
showing-data-5-20-13

While home sales in the Twin Cities are at 7 year highs, home buyer showings are actually down from last year:   Why are home showings down even though sales are up?  Simple.  Far fewer homes for sale this year means buyers simply have far less to look at. A couple years ago buyers could look at dozens of homes for sale that met their criteria and spend weeks deciding.  Today we often find that there are less than a dozen homes that really match a buyer's wants and they have only days to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Featured Blog Posts, Info for Buyers, Info for Sellers, Market Stats

Minnesota Foreclosures Continue Decline

May 13, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Q1 2013 Sheriff Sales in Minnesota

HousingLink just released their latest foreclosure report showing the strong declines in sheriff sales continues.   Once a sheriff sale has occurred, most properties will be listed by the bank that took it back 7-9 months later.  Consequently, the continued decline of bank owned listings for sale on the MLS is all but certain at this point.  When fewer properties go through foreclosure, neighborhood values are higher and we've seen this trend for over a year now.  This is great news for sellers … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Featured Blog Posts, Foreclosures and Short Sales, Info for Buyers, Info for Sellers, Market Stats

Housing Market’s Virtuous Cycle

May 6, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The Housing Market Virtuous Cycle

The housing market has come roaring back in many markets throughout the U.S. and some have been questioning whether the surge of activity we're seeing has staying power. In many markets, from 2008 through much of 2012 we saw that nearly half of home sales were of foreclosed or short sale properties.  What we're seeing now is a return back to the Traditional Seller as foreclosure and short sale inventory declines sharply. What's crucial about this return to a more normal market is that in a Traditional Sale, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Community Issues, Featured Blog Posts, Foreclosures and Short Sales, Housing Analysis, Info for Buyers, Info for Sellers, Market Stats, Opinion Tagged With:

Twin Cities Preforeclosure Activity Remains Sharply Lower

May 2, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Preforeclosures in the Twin Cities

The Minnesota Home Ownership Center released their quarterly preforeclosure notice data and the new is overall very good. Preforeclosure notices did tick up in the Twin Cities in Q1 2013 however the level remains less than half of what it was in the peak of the housing crisis.  Q4 2012 might have been a blip due to the holiday season.  We'll have to see what happens in the current quarter but my belief is that the preforeclosure levels will continue to trend lower as we see the economy improve and fewer … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Featured Blog Posts, Foreclosures and Short Sales, Market Stats Tagged With:

Twin Cities Pending Home Sales 2nd Highest in 7+ Years

April 30, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Home Sales on the Rise

 Twin Cities pending home sales for the week ending April 20th, 2013 surged to their 2nd highest level in more than 7 years. In one week, 1,337 homes went under contract, which was the highest level since August 2005 except for a single week in 2010 when the first time home buyer tax credit was expiring. Pending sales were nearly 10% higher than the same week a year ago and continues the trend of increasing sales, declining inventory and rising prices. While sales are up, new listings are effectively flat … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Featured Blog Posts, Housing Analysis, Info for Buyers, Info for Sellers, Market Stats

What will you do in a multiple offer situation?

April 28, 2013 by Leave a Comment
multiple-offers

With the strong activity and low supply we're seeing in the Twin Cities, it is important for sellers to discuss how multiple offers will be handled BEFORE they come in. When discussing this with your agent, here are a few important questions to consider: Will we disclose the multiple offer situation to all parties? This is a decision for the Seller but most of the time it is in the Seller's best interest to inform all parties of the multiple offer situation.  Many brokerages make this their standard … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Featured Blog Posts, Info for Sellers, Opinion, Personal Experiences Tagged With:

Old School Real Estate: Communication

April 24, 2013 by 2 Comments
frown

As the tightest Twin Cities housing market in the last decade continues, houses are selling left and right in multiple offers and leaving many buyers disappointed. Regularly I am hearing stories of situations that went bad mostly due to poor agent to agent communication. In some of these situations, listing agents are not informing buyer agents of competing offers, buyers agents are not contacting the listing agent before an offer is submitted, or neither party is talking to one another at all. In such a … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Featured Blog Posts, Info for Buyers, Opinion, Personal Experiences Tagged With: ,

Real Estate Domains for Sale

April 1, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Real estate related domains for sale

Over the years I've collected hundreds of domain names and have decided to sell off some of my portfolio.  Below is a list of domains I am currently offering for sale.  For real estate agents out there, a great domain name is invaluable in today's Internet-centric business.   Contact me if you are interested in purchasing one or more domains. Domain … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Featured Blog Posts

Flood Season is Coming! Tips for Protecting Your Home

March 18, 2013 by Leave a Comment
flood

With flood season just around the corner, now is the time to make sure you and your home are prepared.  Here is some information from the Federal Alliance for Safe Homes (FLASH). … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Featured Blog Posts, General

Just 10 Weeks Supply of Twin Cities Housing

March 14, 2013 by Leave a Comment
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As the news media has been reporting with greater regularity recently, the supply of homes for sale in the Twin Cities has been shrinking dramatically - down over 31% in the last 12 months. As of March 14th, 2013 there were 12,399 homes for sales in the Twin Cities on the NorthstarMLS system.  That works out to approximately 13 weeks of supply or approximately 3 months of homes for sale.  A balanced market between supply and demand is typically considered to be in the 5-6 months of inventory range, so we're … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Featured Blog Posts, Info for Buyers, Info for Sellers, Market Stats, Opinion, Statistics

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TwinCitiesRealEstateBlog.com is not a Multiple Listing Service MLS, nor does it offer MLS access.
This website is a service of Aaron Dickinson of Edina Realty, a broker Participant of the Regional Multiple Listing Service of Minnesota, Inc.