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Zillow’s Stats Are Full Of Shit

For years I have been frustrated with Zillow's Zestimates.  I have countless cases where the sales prices of homes were wildly different than the Zestimates.  They cause confusion and frustration every time I hear them brought up.  Today was a breaking point. Even today, many years after they first started playing pin the price on the donkey, in my market they are STILL only within 10% of the sales price 53% of the time and 22% of the time, or over one in every five homes, they are off by more than 20%! … [Read more...]

Twin Cities Foreclosures Plummet

Where have all the foreclosures gone?  In the Twin Cities, foreclosure inventory is nearly half of what it was just a year ago and down nearly 60% since its peak: Twin Cities Foreclosures Listed on the MLS Why have they declined so much?  Well first of all, demand for foreclosures has been and continues to remain high from both traditional buyers as well as investors.  The more important trend however is the decreasing supply of new foreclosures due to lower numbers of sheriff sales: Sheriff Sales in … [Read more...]

Edina Realty Changed Listing Syndication

zillow-trulia-realtor

In November 2011 Edina Realty made the decision to discontinue syndication of its listings to Trulia and REALTOR.com.  Over the last few years these syndicators had changed their tactics to the detriment of the listing brokers and Edina Realty had finally had enough.  While Edina Realty never syndicated to Zillow, Zillow most certainly has the same issues. This pullout by a large broker, the flagship broker of HomeServices of America (the second largest broker conglomerate in the country), created quite a … [Read more...]

Twin Cities Home Sales Surge to 2nd Highest Since 2006

pending sales - twin cities real estate

Twin Cities home sales for the week ending April 21, 2012 hit 1,281 signed contracts, which is  the 2nd highest level since 2006.  The highest week was the week ending May 1, 2010 (1,469) and was spurred on by the expiration of the home buyer tax credit.   The surge of home sales continues and shows no signs of slowing down.  Buyer activity remains very strong while potential home sellers seem reluctant to list their homes for sale, which is leading to more multiple offers and a feeding frenzy on … [Read more...]

Agent Networking Outside the MLS

Edina Realty Network One Logo

The local MLS is by far the most comprehensive networking tool for real estate agents to match buyers with sellers.  Last year more than 40,000 sales were recorded in the MLS for just the thirteen county Twin Cities Metro area.  While the MLS is a fantastic resource, it can't serve the needs of all buyers and sellers. For example, with today's rapidly declining supply of homes for sale and surging buyer demand, many buyers are being left on the sidelines because they cannot find a home to purchase.  This … [Read more...]

Days on Market Does not Matter

Credit: cvedovini on Flickr

Buyers often ask me how long a particular house has been on the market.  I dutifully give them the information but at the same time I am always shaking my head.  In most cases I've encountered in the 9 years I've been selling, the time the home has been on the market has had no bearing on the value of the house. Ultimately, homes don't sell because of price, condition, features, location or market exposure.  If we just look at price as the only influencer, every property will sell at a price that takes into … [Read more...]

2200+ Short Sales Stuck Waiting for Bank Approval

Short Sale and Foreclosure Resource

Short Sales By The Numbers: 3,900 We have about 3,900 short sales currently for sale in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area on the MLS. 2,200 In the Twin Cities, of those 3,900 short sales we now have more than 2,200 that have received offers and are waiting for the seller's lender(s) to provide a response, 900 more than we had nearly 20 months ago and 500 more than we had 7 months ago.  By the way, this means that 2200+ buyers are tied up waiting for properties they may or may not ever get to buy. 56% Percent of … [Read more...]

Multiple Offer Madness

What a difference 12 months makes.  A year ago buyers were firmly in the driver's seat.  With lots to choose from and very little selling quickly, buyers could take their time to look at houses and spend days considering if they wanted to make an offer.  Fast forward to today, where in many areas and multiple price points the buyer's market has quickly flipped to a seller's market. One agent in my office was working 7 offers for clients this week - all 7 had multiple offers on them and one of those had 30+ … [Read more...]

Twin Cities Home Affordability Has Peaked

twin cities housing affordability index

As we see Twin Cities home prices bottom (and likely tick up) and interest rates begin to rise, home affordability in the Twin Cities is likely to fall in 2012 and beyond. For years we've seen home prices decline.  This decline wooed us into a sense that home affordability would keep getting better the longer we waited. Well in the last 6 months we've seen a dramatic decrease in the number of homes for sale while also seeing an equally large increase in the number of buyers in the market, which has caused overall … [Read more...]

Twin Cities Home Prices Have Bottomed

percent of original list price received at time of sale

Two months ago I first called the housing bottom in the Twin Cities and I'm back today to repeat that claim and bring new information that has come out in the last two months: Pre-foreclosure notices have dropped even further, meaning even fewer foreclosures on the market in 9-12 months Sheriff Sales in 2011 declined to the lowest level since 2007 The number of homes for sale are now at 7+ year lows The decline of median sales price from February 2011 to February 2012 was the smallest year over year decline … [Read more...]

Disclaimer

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.