THE THING
Interactive Market Analytics Unveiled in Twin Cities Housing Market

MAAR is making housing market data easier than ever to explore and dissect. Welcome to “The Thing,” a new interactive market analytics tool for local real estate.

The new tool, available at thething.mplsrealtor.com, was developed to simplify the sometimes-arduous task of interpreting housing market statistics.

Users can combine metrics like median sales price, months supply and days on market with breakouts like home types, foreclosures and new construction. The many possible combinations can be further broken down to geographic area.

None of this will take more than a few clicks. The Thing was designed to be highly localized, visually elegant and intuitive.

Although MAAR currently produces housing reports such as the Weekly Market Activity Report, Monthly Indicators, Housing Supply Outlook, and The 100+ for a few years now, the reports have been steadily growing in number and becoming more complex. The Thing represents a major leap toward simplifying the data.

The Thing encapsulates the local housing market into one easy-to-use, interactive, web-based product. Users can still print reports as with prior products, but now they can pull up charts without loading a PDF document, email them on the fly and share them via several social media outlets.

Additional tools will be built into The Thing based upon user request. Several ideas are already in the hopper after initial feedback from focus groups, such as broker/agent branding, the ability to enter self-defined price ranges, the inclusion of school districts and quick sub-area comparisons on the same chart. One step at a time.

This is just our latest contribution to clarifying the housing market. It is our belief that real estate practitioners should always be striving to make their business more transparent and understandable, particularly in a challenging marketplace.

Check out The Thing now at thething.mplsrealtor.com.

If you have further questions about The Thing, start with our FAQ. Also, please consider sending us some feedback.

The Thing was built for you after all. We want it to do what you want it to do!

10K Research & Marketing is a growing research firm based in Minneapolis, Minnesota that serves real estate companies, REALTOR® associations and MLS organizations. It is a division of the Minneapolis Area Association of REALTORS®. Where there is demand for local, elegant housing market reports, 10K is ready to roll. Learn more about The Thing and 10K at www.10Kresearch.com.

Those of you in the Southwest Metro that have to deal with the traffic snarls of the intersection of 169 & 494 have been suffering for many years.  Today Mn/DOT released a video visualizing the interchange after it goes through its reconstruction.  While it will be years before this work is all completed, at least now there is a tangible goal for you to think about.

I was stunned to see what looks like 6 roundabouts for the intersections surrounding the interchange. While some people hate roundabouts and others love them, whoever dreamed this up must be a roundabout fanatic.

I suggest you look at the video a few times and really look into all the areas of the interchange – I am skeptical of how this will actually work in practice…

For more information, take a look at the project web site.

Bloomberg Businessweek today released a story about Trulia’s most recent survey of housing, showing that Minneapolis is the #1 City in the US to buy a home versus rent one.  My client Terry and I were lucky enough to be able to share some of our thoughts about what makes the Twin Cities such a good place to own a home with the author of the article.  She seemed very surprised that we would hit the top of the list but given the great increase in home affordability in the last few years and the almost flat cost of renting during the same timeframe, the financial reasons to buy haven’t been this good in quite some time.

The Full Story

 Slideshow of best cities to buy or rent

Minneapolis’ ranking

Search for homes for sale in Minneapolis/St. Paul

Buying a Home in Minneapolis

While I may make money by helping people buy and sell houses, I’m also one of the first to tell you that not everyone should own a home – homeownership is both a great feeling and a great burden… there is a lot to consider in any major lifestyle change.  Over the 7+ years I’ve been selling houses I’ve actually sold several people out of buying completely!

If you’d like to discuss your situation and weigh the pros and cons of buying vs. renting, I am happy to give you an honest opinion and analysis of your situation.  Feel free to call anytime.