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Twin Cities Home Sales Surge to 2nd Highest Since 2006

April 30, 2012 by Leave a Comment
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...]

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

Agent Networking Outside the MLS

April 18, 2012 by Leave a Comment
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...]

Filed Under: Blog, Featured Blog Posts, Info for Buyers, Info for Sellers, Market Stats, MLS Compliment & Criticism, Opinion, Personal Experiences

2200+ Short Sales Stuck Waiting for Bank Approval

April 2, 2012 by Leave a Comment
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...]

Filed Under: Foreclosures and Short Sales, Housing Analysis, Info for Buyers, Info for Sellers, Market Stats, Opinion, Short Sales

Multiple Offer Madness

March 30, 2012 by Leave a Comment

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...]

Filed Under: Info for Buyers, Info for Sellers, Market Stats, Opinion, Personal Experiences

Twin Cities Home Prices Have Bottomed

March 18, 2012 by Leave a Comment
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...]

Filed Under: Crystal Ball Projections, Info for Buyers, Info for Sellers, Market Stats

Negotiating Non-Typical Personal Property

March 5, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Most Twin Cities real estate sales include the washer, dryer, refrigerator, range and dishwasher but more and more houses today have what I'd call non-typical personal property such as: Huge flat screen tv's mounted to the wall Built-in surround sound Projectors & screens Home theater furniture Pool tables etc. In most cases the cost to the seller for these items far outweighs their value today - used equipment on its own has diminished value and with electronics the value can decrease quickly as … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Info for Buyers, Info for Sellers, Opinion, Personal Experiences

Minnesota Home Foreclosures Dropped 17% in 2011

February 24, 2012 by Leave a Comment
2011 Minnesota Sheriff Sales Map

The Minnesota Home Ownership Center and others published a report created by HousingLink that details the sheriff sale activity in Minnesota for 2011.  We saw sheriff sales decline a substantial 17% to the lowest level since 2007: The far northern metro has continued to be the hardest hit area of Minnesota, though this was also one of the fastest growing areas of the state during the housing boom and it is clear these are related: While we are still at very high levels of foreclosure, this is yet … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Community Issues, Info for Buyers, Info for Sellers, Market Stats

Condos Losing FHA Approval Risk Losing Much More

February 16, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Over the last few years I've encountered more and more condominium projects that have lost their FHA project approval and have written on the issue before.  What does it mean when a project loses approval?  Buyers in those developments will not be able to secure FHA financing for their purchase.  In 2011, approximately 9% of all condo sales were financed by the buyers using FHA financing. 9% seems small, right?  Well yes it is relatively small, but since there are currently 6.5 months of supply of condos … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Community Issues, Info for Buyers, Info for Sellers, Mortgage Guidelines

Twin Cities Traditional Home Sales Surge in January

February 10, 2012 by Leave a Comment
twin cities january 2012 home sales by type of seller

January 2012 saw traditional home sales surge 28% versus January 2011 after having also posted 21% gains in December versus the year prior. As foreclosure and short sale inventory continues its decline and buyer demand continues to rise, buyers are coming back in force into what used to be our bread-and-butter housing market: the traditional home seller. One concern has been whether buyers who had grown accustomed to the bargains offered by foreclosures would be willing to purchase a more expensive home listed … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Info for Buyers, Info for Sellers, Market Stats

Shadow Inventory – The Housing Market’s Boogieman

February 1, 2012 by 4 Comments
boogieman

April 2013 Update: These words are as true today as they were a year ago. For years now we've been hearing housing "experts" talk about the shadow housing inventory.  This is apparently all the distressed housing backlog that has yet to make its way through the system. Depending on who you talk to, it may or may not include homeowners that are underwater (but current), people who have jobs now but might not later, or people who will decide to default just because everyone else is (the "herd … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Community Issues, Foreclosures and Short Sales, Info for Buyers, Info for Sellers, Market Stats, Opinion, Personal Experiences, Useless Ramblings Tagged With:

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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.