Twin Cities Real Estate Blog

Today I received an email from DR Horton offering 5% commission on select homes closing in the next 40 days:

What I’m wondering is at what point do commissions get so lucrative that it can severely influence an agent’s actions in representing their buyer?  Since discussing “usual” or “typical” commissions in a public forum can lead to [...]

The housing boom brought us a slew of new community developments including condos, townhomes and retail/condo buildings.  While financing on townhomes is still doable, financing options for condo & mixed-use buildings is becoming very difficult.  The developments with the hardest time getting financing are the ones that have had the highest rates of foreclosure.
So many condos built from 2005-2008 in [...]

CNBC has a great article on some new housing numbers that I think sums up what we’ve been seeing in the Twin Cities lately.  I believe the views by J.P. Morgan and Raymond James are both spot-on!
http://www.cnbc.com/id/32569620
It is nice to see a little renewed interest in new construction lately… I have seen several developments with [...]

Image courtesy EPA
Most people have heard the word radon before, but many probably do not understand what it is.  As found in the EPA’s A Citizen’s Guide to Radon (pdf version here):
Radon is a cancer-causing, radioactive gas. You can’t see radon. And you can’t smell it or taste it. But it may be a problem [...]

Saying thank you for a job well done is a good thing to do, especially in times when things are not as easy as they used to be.
Recently I introduced a buyer to the Crescent Ponds development in Blaine, Minnesota.  Murphy McKee, Centex’s representative, was great to talk with from Day 1. At first we [...]

I received an email this weekend from a builder advertising models that were marked down 20% + ($100k+) from their original prices (but marked down incrementally).
I also saw another builder marking their inventory down in the MLS a similar amount too.
This suggests to me that builders understand that we’re nearing the end of the strong [...]

Microsoft is working on a fantastic program called Photosynth that you can currently download in a very basic preview.  This program could take virtual tours to levels never seen before… maybe too far!
It’s a great application and shows great potential… I hope to have a chance to try it on a house sometime…