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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: ,

Bad Data on Trulia & Zillow is the Agent’s & Broker’s Fault

March 8, 2013 by 2 Comments
trulia-zillow

I was reading a post today from the recently departed Trulia employee, and industry veteran, Todd Carpenter, called Data Accuracy is a Community Effort.  I went into this article, and through a couple additional readings, thinking that Trulia and Zillow were to blame for all the inaccurate data displayed on their sites.  I've come away with a different understanding now. The pre-foreclosure property information Zillow offers I think is still a big mistake and a source of consumer misinformation. For that, I … [Read more...]

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

It’s Ok To (Slightly) Overprice Your Home Again

February 26, 2013 by Leave a Comment
overpriced

For 6 years agents and homeowners suffered terribly when they've overpriced a home for sale.  Some agents did not have the courage to give sellers the bad news and in some cases the sellers wouldn't listen to reason, even if there was a mountain of proof. With a huge glut of homes for sale and few buyers, there was so much competition at every price point that an overpriced home was getting few showings, if any, and wasn't making it onto buyer's followup lists.  This meant the home would sit on the market much … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Featured Blog Posts, Info for Sellers, Market Stats, Market Updates, Opinion, Personal Experiences

University of St. Thomas Housing Index: That’s Not Your Data

July 23, 2012 by 4 Comments

In 2011, The University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business started producing a report called the "Minneapolis St. Paul Residential Real Estate Index."  I had heard about it at some point last year but didn't pay much attention. Then this year when I saw the report's authors being quoted in the local news media and the numbers they were reciting, a strange feeling hit me.  I had seen these numbers before.  I then did some research and looked over the entire contents of several months of their reports and … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Featured Blog Posts, Foreclosures and Short Sales, Housing Analysis, Market Stats, Opinion, Personal Experiences, Statistics, Useless Ramblings Tagged With: ,

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

Days on Market Does not Matter

April 8, 2012 by 1 Comment
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...]

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

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

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

Home Buying: When an Offer Negotiation Becomes an Auction

February 21, 2012 by 1 Comment

Since 2006 the real estate market has been such that it was uncommon for more than one buyer to fall in love with the same house at the same time.  But as I have been mentioning for several months, homes for sale inventory has dropped dramatically from a year ago while the number of buyers in the market has ballooned. The last 5-6 years has programmed most buyers to believe that they must negotiate the price of the home to ensure they get a "good deal" and that sellers have no other choice than to work with them. … [Read more...]

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

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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.