Twin Cities Real Estate Blog

As part of its plan to stimulate the U.S. housing market and address the economic challenges facing our nation, Congress has passed new legislation that:

Extends the First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit of up to $8,000 to first-time home buyers until April 30, 2010.
Expands the credit to grant up to $6,500 credit to current home owners [...]

With the extremely cold weather we are having right now, many homeowners complain about wet or frosted over windows.  A little frost at the bottom of windows is to be expected – when that frost is very thick or covers a large part of the window, your windows are telling you that the house has too [...]

Most of my buyers are NOT housing experts… they are “regular people” and are experts in whatever field they work in but not in real estate.  That’s just fine because that’s why people like me have jobs doing what we do!  One of the most frequent topics that comes up is the differences between traditional [...]

This is a very common question I get asked by prospective buyers given our current economic situation and the conflicting information they get from news, friends, family and coworkers.
Below is a list of questions to ask yourself as a guide to help you decide if now is a good time to buy for you.
1. How [...]

I often get questions on where to find information on foreclosure properties in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area.  Here are a few free resources that you can refer to:
Hennepin County Foreclosures
Dakota County Foreclosures
Search Foreclosures and Short Sales currently for sale
Unfortunately the other counties have not become user-friendly enough to post their sheriff sales onlines… I really [...]

According to the RMLS’s analysis of the 13 county Twin Cities metro area, the average home is selling in 165 days.  But also according to the RMLS, that home is only selling for 91.7% of original list price.
Now I’m not 100% sure on this, but my feeling is that most sellers would prefer to sell [...]

This question comes up with both my clients and my coworkers: “When will we hit bottom?”
The problem with that question is that there is more than one answer.  Are we talking about:

Lowest sales price?
Fewest units sold in a month?
Highest supply of homes on the market?
Longest days on market?
Lowest (or highest) affordability?

Depending on who you are [...]