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Traditional Sellers Have Window of Opportunity

A while back we released the 2nd Quarter Foreclosure (REO) & Short Sales Report, which not only debuted another revision to the methodology that decreased the counts of foreclosures and short sales significantly, but also showed positive trends in this market segment.  Good signs included: New Lender Mediated listing activity has remained steady over the last 5 quarters Lender Mediated sales continue their 3-year trend - going up and up each quarter Lender Mediated inventory for sale has been dropping due … [Read more...]

I'm P*ssed Off At Some REO(Foreclosure) Agents

Apath

I try to behave myself, I try to keep my emotions www.ered so that my opinions can be read and understood without coming off so harsh that people click away before they finish reading.  Well today I just don't care.  This is a list (though not comprehensive) of the reasons that I'm sick and tired of what SOME agents are doing: "I haven't seen the property so I cannot help you." If you haven't seen the property, know nothing about it, and are not offering to help me find someone who has seen the house to help … [Read more...]

Foreclosures and Safety

Caution - Foreclosure!

This past week I've been in many different foreclosures with my clients.  Some bank owned homes are in turn-key (aka mint) condition and are wonderful.  Others are.... how do I say this.... crap.  Many are simple run down and need repairs, cleaning and updating.  Many more though are safety hazards in their current form.  I've seen frozen houses (pipes burst creating icy stairs, floors, etc.) mold houses (where a wall of mold spores hits you when you step into a room) loose electrical wires, broken steps, … [Read more...]

Q4 Lender Mediated Report & City Level Data Released

Hennepin County Sheriff Sales through December 2008

Today I am pleased to announce the release of the Foreclosures and Short Sales in the Twin Cities Housing Market: Q4 2008 Update.  This is the 4th installment of quarterly reporting of lender mediated sales and their impact in the Greater Minneapolis/St. Paul area, which I co-author with the musically, intellectually, politically and statistically talented Jeff Allen.  2008 reports from quarters 1, 2 and 3 are also available. Here's how to know if buying a foreclosure or short sale is right for you. This … [Read more...]

Q&A: Twin Cities Foreclosure Information

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 wish they would.  I regularly reference Hennepin County's data for myriad reasons and I'm sure I'm not the only one.  … [Read more...]

Minneapolis/St. Paul MLS Addresses Foreclosures & Short Sales… Kinda

The RMLS of Minnesota, which is the governing body of the MLS in the Twin Cities and is owned by the 4 local REALTOR associations, has made some policy changes in regards to the reporting of foreclosures on the MLS, effective on Thursday: The "In Foreclosure/Lender Owned?" field: Initially will be an agent-only field (not available on Customer reports or on public Web sites through Broker Reciprocity). Options are: Yes, No and Not Disclosed For NorthstarMLS, Foreclosure is defined as the homeowner being … [Read more...]

Short Sales & Foreclosures in Plymouth and Maple Grove

I took a few hours Sunday to review short sale and foreclosure sales in Plymouth and Maple Grove during the last 10 months and found some interesting information.  Before I explain what I found, I want to explain what I looked at: Homes that were clearly a short sale OR a foreclosed, bank owned home.  This meant I only searched the terms like "short sale" and "bank owned" or "REO" and not all the other terms that can sometimes be ambiguous.   This gave me a short list to work from, but it was as close to … [Read more...]

Aaron Dickinson and MAAR Publish Report on Foreclosures and Short Sales on Twin Cities MLS

You can find the report here. Background In late October I wrote a blog post regarding foreclosures and short sales listed on the MLS in the Twin Cities. Once I started researching this topic, I found that the information I was uncovering was previously unknown in our market and that the trends it offered were very insightful. I shared this first-step research with Jeff Allen from MAAR and we decided to work together to explore it further. The hardest part of this whole research project was developing the … [Read more...]

Greedy Buyer Loses in Multiple Offers

This is a story about a buyer who was too greedy for his own good, and how his underestimating of the situation left him with terrible regret when he lost out on the offer for his "dream home." About a month ago this buyer went looking at new construction in a outer suburb of the Twin Cities.  This neighborhood, while all built in the last 5 years, has a lot of dynamics currently going on: There is still a lot of development going on in the area: several developments within a mile (and this development as well) … [Read more...]

Banks: Install Security Systems in Foreclosures

Recently I was looking at foreclosure homes under $80,000 with a buyer and we saw house after house with damage that appeared to be after the home was vacated by the previous owner.  The most common thing found missing was most/all of the copper plumbing.  In homes that had copper or other items stolen, the cost to repair the home will be substantial as these burglars did much more than take the copper, they practically destroyed the home in the process.  Further, when you make these homes unlivable then the … [Read more...]

Disclaimer

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.