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Minnesota Foreclosures in Q3 2011 Down 32% from Q3 2010

q3 2011 housinglink report

This just in from HousingLink:There were 4,935 foreclosures in Minnesota in Q3 of 2011, down 32% from Q3 2010. Q3 2011 marks four consecutive quarters with fewer than 6,000 statewide foreclosures.  While this follows four quarters in which the statewide count exceeded that number, the Q3 2011 figure of 4,935 still far exceeds the 1,618 foreclosures averaged in 2005, the first year sheriff sale records were totaled for the state of Minnesota.Below is a chart from their very detailed report:While this in no way … [Read more...]

Foreclosures and Short Sales Don't Matter to House Prices

median sales price - all properties - twin cities real estate

While foreclosures and short sales continue to be around 40% of our sales, when looking at housing prices I believe they should be completely ignored. When looking at all Twin Cities housing sales, here is how the Median Sales Price stacks up:   When we split it out to look at Foreclosures, Short Sales and Traditional Sales, we see that Traditional Seller prices have not fallen nearly as much as the composite number suggests:   Why we should ignore foreclosure and short sale sales data If we go … [Read more...]

Fannie Mae Gets Smart, Adds Electronic Lock Boxes to Houses

Fannie Mae, the mortgage giant, will begin requiring electronic lock boxes on their listings. This means that showing agents will use these boxes instead of the current practice of push button lock boxes.Some may ask, "so what?"  Foreclosure properties are occasionally mistreated by real estate agents - some will or let their buyers pull up carpet and move/destroy things you wouldn't do in a normal house.  Others will show these homes without permission or go back many times without informing the agent, which is … [Read more...]

Traditional Seller Prices Rise, Foreclosure Prices Plummet

Median Sales Price - Foreclosures, Short Sales, Traditional Sales

You have Zillow, Trulia, Case/Shiller, the National Association of REALTORS and the Minneapolis Area Association of REALTORS and many others all release housing statistics that are then mentioned by local media. The beauty of today is that we have more information than we have ever had before - the problem with today is that a lot of that information is useless or misleading when talking about an individual house, a block or a neighborhood.  See, housing isn't just a local thing... it is a hyper-local thing.  I … [Read more...]

2 in 3 Bank Owned Homes Under $100k Sold to Cash Buyers

2010-1h-100k-or-less-lender-owned-resize

During the first 6 months of 2010, 63% of all the bank owned homes under $100,000 were purchased with cash.  Why is this? Banks LOVE cashBanks that have foreclosure inventory on their books want to sell those homes quickly and they want to be sure that if they accept an offer that the buyer will be able to close on the property. Cash offers can close quickly and also eliminate concerns about appraisals and the buyer's lender approvals so the seller has higher confidence it will close.  All things being equal, … [Read more...]

2010 Twin Cities House Prices – Fall Forecast

Twin Cities Median Sales Price - All Properties (image courtesy Minneapolis Area Association of REALTORS) What does the fall and winter 2010 hold for Twin Cities home prices? If the last couple years are any benchmark, we should see median sales prices drop substantially... most likely back to the $155,000-$160,000 range that we have seen the last two years.  The fact that buyer activity has slackened since the expiration of the tax credits and our very seasonal market make this a pretty safe bet to make. It is … [Read more...]

2010 Twin Cities Pre-Foreclosure Notices up 20% vs 2009

Twin Cities Pre-Foreclosure Notices

The Minnesota Home Ownership Center has been tracking pre-foreclosure notices received by foreclosure counseling agencies throughout Minnesota and just posted some updated charts that show 2010 pre-foreclosure notices are consistently higher than the same time frame in 2009.  Through June 2010, notices are up a considerable 20%: I don't find these numbers very surprising: the lackluster economy isn't providing the new jobs necessary to reduce unemployment and those who are unemployed can only afford to make … [Read more...]

Twin Cities: 1 in 6 Homes Purchased With Cash in 1st Half of 2010

Based on data from NorthstarMLS, I was able to put together the following chart that shows how home buyers in the first 1/2 of 2010 were financing their purchases.  Fully 1 in every 6 buyers paid in cold hard cash, a huge increase from the 1 in 20 to 1 in 25 ratio more typical of this market. While our MLS does not track the data necessary to confirm it, in my experience the vast majority of cash purchases are investors/rehabbers - I would put the number at 75% or higher. … [Read more...]

First Time Buyer Homes In Short Supply In Twin Cities

I have two buyers in the $125,000 - $150,ooo price range that are struggling to find houses when just a few months ago there was a lot more inventory to choose from.  This weekend my clients wanted to see a total of 11 houses - I found out that 4 were already sold subject to inspection and of the remaining 7, only 2 had no offers on them.  One of my buyers has offered on 6 different homes and been outbid by others every time.  These experiences are quite common in my office right now! While our local statistics … [Read more...]

Tips on Buying a Short Sale Property

The Minnesota Home Ownership Center has just put out another good resource for buyers - this one discusses things to consider before making an offer on a short sale. Short sales can be a good opportunity and can also be a waste of 2-6 months' of waiting too - each situation is different.  It's important to understand the whole process before making an offer. I also put together a guide comparing the differences between Foreclosures, Short Sales and Traditional Sales - I think it is a good primer for anyone … [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.