This comes from my good friend Nicci Brown... a loan officer with Edina Realty Mortgage The purpose of a repair is to correct deficiencies which may affect the health of the occupants and the continued marketability of the property. Knowing the most common issues upfront can prevent costly and stressful delays later. If the home was built prior to 1978, chipping, peeling paint must be scraped and painted. This includes interior, exterior, garages, sheds, fences, etc. Roofs should have 2-3 years of useful … [Read more...]
Foreclosures and Safety
April 19, 2009 by 3 Comments
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...]
Inventory of Foreclosures & Short Sales in Twin Cities Dropping Fast
April 16, 2009 by Leave a Comment
Today MAAR released the quarterly update to their report: "Foreclosures and Short Sales in the Twin Cities Housing Market," which was co-developed and authored by Jeff Allen from MAAR and myself. Today's headline number is that while foreclosures and short sales (what we call lender mediated sales) are still a large part of our new listings and our inventory, they are an even larger part of our sales, which means that the for sale inventory of these lender mediated listings is dropping dramatically. In fact, … [Read more...]
The Great Housing Liquidation – All Foreclosures Must Go!
February 9, 2009 by 1 Comment
In just the last few months we've seen Linens & Things and Circuit City go completely belly-up and Cost Plus World Market recently closed all their Minnesota stores as well. When these stores closed, each ran a liquidation sale of their remaining inventory. In a liquidation sale, prices are regularly reduced until the inventory is all sold... in many cases they sell the product displays, lights, etc right along with the merchandise. Having been in each of these stores during different phases of their … [Read more...]
Minnesota Foreclosure Prevention Class Online!
February 5, 2009 by Leave a Comment
Hennepin County has published one of their foreclosure prevention seminars online and includes information on the foreclosure process and providers that can help you. The class is a great resource for anyone in a potential foreclosure situation. Don't be taken advantage of or lose choices by not learning more about your options. … [Read more...]
Brooklyn Center's Extraordinary Efforts to Fight Foreclosure Problem
January 29, 2009 by Leave a Comment
I don't have a lot of time to talk about it today but in the last month or so I have learned about a lot of information about Brooklyn Center's soon-to-be-implemented program to try to get foreclosures owner-occupied once again. Below is a great article with some more information: Brooklyn Center tries new method to stimulate sales of foreclosures (Star Tribune) Brooklyn Center's housing market has been hit hard lately (see here, and here) and this program, which could help 100 or more home buyers with up to … [Read more...]
Already Bruised & Beaten, Cities Take a Swing at Banks
January 18, 2009 by 2 Comments
I couldn't decide what title to use... the one I did or this one: "City Screws Property Owners When no one is Looking" - which do you like better? I recently received a bill from a twin cities suburb for a foreclosure property I maintain. Last year after it was abandoned and before I took over the lawn maintenance the city decided it was a "nuisance property" and hired a contractor to do monthly mowings. Between the contractor's fees and the city's profit fees the total for 3 mowings added up to over $1100! … [Read more...]
Financing Costs for Twin Cities Homes – A Different View
December 30, 2008 by 2 Comments
I love data... be it hard numbers, graphs, charts, tables, interpretation, etc. I've come up with another concept of tracking overall affordability: combining cost per finished square foot with mortgage rates to give an overall cost of financing each square foot of house over the last few years (I only had data back to 2002): This chart is using approximate mortgage costs and an estimated cost per square foot for 2008 so this isn't "scientific quality" but the trend is very clear and I think it's close. … [Read more...]
Is Buying A Foreclosure Right For Me?
December 16, 2008 by 3 Comments
Here is a list of questions to help you figure out if exploring this home-buying avenue is right for you. 1. When do I need to move? The timeline for foreclosure/lender mediated properties can be unpredictable response times to an offer in short sale or bank owned can vary. You must have flexibility in your closing date to be able to adjust to timeline. 2. How handy am I? Unforeseen issues will crop up, especially with seasonal changes will you be able to remedy those issues with sweat equity, or will you … [Read more...]
Q&A: Twin Cities Foreclosure Information
December 14, 2008 by Leave a Comment
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...]
