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1000's of Pending Home Sales may be Missing from MLS Reporting

October 6, 2009 by 3 Comments
MLS Shadow Pending Inventory

The Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors has a fantastic assortment of stats that are published on weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly cycles.  These reports are based off the listing data provided by our local MLS, the Regional MLS of Minnesota. As anyone who works with data knows, the statistics you create are only as good as the data underlying it - also known as: "garbage in, garbage out." The RMLS has several different statuses for MLS listings like: Active, Pending, and Sold.  As anyone in the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Foreclosures and Short Sales, Info for Buyers, Info for Sellers, Market Stats, MLS Compliment & Criticism, Opinion, Personal Experiences Tagged With: , ,

Traditional Sellers Have Window of Opportunity

September 23, 2009 by 1 Comment

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...]

Filed Under: Community Issues, Foreclosures and Short Sales, Info for Sellers, Market Stats, Opinion Tagged With: , , , ,

Jim Cramer: Housing Market Has Bottomed

June 17, 2009 by 4 Comments

Jim Cramer on Tuesday's show stated that we're at a housing market bottom nationally (article).  Below is the video of this segment. While time will tell if Jim Cramer is right, on a local level I'm not ready to call a housing market bottom.  I do believe however that foreclosures have price-bottomed in our market. Unfortunately I also believe that the typical Traditional Seller has further to fall. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Community Issues, Foreclosures and Short Sales, Info for Buyers, Info for Sellers, Market Stats, Media, Mortgage Rates, Opinion Tagged With: , ,

What Does "Not Disclosed" Mean Anyway?

June 8, 2009 by Leave a Comment

Over 40% of the sales in the Twin Cities currently occurring are foreclosures or short sales, what we at MAAR call "lender mediated sales." The RMLS of Minnesota recently revised their fields regarding foreclosures and short sales (after a year of much confusion over the old fields) and we now have separate fields for in foreclosure, short sale and "lender owned."  This is great, but one place it really falls down is the 3rd option allowed for these fields... "not disclosed." In Foreclosure To be honest, I don't … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Foreclosures and Short Sales, MLS Compliment & Criticism, Opinion, Personal Experiences Tagged With: , , , ,

Inventory of Foreclosures & Short Sales in Twin Cities Dropping Fast

April 16, 2009 by Leave a Comment
Monthly Lender Mediated Inventory - Through April 1 2009

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...]

Filed Under: Community Issues, Foreclosures and Short Sales, Info for Buyers, Info for Sellers, Market Stats Tagged With: , , , ,

The Great Housing Liquidation – All Foreclosures Must Go!

February 9, 2009 by 1 Comment
Liquidation Sale

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...]

Filed Under: Community Issues, Foreclosures and Short Sales, Info for Buyers, Info for Sellers, Market Stats, Mortgage Rates, Opinion, Personal Experiences Tagged With: , ,

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...]

Filed Under: Foreclosures and Short Sales, Info for Sellers Tagged With: , ,

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...]

Filed Under: Foreclosures and Short Sales, Info for Buyers Tagged With: , , , ,

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...]

Filed Under: Community Issues, Foreclosures and Short Sales, Info for Buyers, Questions and Answers Tagged With: , , , , ,

Twin Cities Housing Affordability Hits Record High

December 8, 2008 by Leave a Comment
December 2008 Housing Affordability Index - Minneapolis/St. Paul

Just released from MAAR: The Housing Affordability Index (HAI)�shot up 19 points to 180 thanks to the recent healthy declines in mortgage interest rates and a continued softening in home prices; the HAI has not been this attractive since we began tracking data in 1990. What This Means to You The dramatic fall in interest rates in recent weeks coupled with the substantial sales price reductions (mostly found in lender-mediated sales, which are foreclosures and short sales) has lead to an affordability index that … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Foreclosures and Short Sales, Info for Buyers, Info for Sellers, Market Stats, Mortgage Rates, Opinion Tagged With: , , , , ,

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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.