Broken Clocks & Out-of-Season MLS Photos* Quick! Test your knowledge of residential real estate and guess how big the Minnetonka home pictured above is: A. 1,200 finished square feet (“FSF”); B. 1,656 FSF; C. 2,370 FSF; D. 5,849 FSF.** Answer: “D.” (believe it or not, at least according to MLS). When the curb appeal is...Read More
Getting to Deal Breakers (Like Projected Remodeling Costs), Faster Eighteen months ago, when Wall Street-backed Buyers were vacuuming up Twin Cities homes, the first showing was effectively the inspection. That’s because such corporate Buyers purchased sight unseen (for cash!), and used the inspection to decide if they really wanted the home. See, “Cash Buyers, Sight...Read More
Twin Cities Short Sales, Foreclosures Fall to 7% The general public may not be aware, but local Realtors certainly are: the percentage of distressed sales in the Twin Cities is now about 7%. That’s a far cry from the +50% level breached just four years ago. Amongst other benign effects on the local housing market:...Read More
10% Increase the Last Year? Not According to Agents According to the latest Case-Shiller Home Price Index (“Case-Shiller”), the U.S. housing market is up about 10% the last year. However, if you ask in-the-trenches Realtors (like me), they’ll tell you the real number is lower — something like up 5%. Who’s right? Put is this way: it...Read More
2014: Year of the “Boomerang Buyer”?? If you didn’t know, a “baby boomeranger” is the adult offspring of a Baby Boomer who’s grown up, graduated from college . . . and moved back home with their parents (presumably unemployed — or at least underemployed). That’s bad for the housing market. Replenished Buyer Pool So, what’s...Read More
As Opposed to “Abnormal” Sales?? In the course of checking MLS for new listings a couple times daily, it sure seems (at least to me) that there’s been an increase in the number of “normal” sales lately. What’s that about? Instead of using “traditional sale” — the accepted term for a sale that isn’t a short sale or...Read More
