Twin Cities Real Estate Blog

Edina Realty Changed Listing Syndication

Aaron Dickinson — Thu, 10 May 2012 04:58:52 +0000

In November 2011 Edina Realty made the decision to discontinue syndication of its listings to Trulia and REALTOR.com. Over the last few years these syndicators had changed their tactics to the detriment of the listing brokers and Edina Realty had finally had enough. While Edina Realty never syndicated to Zillow, Zillow most certainly has the same issues. This [...]

Twin Cities Home Sales Surge to 2nd Highest Since 2006

Aaron Dickinson — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 18:29:38 +0000

Twin Cities home sales for the week ending April 21, 2012 hit 1,281 signed contracts, which is the 2nd highest level since 2006. The highest week was the week ending May 1, 2010 (1,469) and was spurred on by the expiration of the home buyer tax credit. The surge of home sales continues and [...]

Agent Networking Outside the MLS

Aaron Dickinson — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 02:02:02 +0000

The local MLS is by far the most comprehensive networking tool for real estate agents to match buyers with sellers. Last year more than 40,000 sales were recorded in the MLS for just the thirteen county Twin Cities Metro area. While the MLS is a fantastic resource, it can’t serve the needs of all buyers [...]

Days on Market Does not Matter

Aaron Dickinson — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 03:34:21 +0000

Buyers often ask me how long a particular house has been on the market. I dutifully give them the information but at the same time I am always shaking my head. In most cases I’ve encountered in the 9 years I’ve been selling, the time the home has been on the market has had no [...]

2200+ Short Sales Stuck Waiting for Bank Approval

Aaron Dickinson — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 13:13:29 +0000

Short Sales By The Numbers: 3,900 We have about 3,900 short sales currently for sale in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area on the MLS. 2,200 In the Twin Cities, of those 3,900 short sales we now have more than 2,200 that have received offers and are waiting for the seller’s lender(s) to provide a response, 900 more [...]

Multiple Offer Madness

Aaron Dickinson — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 15:14:28 +0000

What a difference 12 months makes. A year ago buyers were firmly in the driver’s seat. With lots to choose from and very little selling quickly, buyers could take their time to look at houses and spend days considering if they wanted to make an offer. Fast forward to today, where in many areas and [...]

Twin Cities Home Affordability Has Peaked

Aaron Dickinson — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 14:09:39 +0000

As we see Twin Cities home prices bottom (and likely tick up) and interest rates begin to rise, home affordability in the Twin Cities is likely to fall in 2012 and beyond. For years we’ve seen home prices decline. This decline wooed us into a sense that home affordability would keep getting better the longer [...]

Twin Cities Home Prices Have Bottomed

Aaron Dickinson — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 02:42:53 +0000

Two months ago I first called the housing bottom in the Twin Cities and I’m back today to repeat that claim and bring new information that has come out in the last two months: Pre-foreclosure notices have dropped even further, meaning even fewer foreclosures on the market in 9-12 months Sheriff Sales in 2011 declined [...]

Contracts for Deed – The Good & The Bad

Aaron Dickinson — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 00:53:45 +0000

The Star Tribune put out an article that talks about the people and organizations offering contracts for deed and how they can be a great option for buyers but can also be risky for buyers, especially if they don’t have help from someone experienced in those type of sales. It’s important that before buying a [...]

Negotiating Non-Typical Personal Property

Aaron Dickinson — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 14:08:47 +0000

Most Twin Cities real estate sales include the washer, dryer, refrigerator, range and dishwasher but more and more houses today have what I’d call non-typical personal property such as: Huge flat screen tv’s mounted to the wall Built-in surround sound Projectors & screens Home theater furniture Pool tables etc. In most cases the cost to [...]

Some Agents Piss Me Off

Aaron Dickinson — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 18:09:44 +0000

This weekend I was out with a client showing a few homes when I came across an agent that had put out 19 signs and a set of balloons on a single intersection. When I do open houses I have put out 2-3 signs on a corner to catch people’s eyes but this agent had [...]

Deception Is Not Our Code

Aaron Dickinson — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 05:23:06 +0000

The following story intentionally leaves out details of the parties involved due to the fact that my knowledge of the story is indirect and thus I don’t know all the facts. Today I heard a story about an agent & seller that reduced a property’s price by more than 50% in an effort to drum [...]

Minnesota Home Foreclosures Dropped 17% in 2011

Aaron Dickinson — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 17:54:04 +0000

The Minnesota Home Ownership Center and others published a report created by HousingLink that details the sheriff sale activity in Minnesota for 2011. We saw sheriff sales decline a substantial 17% to the lowest level since 2007: The far northern metro has continued to be the hardest hit area of Minnesota, though this was also one of the fastest growing areas [...]

Home Buying: When an Offer Negotiation Becomes an Auction

Aaron Dickinson — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 19:20:31 +0000

Since 2006 the real estate market has been such that it was uncommon for more than one buyer to fall in love with the same house at the same time. But as I have been mentioning for several months, homes for sale inventory has dropped dramatically from a year ago while the number of buyers [...]

Condos Losing FHA Approval Risk Losing Much More

Aaron Dickinson — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 14:13:26 +0000

Over the last few years I’ve encountered more and more condominium projects that have lost their FHA project approval and have written on the issue before. What does it mean when a project loses approval? Buyers in those developments will not be able to secure FHA financing for their purchase. In 2011, approximately 9% of all [...]