This Week’s Carnival of Real Estate

Well this is my first time hosting a blog carnival and I have a newfound respect for those that have come before me.  I had a total of 22 articles submitted and I toiled through the submissions to find the ones that I felt were the best written and most informative.

Word of warning to bloggers: several of the submissions I received had unresponsive servers or incorrect URLs…. I tried what I could to find the articles but PLEASE check your blogs for availability and double-check your URLs before you submit them.

This week’s best post prize goes to Kris Berg’s post on Bloodhound Blog for her article: “The Plastic Pig (and How to Pick Your Agent).”  I too am very frustrated with some agent’s inability to service their clients properly and/or their inability to do their job impacting the ability to do yours.

The runners-up include:

Bad Credit Advisor’s contrarian view on the recovering real estate market: “The housing bubble – why I think the real estate bubble is here and going to get uglier”  While I disagree on the conclusions that are offered, it is a good review of the many challenges in our market.

Teresa Boardman, a fellow Twin Cities REALTOR who I have never met but have read many of her articles, presents Keeping Local Real Estate, Well… Local posted at Real Estate Tomato.  You take St. Paul and the East Side, I’ll take Minneapolis and West.  Together we will rule the Twin Cities Blogosphere (muhhahahaaha)

Toby Boyce presents Dear Ms. Seller: Why Would You Sign a Six-Month Contract? posted at Sadie’s Take on Delaware Ohio.  This is a great reminder for agents: the goal is not to get a seller under contract until the end of time, the goal is to sell their home.  If you do everything you can and are truly striving to sell their home, if you can’t do it in 90 days you should be able to establish their trust to get a renewal at that point.  If you can’t do you really want to work with a pissed off seller anyway?

Michael Price presents Mike’s Corner Web 2.0 For Real Estate Pros: How Podcasting Impacts Local Search Relevancy posted at Mike’s Corner Web 2.0 For Real Estate Pros.  Podcasting is a growing force, Mike explains how to work it to your advantage.

Sagar Satapathy presents No Easy Answers To Florida’s Pains posted at Homeowners Insurance Lowdown.  Up here in Minnesota, we have cold and an occasional tornado that may affect 100-200 homeowners a time but we do not have earthquakes or hurricanes… regional insurance issues should be solved regionally… don’t make me pay for your beachfront property!

Athol Kay presents We Can Always Reduce the Price Later posted at The Real Estate Guide. Price it right the first time, every time!

Erik Hersman presents Online Video in the Real Estate Industry posted at Realty Thoughts.  Video can convey more than pictures or text… when it’s done right.  Erik reviews a few different options for agents.

Drew Meyers from Zillow has a review on another new consumer-focused web site on house price analysis, HouseMath 2.0 in the article: “How Much Does Purchasing a House Really Cost?”

Cliff Jacobson presents A Letter From Real Estate 3.0: AmaZoogleBayMart posted at WebHomeUSABlog.  This is a futuristic and what many agents would call “Doomsday” scenario.  Interesting read.

Melanie Narducci presents A Picture’s worth a thousand words, but it’s all in how we say it posted at Condocontessa San Francisco Real Estate.  Yes, some developer sites are way too flashy and miss the point of view of the consumer completely.  Argh.

Posted by Aaron Dickinson - Edina Realty on 01-22-2007 at 01:01 pm
Posted in General with 9 Comments

Carnival of Real Estate Coming This Afternoon

I’m hard at work reviewing all the entries from this week’s Carnival of Real Estate and will have it posted here shortly!  Come back for a great list of articles from last week.

Posted by Aaron Dickinson - Edina Realty on 01-22-2007 at 12:01 pm
Posted in General with 0 Comments

Minneapolis Housing Inventory Begins its “Spring Market” Climb

January 1st 2007 marked the low point for Active Listings in the market for at least the next 10-11 months.  As is typical for our market, new listings will hit the market in ever-increasing numbers each week and will add to our supply of Active listings until sometime this summer, when the number of listings will likely peak for the year.  In fact, since the 1st of the year the number of listings in the Twin Cities has gone up by over 2000!

While the number of listings in the market will rise dramatically, this is also the time when we see the largest increase in buyer activity as well.  Last year from January to May we saw supply increase in lock-step with demand such that the ratio of buyers to sellers remained relatively flat until summer.  If trends remain the same this year we should see the same pattern which means more choice for buyers but also quicker turnover of what is listed for sale.

Posted by Aaron Dickinson - Edina Realty on 01-17-2007 at 12:01 am
Posted in General, Info for Buyers, Info for Sellers with 0 Comments

West Metro Cities Post Crime Data Online

As the Star Tribune recently reported, many of the western suburbs have released online interactive crime maps for their residents.  While many cities have published static maps with crime data for years, the new maps allow you to zoom in and toggle different crimes on and off the display.  The maps show approximately 90 days of information.

Here’s a few of the cities that have released the interactive map:
Golden Valley
St. Louis Park
Plymouth
Minnetonka
New Hope
Crystal
Maple Grove
Richfield
Robbinsdale

Posted by Aaron Dickinson - Edina Realty on 01-15-2007 at 12:01 am
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Minneapolis/St. Paul Housing Affordability Hits Highest Level Since July 2005

This week the Minneapolis Area Association of REALTORS released its latest Housing Affordability Index (HAI) figure for the Minneapolis/St. Paul Metro Area showing that home affordability has risen dramatically from its lows.

At its low in July 2006, the index was at 125.  For December 2006 this number had risen all the way to 140.  An HAI of 140 means the median family income is 140% of the necessary income to qualify for the median priced home using a 20% downpayment, 30-year fixed rate mortgage.

Since MAAR began tracking housing affordability in 2003, the record high HAI was 156 set in April 2004.  While we’re still nearly 20% down from peak affordability seen in 2004, we’re also 12% more affordable than we were at the recent local market lows in July 2006.

In December 2006 housing supply remained quite high, at a total of 7 months supply, up nearly 48% from December 2005.  While this inventory is still at record highs, New Listings in the last week in December 2006 were only 2% ahead of the same week in 2005, and Pending Sales were only 1% behind the year-ago number as well.  These figures show that the number of new sellers and the number of new buyers are regaining balance, which may lead to a slightly tightening in the housing supply for 2007 if the trend continues.

While we’re not expecting any dramatic or immediate changes to the Twin Cities housing market in 2007, the consensus from many active agents I’ve spoken to is that the tone of the market has been improving in recent months and there’s great optimism that the very worst of this market correction may be behind us.

Posted by Aaron Dickinson - Edina Realty on 01-10-2007 at 02:01 pm
Posted in General with 0 Comments