$11 Million Pledged to Help Renovate Foreclosures

Startribune reports that the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency has offered an $11M loan to the Family Housing Fund and the Greater Metropolitan Housing Corporation to purchase, renovate and resell foreclosed homes that have fallen into disrepair.  They are hoping to targt approximately 70 homes with this financing.

I applaud this as a great step towards improving a situation that is still worsening… large numbers of home in Minneapolis are vacant/foreclosed homes… but more help is needed, and fast.

According to the article, in just the first 3 months of this year Minneapolis had 678 foreclosed homes sell at sheriff’s auction.  70 homes is barely 10% of that figure… while a very good start, it will take a larger effort to make a significant difference in this market.

Posted by Aaron Dickinson - Edina Realty on 04-30-2007 at 10:04 pm
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Wanted: New Sellers

Shameless Plug:

Over the last few months I’ve been selling my inventory rather quickly and with my most recent sale last week I’m down to only 1.5 listings (the “.5″ is a co-list with my good friend, Lisa Dunn).  I’m always trying to keep 3-4 listings active at a time so that means I’m looking for approximately 2 new sellers looking to make a move.

I’ve got some awesome tools for advertising my listings online to get the broadest exposure possible, I have about $600 in camera equipment for great photos, and my full color market brochures really make your house stand out… if you’re thinking about selling, give me a call and I’ll be happy to meet with you to demonstrate how I can sell your home quickly too.

Give me a call. 612-251-5599

Update: Sellers came out of the woodwork in May and early June… I’ve got lots of good inventory now… make sure to check my home page for my current listings.

Posted by Aaron Dickinson - Edina Realty on 04-14-2007 at 12:04 am
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2006 Twin Cities Sales Activity Report

The Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors puts out an annual report that summarizes yearly activity on both a regional and city level.  It’s jam-packed with information that is great for getting a feel for what happened in the previous year.

In March, MAAR issued the 2006 Residential Real Estate Activity Report.  This is available from their web site directly, but I’ve also seen some agents telling web site visitors that they’ll email them the report only after giving the agent their contact information.  This is a free and publicly available report… you don’t need to give up anything to read it.

Posted by Aaron Dickinson - Edina Realty on 04-14-2007 at 12:04 am
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Great New Market Statistics from the Minneapolis Area Association of REALTORS.

MAAR released a great new tool that charts sales activity at the city level. The reports cover 100 cities closest to the Twin Cities Metro Area.

This new report tool shows some cities that are seeing dramatic additional slowing of sales activity as compared to last year while some communities have quite a bit more sales activity as compared to last year.

These reports will be updated every month and are a great resource for consumers and agents alike.  You can view the reports here.

Posted by Aaron Dickinson - Edina Realty on 04-11-2007 at 10:04 pm
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Great Article on Closing Cost Definitions

I just read a great article on the Personal Finance Blog about definitions of closing costs.  It’s a great read if you need a refresher.

Posted by Aaron Dickinson - Edina Realty on 04-11-2007 at 09:04 pm
Posted in Info for Buyers, Info for Sellers with 0 Comments