Ready To Buy Eagan Foreclosures?

So you want to buy one of the foreclosures in Eagan? Whether you own a home now or are a Minnesota first time home buyer, you will want to learn the basics before going out to buy. While there are many great values in Eagan foreclosures you should be prepared for how to negotiate your offer.

City of Eagan Info

If you are planning a move to the southern metro you should really consider looking into Eagan foreclosuresCITY. With convenient access to the Twin Cities, the City of Eagan has grown rapidly over the years. As recently as the 1960's, Eagan had only about 3,000 residents, but as of the 2010 census now has over 64,000. This means that most of the housing stock is in newer, well-planned communities. Because Eagan is in Dakota County, qualifying first time buyers might want to check out the Dakota County First Time Home Buyers program. For a taste of what's happening in Eagan, go to their Community Events page.

Foreclosures are Bank-Owned

A bank-owned foreclosure can be a great deal sometimes because the bank owns it and is paying for the maintenance of it. As opposed to a property offered as a short sale, the selling bank has a distinct motivation to get the home off of their books. At the same time, banks who are selling their Eagan foreclosures want to maximize the amount they get out of the property. In the lower price ranges it has turned into a sellers market meaning that many foreclosures sell for well above the listing price! Knowing what to offer for the foreclosure is critical in terms of being successful with your purchase.

Factors in Foreclosure Buying

There are two big factors to consider when determining how much to offer. The first is how long the property has been on the market and the second is the general property condition. A foreclosure that has just been listed is likely to sell for near the listing price (or even higher), while a bank that has a house that has been on the market a long time might be willing to negotiate for deeper discounts. Also, a listing that is in poor overall condition may not be able to be financed so the bank may reduce the price far enough to attract cash buyers. I can help you determine these factors as we search for foreclosures.

Financing Foreclosures

If you are going to be financing the purchase of a foreclosure there are some important things to know as well. First, the listing must be in acceptable condition to the lender n order to qualify for most mortgage loans. Properties that are in poor condition will either require a cash offer or special mortgage financing such as the FHA 203k program. The selling banks will also usually limit the amount seller paid concessions towards the closing costs of your home loan. In most of these cases the selling bank will limit their contribution to three per cent of the selling price. Finally a selling bank will never look at your offer if it includes a financing contingency and never if you do not provide a letter of financing preapproval along with your offer.

First Step: Get Preapproved

The first step in the home buying process s to get preapproved for your home loan. This means that you meet with a local mortgage lender who will review your financial situation. In this discussion they can tell you what types of MN first time buyer programs you might be qualified for. This critical first part can be done over the phone and most lenders will even do this with you when you are off from work.

Ready to Find A Foreclosed Home?

If you are thinking of buying a foreclosure please send me an email or give me a call. There are many great foreclosure values out there but knowing which one to buy will take some time and expertise. I would very much like to help you in your search for the ideal house!

Casey Anderson
Sales Executive, Licensed Realtor in Minnesota
IBR Realty
caseyanderson@ibrrealty.com
Cell 651-245-1820
Woodbury, MN 55125
With a focus on Woodbury real estate and surrounding communities.

Eagan Residential Sales Increased 21% In 2011

Eagan, Minnesota has had a substantially improved year for sales of residential real estate. According to the Regional Multiple Listing Service of Minnesota, there were 775 residential sales in 2011, which is approximately 21% more than the 640 tallied in 2010.

While there are many ways to measure market trends, the total units sold represents buying interest and also suggests that there may have been more qualified buyers in 2011. 2011 sales also exceeded 2009 by about 3.5%. 2009 and the beginning of 2010 were the years of the homebuyer tax credits, and many analysts believed that the credits would influence buyers to accelerate their plans to the detriment of the years following. That does not seem to have significantly affected 2011.

With an economy inching its way forward, and with improved real estate sales, there is cause for optimism that the worst of the real estate crash is behind us. While home prices may go up or down, the drastic fluctuations of the past years will probably not be repeated soon.

If you're thinking about buying or selling real estate in 2012, you need all the location-specific information you can find. We invite you to make us your source of information about Eagan real estate and all your questions about buying and/or selling a home. Calls and emails will be answered promptly.

Last year, my state of the industry post followed the state of... addresses by the President and heads of various states. This year it's my turn to go first, and like last year, the following are opinions that are based only on my personal perception.

The industry is almost the same as the beginning of 2011. Prices are not changing with any alarming velocity, and the number of sales, although somewhat improved in many markets, are not approaching robust levels. The new distressed properties are, like many in the beginning of 2011, no longer the result of loans to the unloanable accidental homeowners, but now the result of a poor economy and a job loss or other hardship. The fact that many persons who can't keep their homes cannot afford to sell them is perpetuating the poor state of the housing industry and a high inventory of distressed property.

As it was in the beginning of 2011, most buyers are first time buyers or investors, and they are getting what appears to be excellent value and excellent interest rates on financing. Although it appears that there is little possibility of a spike in home prices, interest rates could experience rapid substantial changes.

Last year, my opinion was that the industry needed to involve move up buyers in the market before anything turns around in a noticeable way. That opinion has not changed. With so many underwater owners immobilized for probably another decade, it's hard to see how the present course will change before the 46th or 47th President takes office. We have a half generation of people who will only move out of their homes if they walk away or negotiate a short sale with their lender.

Government initiatives are all directed at immobilizing people or turning them into renters. People who want to stay where they are are being encouraged and assisted in negotiating their exit. People who want to buy and move to a home that is a better fit for their families are stuck where they are, even if they can afford a much higher payment. Government and lenders have joined forces in virtually ignoring this large number of forgotten Americans. They can either stay or walk away and become renters. 2012 -- more of the same.

Eagan homes for sale in Eagan, MN. Over the last year, the Eagan real
estate market has improved dramatically. Although economic setbacks
have occurred with the closing of Lockheed Martin and a few other
companies, real estate continues to sell in Eagan for a number of
reasons.

Like other prestigious areas of the Twin Cities, Eagan homes for sale
offer numerous advantages over other areas. Besides an award winning
school system, Eagan sports excellent access to Minneapolis and St.
Paul. Get to downtown Minneapolis via 35W, Cedar (77), or Hiawatha -
or get to downtown St. Paul via a half dozen access points.

Eagan homes for sale average $175,000 for 2011 thusfar and stay on the
market an average 128 days. Eagan has its share of foreclosures and
those are generally found in higher concentration towards the southern
end of Eagan. Eagan short sales (pre-foreclosure sales) are also
prevalent in the same areas.

Year to date, 1099 new Eagan listings have come on the market.
A drop of nearly 15% from this time last year. Closed sales are up by
23% so far with 668 closed sales. And on average, homes for sale in
Eagan receive roughly 90.8% of list price, versus 98.9% for our
clients. The most popular Eagan homes for sale tend to be the
midrange Eagan homes $225,000-$325,000 price range. And the current real estate market has
produced a plethora of Eagan homes for sale under $200,000.

As of the census of 2000, there were 63,557 people, 23,773 households,
and 16,427 families residing in the city. The population density was
1,967.6 people per square mile (759.3/km²). There were 24,390 housing
units at an average density of 755.1 per square mile (291.5/km²). The
racial makeup of the city was 88.03% White, 3.41% African American,
0.26% Native American, 5.31% Asian, 0.10% Pacific Islander, 0.96% from
other races, and 1.93% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of
any race were 2.24% of the population.

Plan ahead for postage increase

Those of us who operate a business, whether real estate or otherwise, understand that sometimes things don't go well. The Amazons and Netflixes and others like them have distressed many brick and mortar businesses that attempted to compete with them. Some survived and some did not. Anyone who has been in business for more than a few days understands that competition is nothing to be ignored. Well, everyone but businesses connected with the government.

The US postal service has for decades competed with United Parcel Service in the package delivery business. For most of those decades, UPS has been profitable and the USPS has not. Now there are more players in the same area including FedEx and others. They all tend to be profitable while USPS operates at a loss.

The internet and the emergence of email and electronic bill receiving and payment have further depleted the USPS revenue. It also seems that technology improvements have not increased reliability or decreased the amount of elapsed time between mailing a letter and receiving what has been mailed. In short, the USPS has taken on competition by doing nothing or worse.

Faced with huge losses, USPS has once again demonstrated their lack of business acumen by doing what they always do. They are raising their prices. If your competition is providing better and more reliable service, and they are charging less, dive head first into the shallow end of the pool. Raise your already too high prices.

On January 22, the postal service will raise the price of mailing a first class letter by one cent. If you do a lot of mailing, this may be a good time to pay the postal service ahead by buying some of their forever stamps before the rate increase. If you are looking for some additional end of 2011 expenses, buy next year's stamps before the end of the year.