Owatonna, MN

Owatonna is very fortunate to have been chosen as the site for the 54th campus in the Minnesota State College and University System. The Owatonna College and University Center houses Riverland College, Minnesota State - Mankato, Southwest State, Concordia University - St. Paul, Crown College and the University of St. Thomas. The Center is a national model of cooperative education, offering two-year, four-year and graduate programs in several disciplines. Employers can tap trained workers from the certificate and associate of arts technical trade programs. They also can access specialized training programs designed to meet their unique workforce development training needs.

I've become an adjunct instructor at Riverland College at the Albert Lea and Austin campuses. I teach a class entitled "Workplace Human Relations" and have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the students. It's been a breath of fresh air and a bit of a change from my typical responsibilities as a real estate broker, and it's fun to seek out new challenges from time to time. It hasn't interefered with my ability to service my clients and take care of the day-to-day operations of three offices, but it does guarantee that I'll be busy.

January is a wonderful to time reflect on the past year and think ahead to all that we want to accomplish in the new year. 2008 brought challenges, as well as opportunities to our real estate market. Here are the statistics for 2008 and a comparison to 2007. It seems that we're off to a strong start for 2009 and I'm confident that we'll see increased activity and sales in 2009. Home prices are affordable, with amazingly low interest rates, and nice inventory to choose from - therein lies the opportunity!

2008 Residential Home Sales for Owatonna

Sold 293 homes at an average sale price of $159,120 within an average of 130 days. The sale prices average 97% of the last list price and 88% of the original sale price. We currently have 174 homes on the market at an average list price of $188,100 and they've been on the market for an average of 172 days. We continue to see strong interest from first time home buyers and they still have the potential to buy with 0% down through the Rural Housing program (subject to income limits and credit worthiness).

2007 Residential Home Sales for Owatonna

Sold 400 homes at an average sale price of $169,162 within an average of 129 days. The sale prices were an average of 98% of the last list price and 93% of the original list price.

This information is provided by the Southeast Minnesota Association of Realtors and is deemed to be reliable, but is not guaranteed.