We Have Buyers – We Need Homes for Sale in the Twin Cities
As of the beginning of December we have a little less than 18,000 active homes for sale in the Twin Cities.
Sound like a lot? In actuality it isn’t. Firstly, this number is about what it was in late 2004, which means we haven’t had this few homes for sale in the Twin Cities since the height of the real estate boom. (Ah the good old days when homes would get snapped up in less than a week for full asking price.) Also when you go one step further and break out Traditional Listings from Short Sales and Bank Owned Homes, there are only about 10,700 traditional homes for sale for buyers to choose from.
Even during the last three years, we’ve sold about 20,000 traditional listings per year and are on pace for that in 2011, which is probably why data shows we have about 6 months of inventory. For the record, 5 months worth is no longer a buyers’ market.
I’ve gone a step further and looked at how many listings are still active but have an accepted offer. Agents have to state this on the MLS so this number could be higher, but I verified another 400 Traditional Listings under contract pending inspection, which brings down the available traditional homes for sale in the Twin Cities to 10,300 – amazingly low!
That’s the supply side. Let’s talk about the demand. Pending sales for the last three months are up over 30% compared to a year ago! After months of declining indicators for both percent of list price received at sale and increased time on the market, both of those indicators improved last month.
We need homes for sale in the Twin Cities for the buyers who are looking. If you've been thinking about listing your home this is a great time to get on the market!
Nate Gerard
The Gerard Team
70 Years since Pearl Harbor and the US entered World War II. Even though many of the Greatest Generation have left us for a better place, I think they still have a lot to teach us.
If they were your parents, or in my case grandparents, you can remember the habits that you thought were a bit excessive: After about 3 minutes of long distance, my grandparents would say, “I don’t want to run up your phone bill!” Or, I could count on my grandparents driving the same car up from Florida every year for at least 10 years – and it was still in great shape! And my grandparents didn’t stop working until all the work was done!
It seems what was old is new again. Here’s a list of just a few things the Greatest Generation helps us remember:
If you had or have a parent or grandparent in the Greatest Generation I’m sure you have these and other examples for us to live by. Feel free to share some if you like!
As we're marketed to by multi-million dollar ad campaigns designed to train us to accept more debt, or think that we're better than those around us, or to feel that taking the easy path to parenting is the right way to go,all we need to do is come back to the common sense thinking that these simple and intelligent people showed us the whole time.
Twin Cities Real Estate Market Report October 2011
Do you think you know what's going on in the Twin Cities Real Estate Market right now? Think it's all bad news?
Guess again! There are some very interesting trends developing and I'm going to share a couple with you.
Now, before you start to think it, I admit it. I AM a Realtor. However my job is to interpret the market not paint a rosy picture and I've helped my clients with research since my days working in advertising so this is not new to me.
As of the end of October 2011, Twin Cities Real Estate sales continue to be way above 2010. Total sales were 26.4% higher than last year and that goes for Traditional Sales as well as Foreclosures and Short Sales (what we call distressed inventory). I should add that Traditional sales made up 60% of total sales, so distressed sales were 40%.
That's not the whole story though, New listings are down dramatically for the month of October 2011 (-16.3%) and for the past 12 months (14.2%). The Twin Cities Real Estate Market has only 21,080 homes for sale. Traditional listings make up 67% and distressed listings make up 33%. There's no data on how many short sales are under contract but I've seen that many are awaiting bank approval, which in essence removes them as an active listing so the actual number of active listings that are capable of being purchased is even smaller than 21,080.
For comparison, the last time we had this few listings was February 2005!
Of course supply only means something when you compare it to demand, right?! Those numbers roll into months supply of inventory and the overall Twin Cities Real Estate Market number is 6.2 months. Remember that 5 to 6 months supply is market parity; I.E. not a buyer or seller's market. When you split out the types of listings you get 7.5 months of Traditional, 2 months of Foreclosures, and 13 months of Short Sales. These are all double digit reductions from a year ago!
So what does this mean?
Of course any recovery will be slow since there are still many homeowners who can't sell since there home is not worth what they owe. Those people will be out of the Twin Cities Real Estate Market for a long time unless they become a short sale or a foreclosure.
The bottom line is that things are getting better for sellers and still great for buyers. Maybe next month I'll feel comfortable enough to use the "R" word... recovery.
Have a great month and a Happy Thanksgiving!
Today I had a first.
A buyer called me yesterday and despite the fact that I was at a 90th birthday party for my wife's grandfather, I returned the call and set up a showing on one of my listings for today. I already had a busy schedule but they could only meet on the weekend so I fit them in.
After all I want to take an opportunity to sell my listing!
When I got into the car I realized I hadn't gotten gas the day before and I knew stopping would put me behind. So I called the buyers and told them I would be a bit late. Mrs Buyer seemed unfazed and we hung up.
When I got there Mr Buyer jumped out of the car, yelling at me how I was wasting their time and telling me that if I was going to be late I should have called earlier. He angrily said this three times and despite my apology, he wouldn't let it go.
So I walked to my car, put my bag in, and drove away. During that process I reminded him that I don't have to deal with his behavior.
I wanted to share this to remind everyone that no one sale is worth being treated poorly. I'm not sure why some buyers think this is acceptable, but we do not have to accept it.
I hope you never have to deal with someone like that but if you do, I must confess, walking away makes you feel great!
Have a great week!
Bank of America Co-op Short Sale Minneapolis, MN
Accomplish the impossible? Sometimes it DOES happen! My sellers, who lived in the Minneapolis, MN area, owed more on their home than it was worth and needed to do a short sale due to their divorce. They had one mortgage with Bank of America and wanted a fast short sale. They also hoped to preserve their credit since one of them wanted to buy another home within 6 months of selling their current home.
At that time I heard about a fairly new program that Bank of America is offering called a Co-op Short Sale.
With this program, the sellers give the information needed to qualify up front to Bank of America, and if the Sellers do qualify for a Co-op Short Sale, then Bank of America actually sends an appraiser to the home and sets the sales price. Here's the great part: once an offer is made and counter-signed by the sellers, Bank of America provides review and either an approval or counter offer within 10 business days!!! In this case we had an offer submitted at the end of June. We had some negotiation and still gained approval by July 15th!
Here's another important aspect: At the closing table qualified Sellers receive $2,500 for completing the Co-op Short Sale.
The main benefits of the Co-Op Short Sale:
Most agents know about Bank of America and their reputation to take a long time on short sales. Most banks don't offer a short sale program that can be completed without missing any payments. Until now investors were shut out of helpful short sale programs. This great new program changes changes all that and not only applies to Minneapolis, MN but the entire country!
If you have a hardship and your first mortgage is with Bank of America, please call me to find out more. I have a good relationship with the people in the Co-op Short Sale office and I also use an experienced title company that ensures a high degree of success.
You owe it to yourself to see if you can change your financial future. The Co-op Short Sale worked for my sellers in Minneapolis, MN and it can work for you!
What can we accomplish together?
Nate Gerard
Keller Williams
612-849-9079
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We specialize in helping homeowners and home buyers who need a high level of service and accessibility to expert counsel.
As the founder of The Gerard Team I have 20 years of business experience to help lead the team.
Success for our clients can be summarized in one word: CARE.
We CARE enough to listen and understand our clients' needs and wants. A plan is set up to achieve those wants and needs and the client is educated as to what to expect throughout the process. We also CARE enough to respond quickly to all client inquiries and to maintain communication even if there has been little progress since we last spoke. Finally, we CARE about accomplishing a client's goals so we're honest in discussing changes that may need to take place to overcome challenges during the process.
Many of our clients are good friends years later. The accountability we have as a friend is at the highest level. It all starts with one word: CARE.
The Gerard Team helps clients in three key ways:
We help traditional buyers and sellers get the best price with the least difficulty
Buying and selling requires more analysis now than ever. Where are home values trending in the area? What is the best pricing strategy? What is the affect of short sales and bank owned sales on the home you want to sell or buy? We help clients determine the best answers to these and all the questions that come up.
We help investors find and analyze the most profitable real estate opportunities
Whether you're looking for a rental or a rehab opportunity there are lots of numbers to understand. What are comparable bank owned properties selling for in an area? What are the tactics to get your offer accepted without overbidding? What are modifications you can make to increase the rentability or sellability of the home after your improvements? We have an excellent network of other agents who work with buyers as well as people interested in Contract for Deed, Rent to own, and simple rental agreements.
We help homeowners avoid foreclosure
In 2010 and 2011 the Home Retention Counseling we provide for FREE will help hundreds of homeowners. We've helped over 80 homeowners since we began doing this in 2008. Now that we've earned the Certified Distressed Property Expert (CDPE) designation, we're in a unique position to help those who aren't able to stay in their homes avoid the damage that a foreclosure can cause to their future. This mission is important to each homeowner but it will also help stop drastic further decline in home values.
Here are just a few of the comments made by people that we’ve worked with:
“Nate is amazing. He does things with great attention to detail, focus on the client and has a strong understanding of how real estate sales work.” – Mike B.
“I have worked with Nate on multiple projects over the past 4 years. Nate was a pleasure to work with. He was organized, detailed and met all deadlines even with last minute unforeseen challenges presented to him.” – Orlando M.
“I found him to be customer focused, hard working, analytical and goal oriented. He is a creative problem solver. He genuinely cared about his customers' success and he worked very hard to deliver on his promises.” – Carolyn C.
“Nate continually went well above the call of duty to ensure that we had the best service, met short time-lines/deadlines and always met the final commitment.” – Brad H.
“Nate Gerard is a very interesting individual who excels at understanding a customer’s, or potential customer’s business, discovers needs, and then delivers a needs-based recommendation. Customer service during and after a sale is guaranteed.” – Brent L.
“Nate will do what he says he will and what he does will be good. I enjoyed working with him each time I had the opportunity.” – Jeff W.
“Nate was an exceptional person to work with. Always had a positive attitude and was proactively looking for solutions to help in very strategic ways.” – Pam W.
“Nate consistently provided me with every answer at every opportunity, and always with integrity and optimism. Nate is a good and interesting person with whom I enjoyed working.” – Jill R.
A good reputation is built over a lifetime through knowledgeable service, responsive communication, and dedication to YOU.
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