Jason Tangen

Originally posted at www.StCloudEdina.com/blog on January 28th, 2009:

A couple of big things should stand out to home owners as we bid adieu to 2008.

1) Median and average home prices did drop about 12% in the St Cloud area for 2008.

2) Homes are still selling at a pretty good rate. In some areas, we saw good increases in units sold.

Click on the file below to see the overall real estate sales statistics for St Cloud, Waite Park, Sartell, and Sauk Rapids Minnesota. Please note that this file is intended for personal knowledge. If you are planning on using any of the information contained herein, please acknowledge its author (Jason Tangen - e-PRO, GRI - Broker Associate with Edina Realty in St Cloud) properly.

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If you would like to view previous Tangen reports, visit http://stcloudedina.com/blog/the_tangen_report/.

If you would like me to break down the statistics for your specific neighborhood or area in Central MN, please post your request here for everyone to see and use in the future.

Jason Tangen - GRI, e-PRO - Real estate broker associate with Edina Realty in St Cloud Minnesota

www.StCloudEdina.com - Try the e-Market Analysis free home value estimator.

www.StCloudEdina.com/blog - REAL ANSWERS for REAL ESTATE in St Cloud MN

Originally posted at http://StCloudEdina.com/blog on 01/26/2009:

Whew. I noticed late tonight that the total number of active and pending foreclosed properties on the St Cloud MLS. That is a huge increase from roughly 200 that we had at the start of 2008.

This surplus of foreclosed properties is making for some phenomenal buys! For example: I had one buyer just pick up a 6 BR, 4 BA two story home in Sartell's "The Wilds" development for just over $180K. Crazy.

So go ahead and take a look. With interest rates floating around the 5.5% range, this might be the perfect time to buy. I can't guarantee that we are at the bottom yet, but I do know that this influx of foreclosed properties should stabilize and start to deteriorate as the year progresses. Therefore, the last of the great flood of bank owned properties should be hitting us this year.

Happy house hunting.

Jason Tangen - GRI, e-PRO - Real Estate Broker Associate with Edina Realty in St Cloud.

http://StCloudEdina.com - Get a free list of the foreclosed properties listed on the St Cloud MLS.

http://JasonTangen.EdinaRealty.com - Try the e-Market Analysis free home value estimator.

A big thank you to Mark Timpane at Edina Realty Mortgage for putting this to print:

Thinking about refinancing into another conventional? There might be another option for you. Fast forward three to five years from now. The real estate market correction will be behind us and you decide that now is the time to move onto a newer home. But what if rates are at 6.5 % or more and your home is valued at or a little higher than you bought it. Is there an option that can make you home more attractive? If you refinanced today with an FHA loan at 5.0% for example, when you go to sell, your buyer would be able to assume your mortgage (only $500) and take advantage of today's lower rates. The general rule is that for every 1% decline in interest rates a buyer gets 10% more purchasing power. So the cost of assuming a $172,500 home has the same monthly payment as buying a $150,000 home at future interest rates. So you have now positioned your home against homes with fewer amenities, and other $165,000 homes cannot compete on a costs basis.

Need to refinance-call me today

Mark Timpane

Edina Realty Mortgage

320.240.6157

www.markthemortgageguy.com

Jason Tangen - GRI, e-PRO - Real Estate Broker Associate with Edina Realty in St Cloud

http://StCloudEdina.com - Get a free list of the bank owned properties on the St Cloud MLS

http://JasonTangen.EdinaRealty.com - Find out what you home might be worth if sold.

Originally posted at www.StCloudEdina.com/blog on January 9th, 2009:

I am wrapping up some of the initial numbers for the real estate sales from the St Cloud MLS and one stat jumped out at me recently. It looks like the average payout that home sellers are willing to give to an agent who finds them a buyer (Compensation to Buyer's Broker) has gone up quite substantially in the past few years.

According to the St Cloud MLS, commissions paid to a Buyer's Broker for a real estate transaction have gone up 15% in the last 4 years.

What does that mean? People are more willing to pay a premium in order to get their homes sold.

It kind of goes against the ordinary flow of business during a recession. Most people flock to the Walmarts, McDonald's and other quality (but cheap) businesses during tough times. In real estate, they flock to who does the job best.

It makes sense. If selling real estate is tougher than ever, you would want to use the real estate agent who is the best. If that means spending an extra percent or two, so be it. It is better than making payments on a home you no longer want and getting less for your home when it does finally sell.

Look for my year end "Tangen Report" to be posted here in the next week. For those of you who don't know, the "Tangen Report" is a quarterly breakdown of the real estate activity in St Cloud, Sauk Rapids, Sartell, and Waite Park in Central Minnesota.

Jason Tangen - GRI, e-PRO - Real Estate Broker Associate with Edina Realty in St Cloud

http://StCloudEdina.com - Home of the e-Market Analysis (Free home value estimator)

http://JasonTangen.EdinaRealty - Search homes for sale in St Cloud MN

Originally posted at http://stcloudedina.com/blog on 12/27/08:

I am a little anxious to get started on the final tally of numbers for the St Cloud MLS in 2008. In the meantime, I am finishing up some of my own personal numbers and one stuck out as a glaring "heads-up" to any potential seller in the St Cloud MLS.

There were 13 listings last year that I lost out on to other agents or chose to not list. Most of them were because of price. My starting price was too low for what each seller needed to get in order to sell. I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but the market is going down for those of you who hadn't heard. My early estimations are that we will be down nearly 8% from last year in both median and average sales prices on the St Cloud MLS. I cannot sell your house for the same price it was worth in 2005. I'm sorry, but it just won't happen.

Out of those 13 listings, NONE HAVE SOLD! Ouch. While this is a perfect "I told you so moment," I feel truly bad for every single one of those families. Some really needed to sell their homes. I also hate losing listings (for whatever the reason), so that frustrates me too. Even if homes don't sell, they are great generators of potential buyers.

While I would like this stat to change in the new year, I cannot control the market. What I can pledge is to continue being honest with potential home sellers so that they are aware of what they need to do in order to sell their homes. That with a little pinch of a market turn will make 2009 a banner year for my real estate business.

Jason Tangen - GRI, e-PRO - Real Estate Broker Associate with Edina Realty in St Cloud MN

http://StCloudEdina.com - Home of the e-Market Analysis (Free Home Value Estimator)

http://StCloudEdina.com/blog - REAL ANSWERS for REAL ESTATE in St Cloud MN