Stieg Strand

There are some troubling but very exciting news contained in the most recent statistics from the marketplace!

Jim Buchta of the Star Tribune published this story today regarding the latest sales information reported for the month of February 2009 by the local association's of Realtors.

The Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors released this press release yesterday. Key highlights are as follows:

• New Listings: "the number of new listings in February was 6,648, down 19.4 percent from February 2008. That's the 14th month of the last 15 to feature fewer new listings than the same month one year prior."

• Inventory Levels: "alongside the jump in sales seen over the last nine months, this decline in new listings has brought the total inventory of homes for sale down to 25,825-a drop of 13.5 percent and 4,017 units from this time last year. Given the current rate of sales, this amounts to 7.8 months of supply, down from 9.2 months a year ago."

• Pending Sales: "there were 3,314 pending sales in February, up 7.4 percent from last year. That's the ninth consecutive month of year-over-year increase. Of these newly signed purchase agreements, 60.5 percent were lender-mediated foreclosures or short sales. Closed sales finished at 2,070, up 3.0 percent."

• Median Price: the overall February median sales price of $150,000 is 23.1 percent lower than last February. Traditional properties, which exclude foreclosures and short sales, had a February median sales price of $205,875, down 5.2 percent from last year. For the same year-over-year comparison, lender-mediated homes had a median sales price of $125,000, down 20.6 percent."

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions, or would like to know how you can benefit from the incredible and dynamic real estate market opportunities...

Stieg Strand, Broker

www.stiegstrand.com

The truth is simple....

THE GOVERNMENT IS PAYING YOU TO BUY A HOME!

• This program is incredible, if you have never bought a home, or have not owned a home in the last 3 years you can get an $8000 or 10%, whichever is greater.
• This is actual CASH not a tax break.
• If you don't have enough taxable income to get the whole $8000 back, the IRS will send you a check for the money!
• It is only available if you close on your home before December 1st, 2009
• "The catch" - For 95% of buyers, you will need to have 3.5% of the purchase price in cash to close, or it could be in the form of a gift from a relative!
• Here is a scenario: You buy a home for $200,000 - You have to put down $7,000 to purchase it, and you have the closing costs and pre-paids paid by the seller(which is very common) - That means Uncle Sam is going to PAY YOU $1000.00 to buy a home in 2009!

The possibilities are endless, here are the FACTS ~ with historically LOW mortgage rates, a flood of mortgage money in the market, and a huge supply of BARGAIN priced homes from foreclosures to just plain distressed property you would be foolish NOT to at least CONSIDER becoming a BUYER THIS YEAR!

With neary 14 years of residential sales experience, I have NEVER seen opportunities as excellent as this.

Stieg Strand

www.stiegstrand.com

There are a lot of bargains to be had out there. In a recent search, I discovered about 7 out of 10 homes in a popular suburb of Minneapolis were Short Sale Candidates, Foreclosures, or REO's.

If you are in the market to buy one of these incredible values, there are a few things you should know:

• Be Handy or have more of the next bullet point
• Have reserve funds for mortgage payments, fix up and holding costs
• Have patience (It can take up to a month to get a response on a purchase agreement)
• Have an experienced agent (Nothing can take the place of a strong agent, that knows how to weigh the pro's and con's of an individual house.
• Get a home inspection, even if you "think" you can spot every issue - Another set of trained eyes will make up for the expense - EASY!

If you are interested in more information, I would be foolish not to recommend myself, but I would be more than happy to at least point you in the right direction if you do need help. I predominately work in the Northern, Western, and Southern Suburbs, I would not feel comfortable working with anyone in the St. Paul or suburbs, as an example. Brutal Honesty is good in this business.

May God Bless your investment!

Stieg Strand, Broker & Real Estate Trainer

www.stiegstrand.com

There is a lot to be said about the value of buying a property "below market". You can save yourself anywhere from 5% to 40% on a purchase or more. Here are a few things to think about before you put your money down and write up an offer.

• Do you have time? - Reason being, it can take weeks, even months to get a foreclosure or short sale through the process to closing for a variety of reasons, but the biggest one being the entire industry is log jammed with properties, and few "reasonable" people handling them. In a recent conversation with a mortgage company REO specialist, they said that they are handling 2X to 4X the amount of files(properties) than the system and the staff are designed to handle.
• Are you handy? - I mean really handy? - Many foreclosure properties provide no warrantees and are in poor condition. If you are not skilled to bring it up to livable conditions to rent or occupy yourself, you may be in for another set of problems.
• Do you have some funds set aside for fix up? - If you don't, you may not be able to get a loan right away to fund your improvements. I would recommend at least 120% of the amount you need you have available in cash, BEFORE you close on your new "adventure".
• Do you have an agent who knows about the process? - You want an agent who is familiar with the sales process in non-retail settings like this. Even an agent that has done a couple of these transactions will save you an HUGE amount of pain, frustration, and time...

Stieg Strand

www.stiegstrand.com

As a veteran in my 14th year of selling real estate I am getting asked this question more and more all the time these days. The answer is YES or NO.

Here are the considerations:

1. How much equity are you likely to lose from selling in a down market versus buying in a down market? You may lose $30-50K on your sale, but gain $70-100K in equity on your move up property, so it might be worth it to "take the hit" right now.

2. How much is your current payment? If it is too high to get a break even, or a slight positive cash flow if you rented it out, you should refinance it, and then rent it out.

3. Am I OK with a phone call or two to fix something if it breaks in my "rental house"? Or do I know someone handy that lives close by that doesn't charge an arm and a leg!

More to come from Stieg Strand, Broker RE/MAX A-1 Excellence

www.stiegstrand.com