New Listing – 4207 W. 124th Street, Savage 55378
February 17, 2010
Yesterday I listed this move in ready townhouse in Savage, MN. It is very near Highway 13 so there’s easy access to I-35W. The home has 2 features which I think are very hard to find. First, it’s very hard to find a 3 bedroom townhouse at this pricepoint (listed at $150,000). Secondly, their is NO Association so there is significant savings over many other townhouses on a monthly basis. Some of the other features of this home include –
- Hardwood floors in main living room, kitchen level
- New stainless steel dishwasher & range as well as new washer/dryer
- New paint throughout
- Wood burning fireplace in lower family room
- 2 car garage
- Nice deck off of dining area
- Recessed & Updated Lighting
You can find more details about this listing including more pictures here – RE/MAX Results – 4207 W. 124th Street Savage
For more information texted to your cell phone including pictures call 866-831-8621 and use property code “32047″
or
Text “32047″ to 21691
New Listing – 9180 207th Street W, Lakeville, 55044
February 16, 2010
Yesterday I listed this move-in ready home in Lakeville, MN. The house is near downtown Lakeville, is very well maintained and has a very large, flat, fenced yard that backs up to a paved trail system that goes throughout the city. Some of the outstanding features of this home include:
- 3 bedrooms on upper level – all with hardwood floors
- Good size living room with hardwood floors
- Updated kitchen with separate eating area
- 2 baths, including newly finished basement bath with ceramic floors
- Basement family room is insulated, sheetrocked, taped and painted and just needs a ceiling and flooring to add hundreds of feet of extra finished living area
- 3 car heated, insulated garage
- 16×16 deck to very nicely landscaped backyard, including shed for additional storage
You can find more details about this listing including more pictures here – RE/MAX Results – 9180 207th Street Listing
For more information texted to your cell phone including pictures call 866-831-8621 and use property code “32045″
or
Text “32045″ to 21691
2009 Dakota County Housing Market Analysis
February 15, 2010
The Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors has released their 2009 Housing Market Analysis entitled the 2009 Residential Real Estate Activity Report. This report shows real estate market data for the entire 13 county Twin Cities market but also breaks out data for each individual city which allows us to view what’s going on in each market area of Dakota County.
Overall Statistics
Before looking specifically at Dakota County there were some overall statistics for the entire metro area that really stand out that impacted the Twin Cities residential real estate market in 2009 -
This first chart shows the Price Per Square Foot of finished space over the past 6 years. This is considered a better indicator of market value of an individual home than Median Value. As you can see, the Average Price Per Square Foot peaked in 2005-2006 and has declined almost 30% since that peak. Ouch…
These statistics do vary a lot by city. For example, places like Rosemount ($115/sqft) & Eagan ($113/sqft) are faring better than Farmington & South St. Paul (each $101/sqft). I’d be happy to get you the data for your city but this is a very good, quick way to estimate market value of your home.
Everyone knows that there are lots of Lender Mediated sales (bank-owned and short sale properties) in the market but the fact that 43% of all sales in 2009 were Lender-Mediated should surprise people. Most projections show that there are record numbers of people in default right now, fueled by the bad economy, and Lender Mediated homes on the market may actually increase through 2011
The good news right now is that the market supply of Lender Mediated homes is down and when combined with the Homeowner Tax Credit and 5% interest rates we may see a decent window for Traditional Homeowners to sell before the Credit ends in April.
Dakota County Data
The following 2 tables are a little hard to read but you should be able to click on them to get a larger version.
This first chart shows each city within Dakota County and breaks out Total Sales, how many of them were Lender Mediated, New Construction and Single Family vs. Townhouse/Condo. The big thing to look at is the Percent of Lender Mediated homes. A higher number here directly impacts Price Per Square Foot and other metrics.
The 2nd chart shows a breakdown of Average Price, Days on Market, % of List Price Received and most importantly, Price Per Square Foot. As you can see, Mendota Heights was the clear winner in 2009 as only 19% of the homes sold were Lender Mediated leading to a Price Per Square Foot that was much higher than the others. Rosemount and Lakeville rounded out the Top 3.
Conclusion
The real estate market in Dakota County is down around 30% from its peak in 2006 and a lot of the slide can be attributed to the huge increase in Lender Mediated properties. On average, your home is probably worth less than you paid for it unless you bought it before 2002-03. Understanding what’s happening by using Market Analysis Data is a primary service your Realtor can help you with to help you make decisions.
For information on any of the data used and/or individual questions about the Dakota County real estate market please contact me anytime – Contact Bill
City of Rosemount, MN Highlights For 2009
February 11, 2010
As a resident of Rosemount, MN I was sent the latest Rosemount City Newsletter which highlights a number of achievements the city had during 2009 as well as identifying issues for the upcoming year.
Highlights From 2009
There were a number of accomplishments to talk about including the new Dakota County Public Library located on the former St. Joseph’s Church site just north of downtown and the completion of Waterford Commons. The Commons is a mixed use, residential & retail establishment and a very visible upgrade to the downtown development plan. It’s ironic that this great looking building replaces the ugly building that was the center of such controversy regarding the use of eminent domain.
The first business in Waterford Commons is about to open up on the Highway 3 side of the street level which will be a welcome sign.
Other topics discussed included:
- The City will use federal stimulus money to upgrade Highway 3. There will be disturbances to traffic this summer downtown, especially during a 4 week stretch when the main stop light is replaced by 4 way stop signs.
- The City continues to plan for the UMore Park development with the University of Minnesota. That huge plot of land to the south of County Road 42 between Highway 52 and Highway 3 could house as many as 30,000 future residents.
- Finally, what may be the biggest news, much of Rosemount’s residential areas have been designated a “Quiet Zone” which should reduce the need for trains to sound their horns. I live 1/2 mile away and it bothers me at night – I have to think this will help real estate values for those that are much closer.
Other Rosemount Resources
If you are looking for additional information about Rosemount I would recommend the following -
- Rosemount’s high-end development – Evermoor of Rosemount
- Rosemount’s own weekly newspaper – Rosemount Town Pages
- Rosemount City Offices – Rosemount Home Page
As a Rosemount resident I’d be happy to help you understand more about the city as well as help answer any questions about the real estate market in town. Contact Bill About Rosemount
New Listing – 398 Mainzer Street, West St. Paul, 55118
February 11, 2010
Yesterday I listed this great, move-in ready 4 level split home in West St. Paul. The house sits near the end of a quiet, dead end street so it would be great for a young family looking for a first home to take advantage of the tax credit. It has very convenient access to Highway 52 to get to downtown St. Paul as well as the shopping along South Robert Street. Some of the features include -
- 3 Bedrooms on upper level – all with brand new carpet
- 1 1/2 baths
- Lower 2 levels also have brand new carpet
- New roof
- Separate office/den with built-ins
- Newer lighting in entry/kitchen
- Nice private backyard with concrete patio, flowers, trees and shed
- And more upgrades ….
You can find more details about this listing including more pictures here – RE/MAX Results – 398 Mainzer Listing
For more information texted to your cell phone including pictures call 866-831-8621 and use property code “32044″
or
Text “32044″ to 21691
Trade In Your Appliance For Rebates!
February 9, 2010
The State of Minnesota has almost $5 Million in rebates available, as a part of the federal government stimulus program, to help people buy energy efficient appliances. The program kicks off on March 1, 2010 and lasts until the money runs out. It is expected that the rebates will be used up very quickly.
What is Eligible?
The Minnesota Office of Energy Security is using this rebate to encourage residents to “trade up” to more energy efficient, ENERGY STAR appliances which can save up to $75/year in energy costs and benefit the environment at the same time. Here is a list of the eligible appliances along with the rebate amounts -
How To Take Advantage?
Minnesota residents who want to take advantage of the rebate should act quickly.
Purchases can be made at any retailer located in Minnesota. Rebates are not retroactive. The “Trade-in & Save” rebates are limited. Rebate reservations begin March 1, 2010, 8am CST on this site, or by calling 877-230-9119.
How To Find Out More?
To get more details you can go to the Minnesota Appliance Rebate website – MN Appliance Rebate
You can also download the Residents Guide for program rules – Appliance Rebate Residents Guide
Virtual Agent – The Solution For Capturing More Buyer Data
February 8, 2010
Go ahead!
Call that phone #, put in code #124 and then select option #1
You are using Virtual Agent – a mobile prospecting tool that allows potential clients to interact with your property through their cell phone. They can view property information, photos and even virtual tours and more from their mobile phone. No more brochure box on the sign post which wastes paper (when it’s full) and gives no feedback regarding the people who have an interest in your property.
Power of Mobile Prospecting
Once a potential buyer has called about your listing you have now captured their phone number which allows you to connect with them regarding open houses, price reductions, pending offers, special financing or any other announcements.
Why Should You Care?
Our team has invested in this new tool to help our listing clients capture and communicate with more potential buyers. It’s just one more tool in our marketing plan that helps our sellers have the most comprehensive marketing campaign available.
For more details on our complete marketing campaign for selling your home in the Twin Cities drop me a line.
Dakota County Home Sales Analysis in January 2010
February 6, 2010
For the past couple months I’ve been doing analysis within Dakota County to compare the final selling price of homes sold to their tax assessed value to see if there were some common numbers that could be found to help buyers and sellers to get some rough estimates of home value. In November I looked at single-family homes that were not bank-owned or short sales and found that those homes were selling for about 90% of their Dakota County 2009 tax value.
In December, 2009 I expanded my analysis to include -
- Single Family Homes, Not lender mediated – Selling at 86.6% of Tax Value
- Single Family homes sold via Short Sale – Selling at 73.4% of Tax Value
- Single Family Bank Owned homes – Selling at 59.7% of Tax Value
- Townhouses, Not lender-mediated – Selling at 82.1% of Tax Value
So to continue the trend, I ran 3 of these statistics again to see if things were different for January 2010 sales in Dakota County and found -
- Single Family Homes, Not Lender Mediated – Sold for 88.7% of Tax Value
- Single Family, Bank-Owned Homes – Sold for 62.5% of Tax Value
- Townhouses, Not Lender Mediated – Sold for 84.1% of Tax Value (If I take out 3 oddballs that messed up the averages)
(I’d be happy to make the detail available to anyone upon request showing addresses and prices – send me an e-mail at bill.wallace@results.net )
So what does this mean?
I think that with the continued decline in the number of homes available on the market (down to about 21,000 in the Twin Cities) we saw a small upward tick in home sales prices in Dakota County. With the ongoing Homeowners Tax Credit through April and low interest rates of around 5% we might see this continue to inch upward. All bets are off though after April 30th.
Number of Realtors in Twin Cities Continues to Decline
February 5, 2010
An article in the St. Paul Pioneer Press caught my eye this week as it discussed the continued decline of the number of Realtors in the Twin Cities are – Exodus of Twin Cities Realtors Slows A Bit The number of real estate agents not renewing their license has slowed but the days of easy real estate sales and a Realtor on every corner seem to be behind us.
“The movement in the real estate agent population is again mirroring the real estate market,” said Leonard MacKinnon, a spokesman for real estate firm Coldwell Banker Burnet. “In 2009, we began to see some stabilization in the market.”
It was somewhat interesting that the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors (of which I am a member) had steady membership while the St. Paul Association of Realtors declined 8% and ended up merging late in 2009 with the Southern Twin Cities Association of Realtors to boost membership.
Statewide, membership in the group’s 18 chapters has dropped by nearly 7,000 — or 25 percent — from its 2006 peak of 26,991. “If you were in the business before the bubble and before the easy financing, you learned how to do the prospecting and you built a client base,” Galler said. “Once the bubble burst, those folks that didn’t learn the prospecting side of the business had a very difficult time continuing.”
As you see, we are down 25% from the peak 3+ years ago which might actually be slightly less of a drop than the overall real estate pricing decline. The reason for such a drop is clearly related to the income opportunity. It’s interesting to hear how many people think Realtors are overpaid (based on the cost of selling a home) but according to the National Association of Realtors Member Profile -
- Median gross income of Realtors fell 14% to $36,700 in 2008.
- 72% of Realtors receive no benefits through their firm.
- These were the statistics for 2008 – it’s highly likely the declined further in 2009. Based on those numbers it’s plan to see that there were probably way too many Realtors in the business, especially part-timers. Therefore, the decline can only serve to help those Realtors that remain to be more successful which benefits their clients by having a resource that’s fully dedicated to the profession.
New Listing – 1500 Auburn Court, Eagan MN 55122
February 4, 2010
Just listed – This move in ready split entry home in Eagan. The house is on a quiet cul-de-sac and backs right up to Thomas Lake Elementary in School District 196. In addition it has this long list of features:
- 3 bedrooms on one level, 4th in lower level
- Brand new landscaping surrounding the entire house
- Attractive large cedar deck with built-in flower boxes – Under porch outside storage
- Large cement patio outside garage 2 car garage with 3rd stall going through to outside back yard, perfect for boat storage
- Fenced in back yard
- Newly painted exterior and interior
- New carpet in all 4 bedrooms
- New hardwood floors throughout upstairs 2004
- New Timberline Roof – Driveway professionally sealed
- Beautiful4 season sunroom with brand new windows and gas fireplace with carpet
- Main bathroom has Jacuzzi bathtub with shower
- Mudroom has large walk-in closet as well as cabinets in the entry way for shoe and winter clothing storage
- Family room has plenty of room for exercise equipment, pool table and seating, and has a gas fireplace along with walkout to backyard
- New water heater 2004 New furnace/air conditioner 2004
You can find more details about this listing, including 19 pictures here – Realtor.com Showcase Listing – 1500 Auburn Court
For more information texted to your cell phone including pictures call 866-831-8621 and use property code “32046″
or
Text “32046″ to 21691
Subscribe
Social Network Links
Follow me here -
