New Rosemount Bus Stop Planned
March 11, 2010
It was announced last week that a new dedicated bus stop will be coming to downtown Rosemount as the city has qualified for money from the federal government’s Congestion Mitigation Air Quality program which will give $2.3 Million to fund the project. The lot is forecast to hold up to 100 cars and have a waiting shelter but is not expected to be completed until 2014. Complete details were outlined in a recent Star Tribune article – Rosemount Cheers New Bus Stop
“We’re very, very happy,” said Beverley Miller, executive director of the Minnesota Valley Transit Authority (MVTA), the south-metro transit provider that will run the bus service at the park-and-ride.
The federal grant, combined with a local match, will fund construction of the parking lot and depot and the purchase of buses. The city already owns the land.
Kim Lindquist, Rosemount’s community development director, said the city will work with MVTA and other agencies to see if there’s a way to accelerate the construction schedule. The city also is finalizing details of its $596,519 local contribution.
The park-and-ride, long desired by the city, has been a lightning rod in relations between Rosemount and the MVTA. In early 2009, Rosemount threatened to withdraw from the transit authority unless service was increased and a park-and-ride was built.
The new Rosemount bus stop will be built in the shaded yellow area in the picture above which is off of 145th Street to the east of Highway 3. It will be just to the south of city hall and between Burnley Avenue and the train tracks.
As a Rosemount resident I am pleased that current and future residents will have additional transportation options. It should definitely help homeowners to have additional ways to get around the Twin Cities.
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
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
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.
High End Home Sales Trends in Dakota County Since 2005
January 9, 2010
As we all know, the real estate market has been in a free fall for the past 3 years but that is especially evident for homes in the $500,000+ price range in Dakota County. Now that 2009 is behind us it allows us to get a much clearer picture of what that looked like from a statistical standpoint.
High End Home Sales In Dakota County By Year
As you can see from the graph below, high end single-family home sales have dropped off of a cliff since 2006.
Sales were down year over year by 4.5% in 2006, 20.1% in 2007, 38.1% in 2008 and 45.9% in 2009. Overall, sales of $500k+ homes in Dakota County in 2009 were almost 75% less than they were in 2005.
For the year, high end home sales were down 45.9% in Dakota County which was a much bigger percentage than the Twin Cities as a whole experienced. According to the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors, there were 2,319 sales in 2008 and 1,758 in 2009 for a drop of 24.2%. As you can see, Dakota County made up only 4% of overall sales in this category. MAAR Housing Supply Outlook
Dakota County Townhouse Sales Statistics – December 2009
January 8, 2010
Townhouses continue to make up a good portion of the home inventory and sales in Dakota County so today I’m analyzing the sales of these properties in December as compared to their tax assessed value. Single Family homes have been moving relatively quickly during the past 6 months and my most recent blog entries have shown that, on average, non-bank owned homes sold for 86.6% of tax assessed value in December Dakota County Single Family Home Analysis – December 2009. I thought it would be valuable to see how well townhouses are doing with that same comparison.
Parameters For Analysis
For the month of December I found 27 closed deals that I could use to assess.
- I only used townhomes from traditional sellers. Therefore, I removed all bank-owned & short sales that might skew the data even lower.
- I removed any new townhome sales as they don’t have an accurate 2009 tax assessed value (there was just 1 that I removed from December’s total that was new)
- I am using an Adjusted Sales Price which is the sales price less any seller concessions so it more accurately reflects the price received by the seller
Dakota County Bank Owned Home Sales Analysis – December 2009
January 5, 2010
Today I continue my series of reports by analyzing single-family, bank-owned homes sold in Dakota County during the month of December 2009. This is the 3rd part of my series which looked at traditionally sold homes (Dakota County Traditional Home Sales Analysis) and homes sold as part of a short sale (Dakota County Short Sale Analysis). I am comparing the final adjusted sales price (sold price less seller concessions) against the 2009 tax assessed value.
Bank-Owned Analysis
For the month of December there were 28 bank owned homes identified in MLS as having closed in Dakota County. Typically, these properties sell for the least amount as banks are anxious to get rid of these homes and they are in the worst saleable condition. On average, these bank owned properties sold for 59.7% of their tax assessed value.
One thing continues to be evident – the market in South St. Paul continues to be very weak as there were an abundance of bank owned properties in that city and they almost all sold below the average.
Therefore, the final breakdown for single family homes sold in December is as follows:
| Type of Home | Avg % Of Tax Value |
| Traditional | 86.6% |
| Short Sale | 73.4% |
| Bank Owned | 59.7% |
Conclusion
Having a Realtor that helps set correct pricing expectations is critically important for both buyers and sellers of homes. The big variables that I help provide as a full-time, full-service Realtor is to help sellers get their home to its peak selling condition and to put in place the most comprehensive marketing plan in the industry.
To get your own Market Analysis using some of the most in-depth research along with our custom Market Analysis tools contact me for a no obligation meeting – Contact Form
Dakota County Short Sale Analysis – December 2009
January 4, 2010
Yesterday, I posted an analysis showing the relationship of successful single family home sales in Dakota County as compared to their tax assessed value for the month of December 2009 (Single Family Home Sales Analysis). The data used in that report showed that the average traditional home (one that is not a bank owned or short sale) sold for 86.6% of tax assessed value.
Short Sale Analysis
For those new to what a short sale is I did a more detailed breakdown in a previous post here (Short Sale Rules Benefit Dakota County Homeowners). Because the bank is negotiating to take less than owed before the property goes through foreclosure you would expect that these homes would sell for less than a traditionally sold home. Here is the report -
For the month, there were 19 homes that successfully closed using a short sale (or at least were identified that way in MLS). On average, the average short sale home sold for 73.4% of the Dakota County tax assessed value. So, buyers who were patient enough to make it through the short sale process were rewarded with a better deal. Of course, we don’t know the condition of these homes and many times a short sale home will not be the move-in ready property that a traditional seller is marketing.
Statistical Note
One property that stands out on this list is the one at 10853 Alameda. It looks like they did a terrible job of negotiating based on these numbers. That property started on the market at $899,000 so maybe they thought they were getting a good deal but the statistics here would seem to indicate that the home should have sold for $100,000 less than it did. In fact, the property actually skews my results. If you took out that one property the average of the other 18 homes sold for 70.7% of tax assessed value in Dakota County.
Certified Distressed Property Expert
I am uniquely qualified to help buyers who need to sell a property through a short sale as I have acquired the CDPE designation (I’m A CDPE). In addition, I bought a short sale property in 2009 as my primary residence so I have a lot of experience on that side of the short sale transaction as well.
If you know of someone facing a hardship contact me via e-mail or cell phone (651-338-0355) for a confidential consultation about the options. – Contact Bill
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