Twin Cities Real Estate

List a House Now!

This week I am prepping two houses to go on the market.  Some consumers might think that is crazy.  I like the idea.  More house are being taken off the market, other houses are stale, but we have buyers.  Mortgage rates fell to 5% so you can bet buyers are interested in buying. 

 

Listing a house in December means a few things:

1) The house needs to be prepped 100%

2) Pricing needs to be "right on"

3) Attempt not to have Christmas as the main theme to the property

4) Get the word out that it is for sale

5) Work the listing and don't let it fall into inventory

 

Realtors are hungry this year in December and are working.  They are less interested in baking cookies and sending Christmas cards and are more interested in paying their bills.  Many agents are down 30-50% in sales this year.  Realtors run their own business and as we hear so many businesses are off from last year, so it is true with Realtors.  Many agents by November had met their personal goal for the year and let the year end with them not working.  I know of no Realtor that can take that position this year. 

 

I know as I post these listings on the MLS they will get activity and an offer.  Things are right for it to happen.

Minnesota Kids Embrace Winter

Mental attitude is how we handle winter.  Adults will talk about how cold and snowy it is and some even hide inside.  Kids are so excited about the snow some will even shovel it!

 

I live near a great hill for sledding.  Last night in the darkness yet clear sky with stars showing their bright lights, I heard the screams of their voices as they tore down the hill.  They never spoke of wind chill, but they wanted to know if they could go down again.  They will build bumps for riding over.  These kids will go down that hill so many times that they will wear the snow out.

 

I have had clients move here from such states as Kentucky and they think our winter is the best.  In Kentucky it rained, felt cold, and they were forced inside.  They soon learned that in Minnesota you can own the right winter clothing and go out and enjoy the snow and cold.  The first time they saw people walking around Lake Harriet at 10 degrees they were in shock.  Then they learned about layering and got out there and walked with them.  When they were here on their buying trip they had me stop so they could take pictures of snowmen in the front yard of houses.  They called their kids and told them what fun they would be having. 

 

Minnesota is a winter state and our kids know how to make winter go fast.  They get the jumpies when the first flakes fall.  They know how to build snow forts, jump off play sets into snow drifts,catch snow flakes on their tongues, make games out of patterns in the snow, and make the best snow angels. We must keep that youthful spirit and love winter.  If you have a sauna you can even go out and roll in the snow.

Your House on the Market and Holiday Decorating

It is a dilemma this time of year as to what to do with a house on the market and the family living in it that wants to decorate for Christmas.  I am the biggest decorator for the holidays, so I know how they feel.  I do know as a Realtor that it creates clutter and the rooms look smaller.

 

My advice is this, decorate but cut it to about a fourth of what you usually do.  Out front a wreath on the door, greens in the window boxes, and a few lights are fine.  Many buyers see houses after 4:30 PM, and we want the outside to look like it normally would look and not a landing strip for Santa.

Inside a small Christmas tree, the stockings on the fireplace mantel, and a Christmas plant are fine.  Decorations are a distraction and we want the buyer to stay focused on the property and not your collection of Christmas houses.  Do not have Christmas music playing in the background.  Our goal is to have this feel like an every day house and not a department store.  All of us need to be aware that not every buyer coming through our house believes in celebrating Christmas.  The seller can continue to celebrate their holiday, but they need not be so over the top. 

 

A knee jerk reaction by the seller would be to take the house off the market until January.  Not a good idea with the lower interest rates and buyers looking.  Think of school teachers and others who have time off during the holidays.  Their parents come to town and it is a natural to house hunt.  You want your house available for them to see.

 

Think of it this way.  If you don't put all your decorations up, then you will have less to pack up for the move.  They will already be in their boxes.

Cold Houses

Saturday I was showing houses to some buyers.  We had  1-2 inches of snow the night before and everything so pretty.  We started at 10:00  AM seeing houses and stopped at noon.  We saw 6 houses and only two were not in foreclosure and had the heat on.  We walked through unshoveled sidewalks and got our feet wet.  Going into a cold house, having wet feet, and then seeing mice run in front of us made these foreclosed houses separate quickly from the two that were owner occupied.

 

I am not sure what the banks are saving by allowing these houses to remain in distressed condition.  They stay on the market longer and sell for less.  This just destroys the value in the neighborhood.

 

I encourage all home owners to have the properties on the market warm enough that the buyers feel comfortable to spend time in the property. I know we all want to think green and save money, but a house that sits at 58 degrees and never gets any warmer, captures the cold and it almost feels better outside than inside.  When a buyer walks into one cold house after another, they don't stay in the game.  In this market it does not take much for the buyer to take their ball home or join another game. 

 

If we warm up a buyer, then they might warm up to our listing and buy it.

Reading the Newspaper

It is a lazy Sunday for many of you, and I am guessing you are reading the paper.  My concern is that you are taking everything you are reading as correct.  Not until the media impacts you personally, do you realize the errors that occur in the media.

 

Much is being written about the Federal government working to get mortgage rates to 4-4 1/2%.  That would be nice but there are no promises.  I have sellers saying they won't reduce the list price on their home until that interest rate is reached, and I have buyers who won't buy until the rate is 41/2%.

 

Here is a comparison.  Let's say one is single You get fixed up with a person and you get lucky and the blind date is wonderful.  You go out for several months and start feeling this could be the one.  As you are walking to work you see many people of the opposite sex .  They look cute and you get to thinking maybe one of them might be even better than the person you are dating.  What if they had a better sense of humor, had a nicer family, drove a sports car, or made more money?  You can  not stop wondering.  The person keeps asking for a commitment and you fail to agree to one.  One day you find out that person has moved on and committed to another.  You go months walking the streets trying to make eye contact with all those people you wondered about.  No one makes contact back.  You call up your special person and ask for a second chance.  They say sorry, I am no longer available.  It was the failure to commit and the fear that you might make the wrong decisions that had you loose out on that special person.

 

The newspaper is putting a great looking interest rate out there and we all hunger for it.  What if that rate does not happen or does not happen for a long time?  What is wrong with the 5.2% that is now on the table.  Here is that "special" interest rate waiting for you, and you a buyer won't commit to it.  I caution all of us not to ask for too much.  It was just a number of days ago that we saw an interest rate of 6.75%.  Don't let the media or friends distract you to wait.  You might have seen the perfect house, had the right buyer go through your home, and the low, present interest rate made it all so good.  Act now and be happy.  Yesterday II celebrated my 33 years of marriage,and I am happy I made the commitment and stopped looking. 

One Bite at a Time

It seems everyone dreams of a white Christmas.  It is a theme to a song, play, and movie.  Living in Mpls our chances for a white Christmas are better than those living in other states.  We say things like, "This snow puts me in the spirit of the holiday."We can get that white Christmas by a major storm or it can come inch by inch.  This year it appears we are getting it inch by inch.  The out come is the same, a white Christmas.

 

There is a lesson to be learned here.We want results, but sometimes we have to watch those results come to us in smalls pieces.  We all want the economic situation in the world to go away, but it will come to us inch by inch.  It takes great effort on the part of mother nature to blanket us with snow. She has to blow cold winds down to us, create moisture, and have everything lined up so it drops on us and does not swing to the south.  Patience and hope brings snow so a little kid can go sledding and a big kid can go snow mobiling.  There is nothing as one person we can do to make it snow. There is nothing we can do as one person to heal our economy.  We do know it will happen.

 

The economic problems in front of us are one big elephant.  Do you know how to eat an elephant?  One bite at a time.

My Happy List

We all should have a happy list.  It is a list of things that are good in tough times.  We tend to focus on the bad things in our life  and don't remember the good things.  It is that old story of the parent who catches their child doing everything wrong and never says,"Hey I just saw you do something good.  Way to go!"

 

As a lay myself down to go to sleep I am so grateful for my comfy, warm bed.  I appreciate my full belly, I know I am loved and cared for.  I wonder what it would be like to be lost on the streets cold, hungry, fearful, and so tired.  I visualize my "happy" list and know how grateful I am for the life I live.

 

Here is my list:

1) I am grateful for my husband, children, and extended family.  They let me love them too much and they love me back just enough.

2) My dog, Spirit, is high on the list as he gives me unconditional love,keeps me warm as I read, and says,"I'm sorry when I step on his paw."  I am really the person who is sorry.

3) The gardens of my property give me peace, beauty, exercise, and pride.  I am so happy when I am alone gardening and working with nature.

4) I am so happy reading.  The characters of the book become my friends ,and I am able to escape into their world.

5) I get happy preparing a meal for family or friends.  It is almost a lost art to have people over and make them feel comfortable and fed.

6) My granddaughter, Whitney, makes me happy.  She and I will read and get such joy out of the sounds animals make or the colors in her picture books.

7) I am happy with my faith. My relationship with my God is good and keeps me grounded.

8) It is fun for me to maintain our house and make it a joyful place for us.  I like to be alone in it at times and just feel my own spirit in the house.

9) My treasured college friends make me happy.  We see each other rarely, but we are there for one another constantly.

10) The last thing on my list is I am happy I know how to make myself happy.  I do not believe it is others but myself  that control my  happiness.

 

Make a list for yourself and put it on the refrigerator or your bathroom mirror.  We will never get out of this sinking pit if we don't find our happiness.

Re-finance due to lower interest rates--Wait a minute.

   

I heard on the radio today that interest rates are now in the mid 5% range and are going down even more.  That is very good news.  The commentator went onto say that it would be a good time to re-finance.  That is when I say. "Wait a minute."

 

The interest rate is a great tease to go talk to your mortgage officer.  Yet, you need to make sure the following are in place:

1) Your credit is good.  Many people who purchased in the past with a higher interest rate or an adjustable rate mortgage, or interest only mortgage did so because their credit score was not strong.

 2) Have an income that is strong enough to support the new mortgage.

 3) Have equity in the property.  If a person bought in the past with zero down and interest only, they had better been paying the mortgage down so that      there is a equity position in the property.

 4) The house will need to appraise at the value requested for the re-finance.  Again, if a person bought a house for xxx dollar and now three years later that same property is valued at less than that purchase price, the re-finance won't work.The difference would have to be made up in cash by the      owner and the re-finance would not make sense.

 5) Be prepared not to receive a cash out at re-financing.  Lenders are getting very tight on this.  This is where they got themselves in trouble several years ago. 

 6) Evaluate the real benefits of the re-finance.  In the past you could do a split 80/20 mortgage, but now that is not available.  The cost of paying private mortgage insurance might not make the re-finance worthwhile.

 

Talk to someone you trust before you jump into a plan to re-finance.  It is not the quick, solution we all hope for.

It's all a Perspective

Perspective is an interesting thing.  This morning I woke up to about an inch of snow.  I thought it was pretty and made a nice dusting to my outdoor Christmas decorations.  I took the shovel and quickly cleared the sidewalk and walkway around my house and patio.  I am serious about people walking in front of my house, the letter carrier, postal worker and my dog.  I suppose I could have let solar energy do the job, but it was a good way to work off the calories from breakfast.

 

I have been in Memphis, Tenn. in January and a snow like this closed the schools, highways, and was a large news item on the media.  The roads were a mess as no one knew how to drive in it, and they had no equipment to assist them.  They wore heavy coats and bundled themselves up like we would in 30 below weather.  Their perspective was that this was miserable and they were going to go home and wait it out. 

 

Perspective is what makes us who we are.  We can be positive or negative.  We can see the end of the tunnel or not.  We can believe tomorrow will be better or we can be fatalists.I take the positive route.  The snow came today and it will keep coming until April.  I can say this is a terrible economy or I can take the challenge and find new means to get to a positive end.  I like the man on the news last night who bought a new snow mobile even though no one was buying snow mobiles.  His answer was buying would help save the owner of the shop's livelihood.  If we can, we should do as much as we can to keep moving ahead like we used to.

 

It is our perspective that will get us through this period.  We all should be forced to see the movie, Annie.  It will drive your blood sugar up, but it will teach you that hope does get us through tough times.

Black Friday and the Housing Market

Twenty some years ago I had a person who I thought highly of as a Realtor.  Tom told me if I wanted to know how my next year was going to be in real estate, go to  the stores in December.  If people spent for Christmas,  then they had money to buy houses in the new year.  If Christmas was weak the buying season would be weak. For 22 years his theory has held true for me.  I don't know how to call it this year. 

 

They say Black Friday was up 7%.  I don't know how to gage that as so many of the stores had sales.  What was the profit line for these stores that were discounting so severely to move their inventory?

 

A lesson for sellers is to be learned here.  When the buyers felt they were getting something on sale, they bought.  They were not willing to buy at full price no matter what the reason.  So, sellers can sell if they meet the needs of the buyers.  If the buyer does not feel the seller has come down enough, no offer will come forth.

 

A lesson for buyers can be learned.  If the sellers won't put the house on"sale". then the buyer needs to make an offer that puts the house on "sale." Sellers will talk if they have someone to talk to.

 

A seller can never be insulted by an offer.  They can only be insulted by the buyers who saw their house and did not make an offer.