Twin Cities Home Sellers Doing the Happy Dance

Market snapshot: This is a very difficult market for buyers, especially in the lower price tiers as the theme of low inventory coupled with high demand endures. As inventory levels continue to shrink, it is becoming really tough to buy a home, especially for first-time buyers and downsizing boomers. Nevertheless, they persist.

So far, buyers, even faced with the shortage of available homes, rising prices and increased mortgage interest rates have not been deterred. Heading into spring, which is the strongest real estate season of the year, begs the question of how much inventory will we see in the market and will the increased cost of buying a home temper buyer demand. As long as job numbers and economic factors remain strong, buyer confidence should remain high and continue to fuel the demand for housing.

For the week ending March 11th and 18th, we see a decline in inventory and a decline in pending sales. This may be a signal that buyers are dropping out of the market but based on those 2 weeks statistics it is too early to say.  We are seeing a decline in the gap of new listings compared to last year as the month progresses so it may just be indicative of a more traditional onset of the spring market whereas last year it was acting like spring even though we were still slogging...

That All Important First Impression

It’s well established that a first introduction is vitally important. That initial handshake can either lead to a meeting of the minds, or to no deal. “I hope I make a bad first impression,” said no one ever!  In real estate, we see this play out again and again.

When you are selling, the first personal impression when a buyer tours your home is like the handshake. If they don’t like what they see pulling up to the curb, walking into the lobby, or opening the front door, the cash register is going to ring up “no sale”.

Although a good first impression of your home may not always end up in making a deal, it is always the first step into getting to that important offer to purchase.  Here are 10 ways to make a great first impression on prospective buyers.

1. Get Buyers To See Your Home

Today, most real estate transactions are born on the internet. The first interaction a prospective buyer has with your house is online. If there is no connection with them in those first photos, it’s extremely unlikely to go to the next step with a private showing. Make sure you have an agent that takes quality photos of your property, preferably professional ones. ...

With April just around the corner, our thoughts turn to spring. For many, spring not only signals the onset of warm weather, flowers, and birdsong but heralds the time to sweep out the winter detritus from hearth and home, otherwise known as Spring Cleaning. The first logical step in the process is removing all that stuff you really don’t want, don’t need, or never use, your clutter.

For those of you preparing to sell your home this spring, an absolute must for you is to take your cluttered chaos and turn it into organized harmony , but even if you are staying put, what better way to start the new season than with a home free of extra stuff to get in the way of your feng shui. Now that you are sold on the idea of paring down and organizing, there are a couple ways to approach the process of organizing your home.

• the intense weekend (or two) decluttering boot camp
• the series of multiple shorter de-junking sessions

Personally, since I am not a fan of pain and suffering, I prefer the “take-it-in-smaller-bites” process. Keep in mind, regardless of whether you opt for the intense program or the low impact version, you still...