Welcome to Our Blog - October, 2010

Fall Market Forecast

Posted by The Group on October 28th, 2010

Reports of the Upper Bracket housing market’s death are greatly exaggerated.

Mark Twain uttered a similar refrain when the New York Journal published his obituary a bit prematurely. It seems that the same has been done for the upper bracket housing market in a recent Star Tribune article titled “Buyer’s Market” (October 28, 2010).  Click here 

It is true that this is a buyer’s market. Yes, home sellers have been reducing list prices. Yet the upper bracket segment of the market is faring better than the rest of the market.

The Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors recently published statistics comparing the periods October 2008-September 2009 with October 2009-September 2010. This report offers the first chance to see how the housing market…

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Demystifying the MLS

Posted by The Group on October 7th, 2010

As in all things Internet, when it comes to real estate there is good information and there is bad information. Some consumers are being misled into thinking they are looking at “the source” of all things real estate--the MLS.

We get the occasional call from our sellers and buyers, mild panic in their voices, asking why their home or the one they are searching for isn’t on the MLS. After we login to the database of our Regional Multiple Listing Service – NorthstarMLS, and conduct their same search, invariably we find the home they are searching for. What went awry?

They were searching the likes of Joe-Bob-Realtor.com, theMLSminnesota.com, or SuperCoolHomesMN.com (fictitious names to protect the innocent).

The Facts

Consumers do NOT have…

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Spring into Fall!

Posted by The Group on October 4th, 2010

With the beautiful Fall weather we are enjoying, and with the Minnesota Twins chance to make it past the first round of the playoffs, it is a good time to take stock of your home’s condition and prepare it for the Fall Real Estate Market.

If your home is on the market, there a few simple things that you can do to make sure your home remains in great showing condition. Here a few ideas:

Window washing: If you live in an old home like I did, every fall we had to switch the screens for the storms on the home. It is a perfect opportunity to wash the windows, whether by Windex sprayer at the end or your hose, or professionally. Making a first impression is important, and you would be surprised how dirt on the windows cuts down on the light in a home.…

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