FHA-insured loans have become increasingly popular, especially among borrowers who have little cash on hand for a down payment. Currently, about half of all borrowers use FHA-backed loans.
According to a recent Reuters report, the FHA will require borrowers with a credit score below 580 to make a down payment of at least five percent on a home purchase. And while that might not affect many buyers ...
As an Accredited Staging Professional® Realtor, I’m often asked for tips to help prepare a home for sale. Many homeowners are surprised when I tell them that the most successful staging involves subtracting from, not adding to, the property.
The number one tip is to declutter. You want buyers to focus on the home’s selling points, not your “stuff.” ...
Take a front row seat at a small venue seminar explaining why today might be one of the best times ever to be a move up home buyer. Invest less than 1 hour digging into what the numbers are indicating and how waiting until now to move up, may have saved you $10's of thousands of dollars! Join me at 7:00 PM on Thursday, January 21, in the RE/MAX Results office located at 2605 Campus Drive. Seminar ...
January is radon awareness month, so I am reminding friends and clients about this issue in their homes, schools and workplaces. Please take a few minutes to check out the blog I have created to help inform and educate people about this danger. If you find the blog helpful, feel free to forward it to your friends and family.
Let me know if you any questions at all!
Take care,
Don ...
The trend towards walkable neighborhoodsappears to be continuing. Data collected from various websites, indicate in most markets studied, home values fell the least (held up the best) in concentric circles closer to the city center. The New Urbanists movement argues that "walkability" lowers crime--good people on the streets chase away the bad guys--and improves the quality of life. ...
According to the recently-released Housing Supply Outlook for January, there are only 2.6 months of inventory in the price segment $120K and under. The market is considered balanced at five months of inventory; fewer than five months, and it’s a seller’s market.
But is it truly a seller’s market? Typically, a shortage of supply causes an increase in prices because sellers can charge ...
It is hard to imagine another year with more and more homes going into foreclosure, and eventually either becoming a Short Sale or ending up as a Bank Owned (REO) home. While there hasn't been, and may not be a "tidal wave" of new bank owned homes hitting the market, as many expected. A slow steady drip of distressed inventory will be a reality in 2010. While it is an unfortunate ...
A rule of thumb in the real estate industry is that the market is balanced at five months of inventory. “Balanced” basically means neither a buyer’s market nor a seller’s market. When there are more than five months of inventory, it’s a buyer’s market; fewer than five months, it’s a seller’s market.
The just-released January monthly market outlook from ...
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 ...
"My house never looked better than the day I put it on the market!" Preparing your home for the market is critical. Gone are the days of just putting a for sale sign in the yard and watching buyers line up. Removing as many potential buyer objections as possible before going on market is essential. Never spend more than 10% of your home's worth preparing it for the market. ...