Looking to Sell Your Home?
November 20, 2008 by Steve Hong
Filed under Sellers
We’re experiencing some serious pangs here in the Minneapolis real estate market as, of course, are most markets around the country. As a result, it’s a great time to buy a house, but it’s not such a good time to sell a house. The market is soft, and people are tightening their belts. In addition to that, it’s almost winter time in Minnesota, and house sales tend not to be as robust during this season.
However, if you are thinking of selling your Minneapolis house, you needn’t despair. Just because it’s not the opportune time to sell doesn’t meant you shouldn’t sell your home.
If you are looking to sell your home, there is one major factor you have to keep in mind: In tough times like this, you have to have the best possible priced house in your competitive market. There are a plethora of houses available with less and less people buying, so your house has to shine.
Simply put, your house has to be priced competitively with other houses being sold in your neighborhood. Your heart my tell you that your house is priceless while your mind may tell you that since you paid x amount of dollars for it, it should be worth y amount of dollars this many years later. Both of these responses are natural, but the truth is, your house is worth as much as the market will bear.
To that end, you have to decide a timeframe for selling your Minneapolis house. If you have to sell your home quickly and it’s not in tip-top shape, you will have to lower the asking price accordingly. If, however, you have a more flexible timeline for selling your house, you can use that time to update your home by buying new appliances, painting faded walls, or, if you’re a bit more ambition, put in a new kitchen. The more updated your house is, the higher you can price it.
Here are some articles we’ve written to aid people in selling their homes.
The bottom line is that you CAN sell your home in a down period; you just have to make sure the price is right.
HPDL Minneapolis Real Estate Market in Review, 2008 Y-T-D
November 6, 2008 by Steve Hong
Filed under Featured, Market Trends
Minneapolis Real Estate Market Update
As you know, the Minneapolis real estate market for 2007 was in flux. America, as a whole, was experiencing what felt like a recession, even if it didn’t fit the technical definition of the term. The fundamentals of the economy may or may not have been strong, but the housing market began to slow down.
What you may not know, however, is that the housing market in the Hale Page Diamond Lake (HPDL) Minneapolis neighborhood experienced a comeback of sorts in 2008, after taking the expected hit in 2007. Of course, it is November of 2008, so we don’t have data for the full year, but here’s what we know for the first three quarters of 2008.
The average price of a home sold in the HPDL area rose from $274,000 in January, 2008, to $286,000 in September. That’s an increase of 4%. In addition, the average days on market (DOM) decreased from 102 days in January to 94 days in September. Finally, the percentage of list price to sales price stayed roughly the same throughout the year at 93%. In other words, on average, people received ninety-three person of what they originally wanted for their homes.
