We Tell it Like It Is

10. People that have their home up for sale but consistently turn down showings because its inconvenient for them.

9. When you FINALLY get a showing for the properties like I described above (after numerous requests) and the house is total crap. All the fuss over THAT?!

8. Real estate agents that are too busy to return phone calls.

7. Buyers freaking out and that go out of their way to request showings of homes from me and then don't return my calls when I try and set up times w/them.

6. Listing agents that don't tell their sellers that my buyers & I are coming and we show up on a Sunday morning unannounced while theyt are still in bed & get yelled at for it.

5. Sellers that think their homes are worth $75,000 more than they really are and I'm the one that's wrong about the price, not them.

4. Parents that tell their kids (my clients) that the $150,000 home they want w/a remodeled kitchen, new roof/windows/furnace and 3,000 sq. ft in the middle of Edina should really be priced at $50,000 and they're getting ripped off.

3. Agents that walk into a house for a showing w/their clients while I'm already in the house with my buyers and they yell "Hello? Realtor here!". They see our shoes & my briefcase on the floor in the entryway. Apparently, its not obvious to them that there is another showing & they keep yelling until I leave my clients & formally welcome them into a home that's not my listing.

2. Sellers that want a mint for their home but don't bother picking up their dirty underwear when they know buyers are coming through.

1. Homes that have dolls on display that consist of human bodies w/animal heads. These are present in about 25% of the homes I show. There is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING cute about those dolls.

Ok, to be fair, I love my job and need to do a top 10 of what I love:

10.  The tax credit

9.  Seeing some pretty cool & weird houses

8.  Having mornings & days free

7.  The variety; every day is different

6.  Working in my p.j.s (NOT on showings, of course)

5.  The market finally shifting

4.  Hanging out w/former clients

3.  Working w/my husband

2.  Always meeting new people & making new friends

1.  Making people's dreams come true :)

For the third consecutive month, home prices in the Twin Cities 13-county metropolitan area showed a year-over-year increase. We haven’t seen three consecutive months of progressively increasing year-over-year growth since June 2004.

The March median sales price of $165,000 was a healthy 7.1 percent increase from $154,125 last March. That’s the strongest year-over-year increase since May 2005. Part of the reason for the stronger upward movement is that a lower share of home sales are foreclosures as compared to last March.

There were 5,051 signed purchase agreements in March, an increase of 14.6 percent from a year ago. The spring market continues to have a flurry of activity as we approach the April 30 deadline for the federal home buyer tax credit. Home sales are expected to continue to increase as buyers move to take advantage of this substantial market incentive.

This increased buyer activity has brought inventory down and restored some sense of equilibrium to the market. April’s supply-demand ratio of 4.39 means that there are 4.39 homes available per buyer for the month. In March 2008, that mark was 8.16. While the rate of inventory decline has been slowing in recent months, supply and demand is far more balanced than it was two years ago. This is a critical sign that the market is correcting oversupply.

"The oversupply issue has corrected in much of our market, and that has led to price stabilization," said MAAR President-Elect, Pat Paulson. "This provides reason for cautious optimism."

This came yesterday *hot off the presses* from the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors based on stats that they track on a month to month, year to year basis. Does this sound to you like things are getting WORSE in the real estate market?? To those "experts" who don't work in real estate but seem to know a helluva lot more than the rest of us about real estate markets & trends for some reason: I'd LOVE to know what are YOU are basing your "the market has yet to hit rock bottom" theory on!!

Wow guys--the market is changing before our very eyes. Talk to any home buyer right now that has submitted an offer or two on a house recently, and they'll tell you its really competitive right now. The "crazy deals" that home buyers are expecting are not happening, man!

1) Everyone's home values have plummeted. Many homes are worth $30,000+ less than they were 3-5 yrs ago. Sellers that are selling right now and doing so because they NEED to. No one is selling for the sake of making $. Trust me.

2) THEREFORE...when the sellers are listing their homes, they are listing them at rock bottom prices. Home owners have been given a strong dose of reality by their real estate agents and have learned that they will be lucky to break even on the sale.

Buyers, what does this mean? The list price is ALREADY a deal, people. Home values have no other way to go but back up. SO, if you buy now, you will be able to resell it someday for a lot more.

If you submit a lowball offer ($20,000 or more under list price) and are not willing to move up in price, you will be shot down quickly.

Buyers, you need to make up your mind: do you like the house or are you just looking to get a good deal? If its the latter, then move out of the way and let the serious buyers in.