We Tell it Like It Is

Hot off the presses, we just received our July/August issue of "The Realtor" which provides agents with up-to-date information specific to our job. I thought I'd share some interesting and valuable info. from Mark Allen, CEO of the Minneapolis Area Assoc. of Realtors, on the state of the housing market as of May 2008:

Are we experiencing a "recovering market"? No. HOWEVER...It is projected that the Twin Cities will experience the long-awaited recovery in stages and we have been experiencing "Stage 1". It is believed that the Twin Cities has finally hit rock bottom in the housing market and there's nowhere left to go but up.

Some indicators that are telling us we are experiencing "Stage 1" of recovery:

--The amount of homes newly listed for sale this year is down 16.2%. This means our problem of too much inventory and not enough buyers will hopefully begin to disappear. This was a major factor in getting us to the market we're in right now.

--It appears that the amount of homes selling in 2008 could be close to even with 2007 which means the decline in buyer activity is starting to slow down and begin a U turn.

Still good news for buyers, sad news for sellers:  There are 8 homes on the market for every buyer right now. This means buyers still have a lot to choose from and sellers still have a lot to compete with. The average sales price is down 12.9% this year, so this means buyers are still getting great deals and sellers are still taking it up the ying yang. Sellers are receiving 92.6% of the amount of money they listed their home for when it sells.

Mortgage rates are still good (they were 6.375% a few days ago for most loans) and there are SO many programs out there for first time homebuyers. NOW IS THE TIME TO BUY. This market will be disappearing before we know it!