Marc Faber is quoted as saying gold isn’t ever going below $1,000 again. Wow. This sounds an awful lot like what people said during the dotcom bubble, the housing bubble, and the oil bubble.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information, please contact:
John Murphy, RE/MAX Results
763-443-9821 | www.JohnMurphyReports.com
Local Real Estate Agent and Publisher, John Murphy, Provides Free Information Resource to Twin Cities Homeowners Facing Financial Hardships
New Web site presents options for homeowners confronted by the possibility of foreclosure.
PLYMOUTH, MN – November 19, 2009 – Local real estate agent John Murphy of RE/MAX Results and www.JohnMurphyReports.com, today announced the creation of a new information Web site for Twin Cities homeowners in distress. The new site @ www.JohnMurphyHelps.com contains vital facts about the options available to these homeowners, to help them make the educated decisions about their future.
“I developed this site out my concern for struggling homeowners,” Murphy said. “When faced with the possibility of foreclosure, I’ve seen too many homeowners make poor choices, even walking away from their homes without calling their lender or a real estate agent. These people didn’t know the options available, or even how to find any information on their situation. It’s estimated that 70% of people in foreclosure do not make contact with anyone who may be able to help them. I want to change that.”
Murphy further states, “homeowners in distress need to know their options to be able to make informed decisions. There are often other options besides just letting the home go to foreclosure.”
www.JohnMurphyHelps.com acts as a hub for information on the facts and issues for struggling homeowners, putting all the necessary information in one, easy-to-use location. The information and materials located on the site are regularly updated to reflect market changes, trends, new lender requirements, and industry updates.
Alex Charfen, co-founder and CEO of the Distressed Property Institute in Austin, Texas, said that more than seven out of 10 homeowners in foreclosure proceed without any visible assistance.
“Agents with the Certified Distressed Property Expert® designation are helping distressed homeowners understand that there may be options available to them,” Charfen said. “John Murphy has been trained to help homeowners avoid foreclosure, and this Web site resource to educate the community is a commendable public service.”
The CDPE designation provides real estate professionals with specific understanding of the complex issues confronting the real estate industry. Through comprehensive training and experience, CDPEs are able to provide solutions for homeowners facing hardships in today’s market.
For more information about CDPE Designation, visit www.cdpe.com.
We had our annual market update meeting with Broker/Owner, John Collopy, RE/MAX Results. John is very unique in his delivery and style. It’s too bad there weren’t more people like him in the real estate brokerage business. He tells it like it is!
One of the items we were reviewing was some macro demographic information. Consider this…there are about 35 million people in the “mature” category – say 65 years or older. There are about 80 million Baby Boomers, the oldest of whom are just now approaching retirement age. The next generation moving up behind the Boomers is Gen X. They represent about 48 million people.
Let’s do the math…80 million people need to sell to 48 million people. Does anyone see a problem with this? Oh…oh, but the Gen Y’s will bail us out. Really? Gen Y represents 74 million people and they are just coming of age to be home buyers. But they aren’t interested in buying the Baby Boomers 4000-5000 square foot 5 BR, 4 BA, 3 Car Garage 2 story walkout home in the suburbs. Gen Y is likely going to want to live closer in and they certainly don’t want to buy a big showy house.
Gen X cannot absorb the homes that the Baby Boomers will be selling. To put it another way, it’s likely to be years of sluggish home sales of these bigger properties in the 2nd ring suburbs throughout America. In fact, with that big of a gap between the Boomers, the Xers and then the Yers, it may never come back to what it once was.
There are currently 17 properties in foreclosure in Medina, MN right now. The mortgage or judgement value is over $15.5 million. These properties are houses and vacant land or lots. Properties are in foreclosure in several neighborhoods including Wild Meadows, Bridgewater, Medina Highlands, North Ridge Farm, and Belle Terra.
Of course the biggest home in foreclosure is Denny Hecker’s. TCF Bank is on the hook for $5.2 million on this one.
To receive the list of foreclosures click the link for Medina Foreclosures.
St. Louis Park, MN has always been a healthy real estate market in the Twin Cities. It has become a very attractive place particularly for younger people who want to purchase their first home but live close to Minneapolis. The typical home in St. Louis Park is a 1.5 story home with 3 bedrooms and 1.5 baths. They tend to cost about $225,000.
The Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors recently published the latest home sales data for St. Louis Park, MN through October 2009. Closed sales increased by 6% while the median and average prices declined by 6 and 8% respectively. On average, it’s taking 118 days to get a home under contract in St. Louis Park.
Medina, MN has seen closed home sales transactions increase 23% year over year through October. So far this year 48 homes have closed whereas last year it was only 39. I believe the main reason closed sales activity has increased because prices have dropped by 10% compared to one year ago. This is a consistent pattern that we see throughout the Twin Cities. Prices drop by 10-20% and sales start increasing! Imagine that!
2009 YTD through October:
Median Sales Price: $582,500 (-10.4%)
Average Sales Price: $616,105 (-10.2%)
Average Days on Market: 209 (-8.7%)
Percent of Original Price Received at Sale: 89.6% (-1.6%)
Click the link for Medina, MN Home Sales statistics found at the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors site.
In 2006-2007 the median and average sales prices in Medina consistently were in the $800,000 – $850,000 range.
The reality is that there have been few sales in Wild Meadows this year where it’s difficult to purchase a home under $800,000. In Foxberry Farms, it was common to see several sales each year in the upper $700,000′s as well as in to the $800,000′s. There have even been a few $900,000′s, but not this year. In Bridgewater, homes used to consistently sell for between $850,000 -$950,000 but now it seems they have to go to the upper $600,000′s to mid $700,000′s to sell. Medina Highlands is a beautiful luxury townhome community in Medina. They used to sell in the upper $500,000′s to mid $600,000′s but now they appear to be selling in the mid $400,000′s to very low $500,000′s.
With more new construction competition coming from the likes of Pulte Homes’ Elm Creek Highlands development located in the Wayzata School District, this is likely to continue to keep the pricing pressure on homes in Medina.
This is a classic battle between homeowners, associations and city councils as reported in this Reuters story. Apparently it’s also now getting the “green” movement involved as well as a reaction to the slowing economy and financial difficulties many people are facing.
I believe that in most neighborhoods in Plymouth and Medina that have been built in the past 10 years, you cannot hang your laundry out to dry on clothes lines. I know that’s the case with Foxberry Farms.
I posted this over at Twin Cities Foreclosure Blog. There’s an excellent link explaining the foreclosure process in Minnesota.
