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Case-Shiller Index – Minneapolis Home Prices Continue to Decline
February 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment
The Case-Shiller Index is out this morning and its showing that across the country, in most markets, home prices are continuing to decline. According to the latest release, the Minneapolis area has dropped by 5.3%. That doesn’t seem so bad, but it’s still not moving in a positive direction for prices.
The best reporting on the latest Case-Shiller Index can be found at Calculated Risk.
Plymouth, MN Police Nowhere To Be Found…Again – Lights Out at Highway 55 and Fernbrook – Huge Traffic Back Up
February 17, 2011 By 4 Comments
Image via Wikipedia
I try to give people a lot of slack, but I have to say, I am continually disappointed with the Plymouth, MN police department’s lack of responsiveness to traffic issues. They certainly are on the job when they want to do a sting to get speeding drivers (not that I have been caught), but when there are traffic lights “not working” during rush hour, rarely can they be found directing traffic.
Having spent lots of time in San Francisco, New York and Chicago, when a light goes out, the cops are on it. Usually in a matter of moments a squad car shows up and the officers get out and start getting traffic moving. That doesn’t happen here in Plymouth, MN – once named the Best Small City in America to Live in 2008 – but not to drive!
Perhaps the issue is that the lights are out on Highway 55 at Fernbrook and there is a dispute between the Minnesota State Highway Patrol and the City of Plymouth as to who’s responsibility it is to show up and get traffic moving. Either way, their lack of response is unbelievably poor.
It’s not like the police are tied up in fighting criminals in this city. Maybe moving traffic through the city isn’t their responsibility. I don’t know, but it would seem to me to be a pretty important task to make sure traffic moves through the city during rush hour. Clearly they do not agree.
Over and over again, when the light go out on Highway 55 in Plymouth, MN the cops are no where to be found.
Oh, and lastly, when I called the Plymouth, MN police department to report that the lights were out, traffic was at a virtual stand still because the lights weren’t working. The office asked me, “are you sure the lights aren’t working? We have received reports that they are flashing red.” Okay, that’s a technicality. To the average driver, the lights aren’t working when they are flashing red during rush hour. She said the State Patrol and the Plymouth police have been made aware of the issue. Oh good…I’m glad you’re on it guys. I hope you don’t respond this way during a life threatening situation. I guess it’s okay to just waste thousands of peoples’ time because you can’t get a squad car to that intersection.
Imagine the service you can expect if and when they have to start cutting the police departments budget.
Next time a light is out in Plymouth, don’t bother to call to report it. They will already know about it and they aren’t coming to help.
Rant for the day.
Case-Shiller Index: Minneapolis Home Prices Declined by 4.4% Year Over Year – November 2010
January 25, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Case-Shiller Index was out today once again with another depressing and distressing report on home prices across the U.S. All those calling for a double dip in home prices a few months seem to have been correct. Home prices are continuing to trend downward once again except – guess – cities in California – San Francisco, LA, and San Diego. California real estate is different.
Minneapolis continues its lackluster performance. We aren’t one of the worst cities for housing troubles, but by no means are we one of the cities showing shines that we will lead the way out of this. Minnesota has been a great place to live, work and raise a family, but I’m not so sure that the state’s model of high taxes and regulation will work in the new global era that is rising out of this present financial crisis. If you were a big employer, do you really want to expand here? Where will the growth in jobs come from? I’m afraid Minnesotan’s are going to rest on their laurels and think we’ve got it great, so there’s little reason to change the way we do business in this state.
The state has a large, diverse employer base so it’s not like it’s going to go the way of places like Michigan and Ohio, but there’s not dynamic growth either. I mean why would anyone really move to Minnesota unless they were from here, they have family here, or they are being relocated here because of their job. The weather is poor and the costs are high. What’s the incentive to start or grow your business here?
Without massive job growth, the Minneapolis area housing market is going to remain stuck in the mud like it is now.
Enough of my opinion. Below is the chart showing how each of the 20 cities fared during the past 12 months.
(Click on the graph to enlarge)
Case-Shiller Index November 2010 Released 1-25-11
Those calling for a bottom in the housing market in 2011 may be right…at least we know the bottom was not in 2010!
Video – John Murphy on Pricing Your Home Properly
January 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Here’s a 3 minute video I created regarding pricing in today’s market. The biggest challenge everyone faces – sellers and their agents – is the tendency to overprice. In this market, it can be a killer. I know everyone wants to get the most they can for their homes, but pricing it higher doesn’t not mean you will do better than if you price it more aggressively and list it even slightly under the present true market value. In a flat to falling market, if your home is overpriced, each day that goes by your home is even more overpriced.
2010 Home Sales – Weakest Since 1997 – Signs of Improvement in December
January 20, 2011 By Leave a Comment
2010 was a tough year for real estate sales. Everyone knows that. Sales of existing homes fell to a 13 year low in 2010 dropping 4.8% compared to 2009. Total units sold were 4.91 million. However, despite the poor results, the year ended with some signs of hope.
Sales in December ran at a 5.28 million annualized rate and increased by 12.8% over November. That’s a nice increase especially since December is normally slower than November.
The median price of a home sold in December was $168,000 down only 1% from last year.
Plymouth, MN 2010 Real Estate Sales Statistics
January 14, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Plymouth, MN appears to be faring pretty well compared to some of the other suburbs in the Twin Cities.
Closed Sales: down 9%
Median Home Price: $249,450 down 1.3%
Average Home Price: $282,987 down 2.7%
Days on Market until sale: 113 down 15.6%
(Click on image to enlarge)
Plymouth, MN Dec 2010 - Year End Stats
Click here for Plymouth, MN 2010 real estate stats.
Minneapolis Area Western Suburbs – Real Estate Sales 2010 Review
January 14, 2011 By Leave a Comment
As noted in the previous post, the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors is out with all of the year end data. My plan is to post city by city results this afternoon.
The most important metric to measure the overall health of a real estate market is closed sales. Below is a look at closed sales activity for various cities in the western suburbs in Minneapolis. (If I am missing a city that you are looking for, you should be able to find it here). Below please find the city as well as the number of closed transactions in 2010 and the percentage that it is up or down in terms of closed transactions compared to 2009. (This IS NOT showing pricing appreciation or depreciation).
Plymouth: 765 down 9.0%
Maple Grove: 913 down 7.2%
Medina: 46 down 20.7%
St. Louis Park: 507 down 25%
Edina: 645 down .3%
Eden Prairie: 662 down 14.5%
West Bloomington: 796 down 11.6%
Hopkins: 180 down 8.6%
Lake Minnetonka Area: 737 up 4.7%
Corcoran: 35 down 12.5%
Golden Valley: 192 down 24%
Minneapolis: 4319 down 27.1%
It appears the center city (Minneapolis) and the first ring suburbs are REALLY struggling right now when it comes to getting closed sales. That’s a sign prices are still too high and many of these areas have already seen pretty big drops in pricing.
10 Simple Fixes to Get Your Home Ready for Sale
January 8, 2011 By Leave a Comment
This little list below will sound like common sense to many, but missing some of these details can turn off potential buyers believe it or not.
1) Clean your house thoroughly…as best you can, make them think they are walking in to an upscale hotel room…including dusting the tops of your door jams
2) Caulk – check the bathrooms, showers, countertops and floors…if it looks a little grungy, scrape it out and re-caulk
3) Replace any burned out or missing light bulbs
4) Tighten all loose door handles
5) Outlet covers – if they are cracked, replace them. They cost about 25-30 cents each. If the white screws are scratched up either paint them or replace them
6) Wipe dawn all of the shelving in the kitchen cabinets as well as the drawers – you can’t believe how many times I’ve been in a home where this has not been done
7) Leaky or rusty looking faucets…replace them
8) Laundry room – make sure this is neat, tidy and fresh. It has a bigger impact that you think on buyers.
9) Clean your closets – get rid of 50% of the clothing if you can and store it off site if possible. Don’t jam up the basement or garage filled with boxes. That will give the prospective buyer the sense that you don’t have enough room in the house…and therefore they might not have enough room in the house either. While you’re dealing with closets, you may want to put a sheet of Bounce or some type of laundry freshener in the closets to make them smell great!
10) Paint – a fresh coat of paint on walls is the biggest bang for the buck you can get when getting a home ready to sell. If you have scuffed up walls and you can’t wash them down, paint it.
Home Selling Tips – Caulk…Everything!
January 4, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Okay, do you want to know a simple tip that can help your home look like it’s been well maintained? Try a tube of caulk. Are the showers caulked well? Are they showing signs of wear and tear…are they looking mildewy? It’s time to scrape out the old caulk and replace it with fresh white caulk. It takes a little practice, but here’s a little video where the contractor provides a minute demonstration on caulking a bath.
A simple clean bead of caulk make kitchen back splashes, countertops, baths and floors look great. It also keeps water from getting behind there causing more headaches.