First Time Home Buyers, For Home buyers
by Teresa Boardman, on 19 April 2012

The weather this spring isn't normal. My lilac bushes should not be in full bloom.
The spring real estate market is more "normal" than it has been the last couple of years. First time home buyers seem to be out in full force which used to happen when the lilacs bloomed.
Home buyers love to look at all of those pretty web sites with real estate listed on them and I totally understand I like to look at them myself but buyers need to know that just because they saw it on the internet doesn't mean it is true.. .unless you found it on this web site.
I found one web site that shows 2441 homes for sale in St. Paul which is nice but right now there are only 1144 on the market and over 240 of those have contingent offers on them. There maybe some homes on the market not listed in the MLS but the number is not nearly large enough to account for 1400 homes for sale. Part of the problem is boundaries. The large national sites tend to include surrounding suburbs and call the St. Paul because they don't know any better and it doesn't matter to them.
There are web sites with accurate data on them. The most accurate sites are those of the local brokerages, agents and even the local newspapers. Sadly they are not as pretty as the national sites and you won't find homes for sale in say Utah.
Broker reciprocity means that each brokerage can have everyones listings on their web site. That means that if you find a listing on the home search on my web site it may not be my listing but that doesn't mean I can't help you buy it and you will find my listings on the Edina Realty web site and on all the local brokerage sites. That is what broker reciprocity is all about. When a seller lists a home every agent in the area can sell it.
I was looking at one national type web site this morning and right next to a home listed in St. Paul some "expert" agents were pictured. I read their bio and they specialize in: "Excelsior, 55331, Chanhassen, Minnetonka, Victoria, Eden Prairie, Chaska, Hopkins, Bloomington, 55364, Plymouth, Maple Grove, Waconia, Saint Louis Park, Golden Valley, Edina, Minneapolis, 55359, 55356, 55391, Saint Paul" Really? Believe me when I say an agent can not keep up on market conditions in all of those areas are understand each neighborhood.
If you are looking for an agent that knows St. Paul your best bet is me because I write the St. Paul Real Estate Blog and I am with Saint Paul Home Realty and I live in St. Paul. I don't think I could find Hopkins without my GPS but does that really matter?
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