January is a great time to write about how well our Minnesota Realtors are doing.  This is the time of year when people decide to be come real estate agents. This is the time of year when they call and ask questions.    

First off let me point out that a Realtor is a member of the National Association of Realtors and that is it possible to be a real estate agent and not a member of the association.  A real estate agent in this context is a someone with a real estate license. It is that license that allows us to work on behalf of others for a fee.

In 2001 there were 14,230 Realtors in Minnesota.  Durning the peak of the real estate boom in 2006 there were 25,429 Realtors.   In 2011 we had 15,892 agents which is still way to many.  There were more home sales in 2001 than there were in 2011 and home prices were about the same both years. 

Minnesota Realtors

There is always churning.  Most of us are self employed independent contractors.  There were people who became Realtors in 2011 and people who left.  The failure rate is very high.  When the unemployment rate goes up people decide to become Realtors and some of them succeed.  Being in 100% commissioned sales is something that most people never experience and even if it doesn't work out it is a learning opportunity like no other. 

Getting a real estate license is easy and once licensed an agent can join the National Association of Realtors by paying dues.  

When choosing an agent experience matters.  An agent with no experience will  charge the same amount as an agent with decades of experience.  Real estate companies give agents training but they are on their own, real estate companies do not sell real estate. [see The Truth About real estate companies]  

Also see How Many Realtors in Minnesota?

 The holidays are over and it is time to get back to work or at the very least to get back to buying houses and reading my blog.   I can tell when there are a lot of people taking the day off because blog traffic goes way down.  My apologies if reading my blog is work.  Some of our listings got a decent amount of traffic last week which is unusual for the last week in December.  I am guardedly optimistic that the housing market will not be the catastrophy in 2012 that it has been for the last few years. (I can say anything I want about the housing market because I am not running for office and I do not work for any of the boards of Realtors) 

I do not have any  numbers yet but we may have hit a ten year low for the number of homes that are on the market.   That means that buyers will have fewer choices but  we can count on more homes going on the market in January. . . wait for it . . 

35 E West of downtown St. Paul  

I took the picture almost two years ago but I checked and it all looks the same.

*not the first day back for me because I have been here all along

This is one of the biggest shopping days of the year but if you are shopping for a house there aren't many on the market in some price ranges. There are only about 1115 homes on the market in St. Paul that that don't have offers on them.  This has to be a new low.  

I have buyers who are looking for a home and I am having trouble finding the right home.  There are plenty of smaller fixer uppers and a lot of small homes on the market but not very many larger homes.  Lower priced homes have been the hottest sellers this year.  Buyers that are looking for larger homes, more expensive homes or homes in neighborhoods with lower foreclosure rates will need to be patient and sellers who need to sell should consider taking advantage of the situation and putting their home on the market soon instead of waiting until spring. 

The big real estate news story today is that pending home sales were up in October.  Here is a lead in to the story that Realty Times magazine posted today

"Pent-up demand could finally be working its way through the market. Pending home sales rose sharply in October according to the National Association of Realtors." See Pending Sales Rise

The number of pending home sales is a measure of the health of the real estate market.  The sale is pending after all the paperwork has been signed by both parties but before the sale has closed.  They do not all close but when pending sales go up so do sales.

The important fact that is missing from the news story is that pending sales were lower in 2010 than they were in 2009, or 2008, or 2007 . . and I suspect I could have gone back further.   Pending home sales for November are lower than they were for October but that is a seasonal thing.

The report is accurate pending sales did rise sharply over what they were in October of 2010 and that holds true for pending home sales for most if not all months since then once they are seasonally adjusted because that was the low. 

Good news

If I were to put a spin on the big news story of the day it would be that the housing market is a disaster but at least it isn't has bad as it was in October of 2010.  

 Federal mortgage giant Fannie Mae is temporarily suspending foreclosure evictions on single family and 2-4 unit residential properties during the holiday season.

During the suspension from Dec. 19 to Jan. 2, legal and administrative proceedings for evictions may continue, but people living in those foreclosed properties will be permitted to remain in the home, according to a news release from the agency.

Several major banks are following suit including Wells Fargo.   After the holidays banks will continue on their never ending mission to own the most real estate while at the same time raising fees to consumers. 

The tree in the Wells Fargo building - Downtown St. Paul

Have you seen your Ramsey County proposed property tax statement for 2012 yet?  Chances are your property taxes went up this year.  We got an increase of 8.1%.  The county assessor decided that our property value is the same as it was last year.

If you own property in Minnesota chances are your property taxes went up even if your home value went down.   Part of the increase is due to a change the State of Minnesota made to get a budget passed last summer.  The state needed to cut spending which they did by reducing the amount of money they use to off set some of our property taxes. It is a taxation shell game and is designed to be too complicated and convoluted for tax payers to understand.

There is a video on the MPR web site that explains the increase and Ramsey county is referencing the video as their explanation too which makes sense because we all trust MPR.   The state switched from the Homestead Market Value Credit to the Homestead Market Value Exclusion.  

This evening at 6:30 PM there is a public meeting/open house to discuss proposed 2012 budgets and proposed 2012 property taxes. You are invited to attend this meeting to express your opinion regarding the proposed budget and levy.  The hearing will be held at Roseville Area High School Cafeteria 1240 County Road B2, Roseville, MN [details and map]

The hearings are a hoot and there are several of them.  Angry tax payers will complain about everything under the sun and some of it even has to do with taxes.  When the complaining is done the proposed property taxes will become the property taxes, due in October and May of each year.  

The property tax statement itself has a lot of information on it and is worth a read. 

Schmidt's Brewery

The old Schmidt's brewery has a rich history and every five years or so a new developer comes along with plans for the place.  This time it might all work out as the Fort Road Federation is the developer and they have a track record for getting the job done if it can be done.   The project is being called the Schmidt artist lofts. 

The federation is redeveloping the space into  220 to 250 artists lofts.  The plan is to make high-end, oversized and affordable rental units. There will also be some retail space and office space in what is being called an artists complex.  The project will  create jobs but it is likely that the people and companies who will get them already know who they are.   According to the Federation's web site this is a 25 million dollar project. 

This was an active brewery as recently as 2002 and then the first ever urban ethanol plant and that did not work out so well.   It has been closed and vacant since 2004.  The 11,000 foot deep well on the property was reopened to the public in 2009, it is the best water around. 

In 2005 the historic brewery site was on the list of most endangered historic sites.  In 2007 a developer bought the brewery but I think it may have been the crash of the housing market that stopped the project. 

See Preserving out past