Month: July 2013

Inventory bottom was in May

Posted on by Teresa Boardman

 I am calling it the inventory bottom.  In May there was a two month supply of houses on the market in St. Paul and in June there was a three month supply. The inventory of homes on the market is still small but increasing.  

NorthstarMLS Matrix 3
NorthstarMLS Matrix 

The data used to make the chart came from the Northstar MLS and is deemed reliable but not guaranteed. 

NorthstarMLS Matrix 2
NorthstarMLS Matrix 2

This is good news for buyers who will have more choices.  I’ll predict that we will end the year with at least a 4 month supply of homes on the market.  What I mean by supply is the number of months it would take for all the homes on the market to be sold if buyers continued to buy at the current rate and no more homes were put on the market. The months supply is an absorption rate.

Real estate is local for more local numbers see the Local Market Conditions & Home prices category. 

At the lake

Posted on by Teresa Boardman

 We have so many wonderful city parks in St. Paul and over the years I have taken quite a few photographs of them. I like living in the city but I also like to be near lakes and woods and the river.  

Here are some pictures of lake Phalen park. I grew up in St. Paul and in the summer we would ride our bikes to the lake and go swimming. 

lake phalen
lake phalen
img 5665t edited 1
 
sail boats
sail boats

Efflorescence

Posted on by Teresa Boardman

EfflorescenceI learn so many things on home inspections.  At this point I could probably come up with 100 things wrong with my own home.

A couple of days ago one of my buyer clients asked what efflorescence is.  We saw that word on several St. Paul truth in housing inspection reports. “efflorescence noted near wash tub”

Efflorescence occurs in masonry construction, particularly brick, when water moving through a wall or other structure brings natural salts to the surface. When the water evaporates the resulting white deposits are commonly referred to as “efflorescence”.

ef·flo·res·cence

Is efflorescence a serious condition?  No, and it can be cleaned up.  Read More

Wide Vs Narrow

Posted on by Teresa Boardman

 Real estate agents do not always take the best photographs of the property they are trying to sell and most will not hire a professional.  If agents were at least willing to invest in a wide angle lens or a camera with a wide angle lens we would not have so many pictures of room parts on the MLS we would instead have pictures of entire rooms.

wideangle
wide-angle
narrow
narrow

Ten out f ten buyers when surveyed would rather by a house with rooms in it instead of room parts.  From a marketing point of view there really is no downside to having amazing photographs even if the home is modest like the home in the photo.  

Don’t complain about the heat

Posted on by Teresa Boardman

 The heat wave is over and for once we can be happy about the cold Canadian air that has entered our weather system.  

Last week people were complaining about the weather.  We have only had a few weeks of summer and not enough warm weather to complain about. 

Anything is better than this:

winter
winter

If your home is on the market and is pictured on the internet and there is snow in the picture please call your real estate agent right now and fire him or her.  

Thanks.  Have a nice day and please don’t complain about the weather. 

Dialing for dollars

Posted on by Teresa Boardman
phone
phone

It is Friday and Fridays are for fun.  I have worked so many hours in the last few weeks that even my tired is tired.  I keep selling houses . . seriously I do.  

Yesterday I got a phone call from someone at Facebook trying to sell me advertising.  I have a Facebook business page, but it is mostly for decoration and the nice young man on the phone politely told me how much my Facebook business page sucks.  I am not engaging  . . . 

His called just reinforced  my notion that Facebook is not a good place to advertise.  If facebook advertising worked they would not have to have their sales people call me they would just have a facebook business page to engage me and I would buy ads. 

In business-to-business sales the phone still rules.  I get several calls a week inviting my to spend money.  Most of them are not what I would call out side the box thinkers when it comes to sales and marketing.