General Real Estate News

Yes, home sales are down apparently down to 2009 levels. There is a big difference though in that the last time home sales were low it was because demand was low. Houses would sit on the market for months or in some cases a year or more.

This time around home sales are low because far fewer homeowners are interested in selling. There are fewer houses on the market. When interest rates are below 5% again homeowners will be more interested in moving.

The housing market isn’t anything like it was during the crash but it isn’t healthy either as it strongly favors sellers. Some experts are predicting a buyer’s market in  2024.  That seems very unlikely.  I don’t think we will see big changes the  end  of  the  decade.

This just in from the National Association of Realtors®:

Sixty-two percent of all Realtors^® were female in 2022, down from 66% in 2021. The median age of Realtors^® was 60, up from 56 from the previous year. Just over half of members – 52% – were over 60 years old and 1% were under the age of 30.

Highlights:

• NAR membership grew to 1.58 million at the end of 2022, up from 1.56 million at the end of 2021.
• More than three-quarters of Realtors^® (76%) are certain they will remain in the real estate industry for at least two more years.
• An indication of strong housing demand and rising home prices, the typical member’s sales volume increased to $3.4 million in 2022, up from $2.6 million in 2021. The typical member had 12 transactions in 2022, the same as in 2021.

Way back in 2009 NAR made a huge push to attract younger members. Their reasoning was that younger members were neeeded to serve younger home buyers and that the organization also needed to prepare younger members for leadership roles to take the place of retiring members.

Most real estate professionals do not start right out of high school or college.  People become real estate agents later in life probably because most are independant contractors who do not get any benefits. The job of real estate agent makes the list of best jobs for people who are over 55.

Not all real estate agents are Realtors®. A Realtor is someone who belongs to the National Association of Realtors.

The organization is run by over 100 comittees with thousands of members who are volunteer leaders. It is the largest lobbying organiztion in the country. NAR spent more than 84 Billion on lobbying in 2022. I can’t even imagine how many houses that would buy.

Yes I am a Realtor® and this is who we R.

According to a recent press release from the Consumer Federation of America, there are too many real estate agents as compared with the number of home sales. Agents with five years of experience or less are making 25 to 30 percent of the home sales in Minnesota, according to the same press release.

I have to agree. Experience matters when it comes to selling real estate. On the other hand, anyone who wants to pay a new agent to sell their house has the right to do so, and if that agent is licensed he or she has the right to sell that house.

Being a real estate agent is more about finding business than it is about selling houses. It has always been that way and I don’t think it will change. There was an influx of agents shortly before and during the pandemic.

Some agents will not have enough business to stay in business and they will quit or they will find a side hustle. The part-time agents who sell real estate as a side hustle will remain in business for as long as they can afford to do so.

The press release also points out the low-income level of some agents and the incompetence of others. There are incompetent individuals in every occupation and low-paying jobs can be found in every industry.

Heck, I even know of people who have full-time jobs that they do from home while at the same time, they are full-time real estate agents.

If you plan on working with a real estate agent it is a good idea to ask them how much experience they have so that you get the most from your commission dollars.

Minnesota Real estate licenses are good for a maximum of two years. Unless renewed they automatically expire on July 1st. My license and the license for my company are good until July 1, 2024.  I have plenty of time to decide if I want to renew.

To keep a license active agents need 15 hours of continuing education each year. Some of the CE will be required modules that change each year.  During each licensing period agents are required to take at least one hour of fair housing and one hour of agency.

Licenses are renewed by licensed brokers for licensees who qualify for renewal. Licensees pay a small fee for renewal and licensed real estate brokers pay a higher fee.

A real estate licensee (salesperson) has to work under a licensed broker. In other words, a person can not just get a real estate license and go into business.  They have to have a broker who will apply for the license and renew it as required.

The broker is responsible for the real estate agent.

None of this makes sense to most people.  Some days it doesn’t make sense to me either.

Licensees who miss the renewal deadline can still renew but they can not work as real estate agents or brokers until they do. If a broker fails to renew a license then none of the agents under that broker can work until the broker’s license is renewed.

There could be someone out there working right now with an expired license. Sometimes people don’t know that their license is expired, at least not right away.

. . the more you know.

Holiday weekends are popular times to go house hunting. Home buyers are more likely to have a little free time. Activity on my website goes up and the hit counters on our listings tell me that people are looking at them on the internet.

People who live near homes that are on the market may notice more car traffic over the holiday as people drive by to check out the house that is for sale.

Some real estate agents go to the cabin over the holiday and others take vacations or travel to Europe. The agents who stay home often get calls from total strangers who would like to see a house. Agents who work over the holiday usually put their clients first when deciding who to work with. Things can get busy

The best way to ensure that you can tour homes for sale on any holiday is to work with a real estate agent and to have a contract with that agent before the holiday.

Also, understand that some homeowners who have their houses on the market need to use the house over the holiday and may not even allow showings.

My advice is to plan ahead. It is too late to plan ahead for July 4th, 2023 but there is still time to make plans for the Labor Day weekend or for Thanksgiving or Christmas.

Speaking of Christmas we should start seeing Christmas decorations in the stores later this week.

I am not an expert on everything but I am an expert on a few things. Minnesota real estate is one of those things and so is how to grow tomatoes.

There is more but as a woman, I have to take care not to sound like a “know it all”.

When people need advice on these topics they will sometimes crowd-source answers to questions from their Facebook friends or will go to other social media sites and just ask.

Often most if not all of the answers they get are wrong. Some are partially correct based on one person’s limited experience.

I have been playing around with AI. When I try to use it to write a blog post or answer a question I get these kinds of cliche-like statements that are not really true but they have some truth in them. Real estate is local in that the laws governing it are made at the state, county, and city levels.

Just because many people hold a belief that doesn’t make it true.  There are common misconceptions about how to buy a house and how to sell one that I see everywhere. As we all know just because there is an article about something on the internet doesn’t make it accurate or true.

Please if you have a real estate question ask a professional. Someone like me a Minnesota licensed real estate broker with more than 20 years of experience serving the needs of residential real estate clients. I can answer all sorts of questions and when I can not I know how to find the correct answer.

When people crowd-source answers to their real estate questions they may also be sharing information that should be confidential with people they do not know. Real estate agents often search for social media accounts and use them to get information that can help in negotiations.