April bike rides make us tougher

Posted on by Teresa Boardman

It is Friday and Fridays are for fun. I do like to ride my bike and I participate as much as I can in 30 days of biking every April. The program started in a warmer climate and spread around the world. Sometimes there is too much snow on the ground in April and some years there is below zero weather. Every April we can count on gale force winds and rainy days.

30 days of biking is supposed to promote biking. In Minnesota biking in April makes us stronger if we survive it. If I were to organize an event to promote biking I would do it in May or September which really are the best biking months in these parts.

This time of year I mostly use my bike to run errands. If it warms up this weekend I’ll take my bike out on one of the many local trails.  #30daysofbiking #alwaysMovingForward

Green bikes

Oh and the Nice Ride bikes are now out on the streets in St. Paul. Wheeeeeee! Bikes!

Who needs paper?

Posted on by Teresa Boardman

I actually own a couple of printers and there is a ream of paper in my office and it will last a couple of years. Writing an offer on a home and getting it signed without ever printing any of it it very easy to do. I offer my clients printed copies but most prefer the electronic files. Life without paper is just easier.

As a broker I am required to keep my files for six years. I keep them electronically by year and then by property address. They are stored a computer and backed up automatically with Carbonite and kept in the cloud. Even if my office burns down my files are safe and accessible and when they are no longer needed they can be deleted rather than shredded and disposed of.

Another advantage of electronic Pasted_Image_8_16_15__11_08_AMcontracts is that I have all access to all contracts at all times. If I am out with buyers and they need to make an quickly, I can do that. Speed matters in multiple offer situations.

I work with home sellers that I never meet in person. They live out of state and I can sell their real estate and get all of the paperwork done over the interent.

Paper can take up a lot of space, which means I would need a bigger office if I had to use paper.

 

Not all houses get offers the first day on the market

Posted on by Teresa Boardman

Home buyers are getting a bit frustrated. A home they are interested in comes on the market and before they can even go to see it the home is sold, yet there are homes on the market for a month or longer that are just as desirable. Often they go unnoticed because they are priced a little high or they need a little work.

The house that already had three offers on it might not be the best buy.

There are a couple of strategies home buyers can use in what continues to be the strongest buyer’s market we have ever seen.

  1. Look at houses that have been on the market for 10 days or more.

The reason for looking at homes that have been on the market for awhile is because the owners might be willing to accept the asking price or less.

2. Look in a price range that is slightly lower than what you can afford.

Buyers who look in a slightly lower price range are able to outbid buyers who are stretched to the limit as buyers often are in multiple offer situations.

Another tip is to continue looking in the late summer through the end of the year. There are fewer homes on the market during that time but there are also fewer buyers out making offers.

The graphic is a screen print form the MLS.

DOM = days on market

PDOM = days since price change

CDON = cumulative days on market and counts the days on market each time the home is listed in a 12 month period.

 

April is fair housing month

Posted on by Teresa Boardman

Fair housing is the law of the land yet I have witnessed unfair housing. I have had sellers tell me that they don’t want to sell to “those people”.  . . but they did.

Minnesota has one of the biggest home ownership gaps in the country. Statewide, 77 percent of white households owned their home compared with 39 percent of all households of color owning a home. Housing is part of a bigger picture of financial disparity.

For more information about the fair housing act and other laws visit the HUD portal

When will the housing market fully recover?

Posted on by Teresa Boardman

In some neighborhoods the housing market has bounced back to where it was before the housing market crash and the great recession. In other neighborhoods houses are still worth less than they were worth more than a decade ago.

Will there ever be a full recovery? It is hard to say. The neighborhoods that have not fully recovered still have vacant houses and condemned houses. In most cases it is hard to rehab them and make any kind of a profit once they are sold.

An anti-social experiment

Posted on by Teresa Boardman

It is Friday and Fridays are for fun. I have had a love hate relationship with Facebook ever since I joined a decade ago. On the one hand I like that I can keep in touch with relatives I don’t get to see very often and how it helps us re-connect with childhood and college friends. Yet I feel as though I spend too much time looking at screens.

For now I am trying to limit my time on Facebook. As a first step I removed the app from my phone. I have to say life is better for me with less Facebook. I kept the Facebook messenger app because I use it a lot.

For fun try your own phone without the Facebook app. It is OK to spend time in the real world.