Rochester MN Real Estate Market Blog

My theory throughout my career has been if you can freely offer people solid and helpful advice you’ll stand apart from crowd.
When the internet started to be used by the masses, I saw it as the perfect venue to offer buyers and sellers a resource where they could get their various real estate questions answered. [...]

[Read more →]

For several years low interest rates and low down-payment percentages enabled home buyers to get into increasingly larger and more expensive homes. As home prices rose, home sellers took advantage of the “equity” in their existing homes to move up to even bigger, more expensive homes. Housing prices continued to rise, bringing talk of a [...]

[Read more →]

Every book I have read on trying to time the stock market says don’t. Most financial advisors recommend getting in and staying in with the proper asset allocation for your particular risk tolerance. When the market is up you’re in good shape, and when it goes down you have some protection built in through your [...]

[Read more →]

When you bought your home, chances are pretty good that you paid a professional home inspector to check it out before you bought it. It may have been especially useful at the time in your decision regarding the home’s value. But do you know what you did with the report once the purchase negotiations were [...]

[Read more →]

There’s an old real estate rule of thumb that the first offer you receive is usually the best one. I’ve run into this with several listings where the seller received an offer early on, made a stiff counteroffer back to the buyer and the buyer headed for the hills. In some cases, as much as 24 months [...]

[Read more →]

In a competitive market with fewer buyers, more homes for sale and longer market times, you want to do everything you can to be sure your home doesn’t linger on the market. Listings which expire without selling and often without a single offer become harder to sell at the best price.
While you can’t control the [...]

[Read more →]

The real estate market is far different than it was several years ago. Now, homes may linger on the market for months or years without a sale or even an offer. Nevertheless, some properties do sell quickly. Understanding why some sell and others do not is essential to helping your own home sell quickly in [...]

[Read more →]

When you list your home for sale, the objective is to get the most money in your pocket as possible. It seems intuitive that you would get the most money by paying the least money to get it sold. Reality, however, is that you get what you pay for.
Your listing options run the gamut from putting a [...]

[Read more →]

In a buyer’s market, it’s critical that home sellers do everything they can to position their property so it will stand out from the competition. The four main reasons a property doesn’t sell are condition, staging, pricing, and marketing. Part 1 addressed condition: condition colors the buyer’s perception – a home that is in excellent condition conveys [...]

[Read more →]

When you are selling your home, it is incredibly frustrating to have days, weeks, and even months go by without a sale. Worst-case — the listing expires without a sale. With increasing average market time to sale, the number of listings expiring each month is on the rise.
Understanding the reasons why listings expire can help [...]

[Read more →]