Recently we unveiled our new for sale signs in the Hutchinson, MN area. You'll see them on the homes we have for sale as well as homes that have recently sold. After 25 years of using the other signs, we decided it was time for a new look. The new signs are in the shape [...]
The expiration of the tax credit clearly motivated buyers to take action by April 30. Last week, there was a significant 31.2 percent jump in Pending Sales versus last year, bringing the total number of contracts written to 1,469. But for the first time this year the number of New Listings was down. A total [...]
According to the Minneapolis Association of Realtors, the local housing market continues to mimic spring growth, as Twin Citizens emerge from their wintry cocoons just in time for the final days of the home buyer tax credit. For the week ending March 20, there were 2,277 new listings, up 28.8 percent from a year ago [...]
Here are some interesting statistics recently published in "The Residential Specialist" magazine. (Their source for the information was Harris Interactive.) This magazine is available to all real estate agents who have earned their Certified Residential Specialist certification through the National Association of Realtors. Several of Hometown Realty agents in Hutchinson, MN have earned this CRS [...]
According to the National Association of Realtors "Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers 2009", 90 percent of buyers used the Internet as an information source in their home search, up 30 percentage points during the past six years. First-time buyers were even more likely to use the internet. Also reported was that 47% of recent [...]
By now most of you have heard that the first time buyer tax credit has been extended to April 30, 2010. In addition, there is now a tax credit for current homeowners who have used their home as a principal residence consecutively for 5 of the previous 8 years. This credit also runs to April [...]
Renters aren't immune to too-good-to-be-true pitches. One popular scheme these days involves the perpetrators lifting a real estate agent's online photos and information for an attractive residence that's currently for sale -- and then placing an ad on a free online classified-ads site that purports to offer the house for rent at below-market rates. The [...]
In Hutchinson, MN it seems in the last while that the process of short sales is getting shorter. Thank heavens. We have had buyers of homes for sale who have waited up to four months only to find out that the lender who holds the mortgage is not willing to accept the offer that they [...]
Last weekend I talked to a buyer at an open house who told me that she wanted to wait until spring to buy a home (she's currently in an apartment.) I asked her why and she responded "I just don't want to move in the fall or winter." I asked her if she was aware [...]
This past weekend, I went for my normal walk on Sunday afternoon here in Hutchinson, MN and noticed a large number of cars with "new car" stickers being driven down the road. My first thought was, "Good for all the car dealers and the buyers of those vehicles." I'm sure the onslaught of new vehicles [...]
