Hometown Realty is now on Twitter!
You can now follow Hometown Realty on Twitter! Click here to check it out.
When Did I Get This Old?
A couple of weeks ago I got a call from a young lady who said that she and her fiance wanted to get together with me. They want to purchase their first home here in Hutchinson, MN before summer. While visiting with her, I learned that her parents had purchased the land they built their [...]
The Real Estate Market (first 30 days after the tax credit expiration.)
According to the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors, home sales in the Twin Cities housing market took another dip as the hangover from the tax credit expiration continued. For the week ending May 22, there were 624 pending sales—a precipitous drop of 42.5 percent from a year ago. The biggest drops in sales since the [...]
There Is a New Sign in Town
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 [...]
Expiration of Tax Credit
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 [...]
How the Spring real estate market is shaping up
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 [...]
How Green Are We?
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 [...]
2009 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers
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 [...]
Homebuyer Tax Credit Extended
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 Beware
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 [...]