All you have to do is drive around Hutchinson, MN to see that there are many rental units available right now. The last time I remember this many vacant units was back in 1999 when Hutchinson Technology had a significant layoff of employees. I suspect that is the same reason we are now seeing so [...]
The mortgage business has gone from lending money to anyone that has a pulse to scrutinizing absolutely every little thing when a buyer's application is submitted for approval. This isn't all bad, it's just that the buyers have to be absolutely squeaky clean with no unanswered questions in order to get a mortgage today. I'm [...]
The real estate market in Hutchinson, MN is continuing to come alive. Right now, there are less homes for sale than there were a year ago and the pending sales have shown an increase over a year ago. (Pending means that a purchase agreement has been written by a buyer and the seller has accepted [...]
A few weeks ago I talked about the multiple offers that we were starting to see. Well, that's intensifying with the "spring" market approaching. There are alot of buyers that have been making offers on homes in the last couple of weeks and many of them on the same houses. It's very encouraging to see [...]
Last fall I heard an economist speak to a group of real estate people and mortgage brokers. He spoke about what we could expect in 2009 in our industries. He told the mortgage people that there was good news and bad news for them. The good news was that the interest rates would drop and [...]
Even though the real estate market in Hutchinson, MN is still quieter than we'd like, we are starting to see multiple offers come in on quite a few properties. That certainly is a good sign! There are buyers out there just waiting for the right "deal" to come along and when it does, the buyers [...]
Recently I had the opportunity to spend a few days with my sisters laying on the beach and shopping. All of us have careers that are being affected by the economy in one way or another. We decided at the beginning of our trip that we would not read any newspapers, listen to any television, [...]
Every day someone asks me if anyone can get financing to buy homes any more. I usually answer them by telling them that they need to quit listening to all the doom and gloom in the media. Then I answer them, that yes, buyers can still get financing. Although the number of mortgage companies that [...]
Back in the fall of 1999, Hutchinson Technology had a significant layoff (about 700 employees if I remember right), and so I went back to my records to see how the housing market in Hutchinson was affected. The first thing I found was that the vacancy rate of rentals increased significantly. Many of the laid [...]
Tomorrow one of Hutchinson's major employers will be laying off a significant number of employees. In a way, I'm sure that most will be glad when tomorrow is over. The employees were told about a month ago that there would be a large layoff starting Jan. 12. I haven't spoken to a single employee during [...]
