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        <title>Real Estate Blog</title>
        <link>http://www.minneapolisurbanhomes.com/blog/2016-03/</link>
        <description></description>
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    <guid>https://www.minneapolisurbanhomes.com/blog/the-mortgage-process-what-you-need-to-know.html</guid>
    <link>https://www.minneapolisurbanhomes.com/blog/the-mortgage-process-what-you-need-to-know.html</link>
        <author>richard@drgmpls.com (Richard Newman)</author>
        <title>The Mortgage Process: What You Need To Know</title>
    <description> <![CDATA[ 
Keeping Current Matters, 3/16/16





Some Highlights:




Many buyers are purchasing a home with a down payment as little as 3.


You may already qualify for a loan, even if you don't have perfect credit.


Take advantage of the knowledge of your local professionals who are there to help you determine how much you can afford.


 ]]> </description>
    <pubDate>Fri, 18 Mar 2016 14:42:00 -0500</pubDate>
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    <guid>https://www.minneapolisurbanhomes.com/blog/yes-home-prices-are-rising-no-a-new-housing-bubble-is-not-forming.html</guid>
    <link>https://www.minneapolisurbanhomes.com/blog/yes-home-prices-are-rising-no-a-new-housing-bubble-is-not-forming.html</link>
        <author>richard@drgmpls.com (Richard Newman)</author>
        <title>Yes, Home Prices Are Rising. No, a New Housing Bubble is NOT Forming</title>
    <description> <![CDATA[ 
Keeping Current Matters, 3/10/16





We recently reported that home prices are continuing to rise across most of the nation. This has created concern in some pundits that a housing bubble, like we saw ten years ago, is forming again. We want to explain why these concerns are unfounded. The current increase in home values can be easily explained by the theory of supply and demand. Right now, the number of families looking to purchase a home is greater than the supply of homes on the market. Here is a chart that explains how the months’ supply of housing inventory impacts home values: 





According to the latest Existing Home Sales Report from the National Association of Realtors, there is currently a four-month supply of inventory. That puts us in the blue section of the above graphic. Home prices should be appreciating.


The difference in 2006…


A decade ago, the demand for housing was artificially boosted by lending standards that were far too lenient. Today, the strength of the demand for housing is legitimate, as lending standards are nowhere near what they were a decade ago. For proof of this, let’s look at a graph of the Mortgage Bankers’ Association’s Mortgage Credit Availability Index: 





The higher the number, the easier it was to get a mortgage. We can see that from June 2005 to June 2007, mortgage standards were much more lenient than they have been over the last nine years.


Bottom Line


Today’s price increases, unlike those a decade ago, are the result of qualified buyer demand exceeding the current inventory of homes available for sale. Once the supply increases, prices will level out. 
 ]]> </description>
    <pubDate>Wed, 16 Mar 2016 11:32:00 -0500</pubDate>
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    <guid>https://www.minneapolisurbanhomes.com/blog/housing-market-is-poised-to-sprout.html</guid>
    <link>https://www.minneapolisurbanhomes.com/blog/housing-market-is-poised-to-sprout.html</link>
        <author>richard@drgmpls.com (Richard Newman)</author>
        <title>Housing Market is Poised to Sprout</title>
    <description> <![CDATA[ 
By Jim Buchta, StarTribune 3/15/16








The kickoff to the spring housing market in the Twin Cities was unseasonably strong — especially for sellers.


 


During February, there was a 6.7 percent increase in signed purchase agreements in the 13-county metro area, according to a monthly sales report released Monday by the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors. Though new listings increased slightly in February, there were just 10,953 available properties at the end of the month, a 19.4 percent decline compared with last year.


With buyers outpacing sellers in some parts of the metro area, that meant stiff competition and little room for buyers to negotiate. The median price of all closings during the month was $207,395, a 3.7 percent increase compared with last year and the highest in eight years.


“Many would-be buyers are waiting on sellers,” said Judy Shields, president of the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors. “Early indicators such as mortgage applications suggest demand is only likely to strengthen. The uncertainty comes on the supply side, but there’s a good chance we’ll see more inventory this year.”


 Greg Mason, president and CEO of Edina Realty Home Services, said agents have gotten creative to cultivate new listings — knocking on doors, sending solicitation-to-sell letters and using social media.


For buyers, mortgage rates are still below 4 percent — the lowest in a generation and half of the historic average.


By nearly every indication, the Twin Cities market appears poised to be the most robust it has been in more than a decade. Closings, a reflection of what was bought two to three months earlier, were up slightly. With listings in short supply in some areas, sellers are offering few discounts.


On average, sellers in February received 95.3 percent of their original list price, a slight increase compared with last year. And houses sold much faster than they did last year. The average market time in the metro fell 9.4 percent to 96 days. At the current sale pace, all of the listings on the market at the end of the month would sell within 10 weeks. In a balanced market, it would take five to six months to sell out.


Still, listing activity isn’t keeping pace with sales. In February, which agents say was a particularly robust month because of higher-than-average temperatures, there were only 5,848 new listings, just 3 percent more than last year.


While inventory remains unusually tight, listings are expected to rise in the coming months as prices rise and homeowners gain confidence that they’ll be able to both find a buyer and find a house to buy.


“When it hits, it’s going to hit brilliantly,” said Sheryl Petrashek, a sales agent with RE/MAX Results.


Petrashek and other agents say there are plenty of buyers who haven’t even called their agents yet, because they’ve looked online at the listings and aren’t finding anything worth pursuing. She said that with house prices on the rise and word getting out that buyers are waiting in the wings, many would-be sellers are getting their houses ready to list.

&quot;This situation will wash itself out and the spring weather will help,” Petrashek said. “Historically, in my view, buyers are in the spring market first and sellers come second in mid-March.” ]]> </description>
    <pubDate>Tue, 15 Mar 2016 09:27:00 -0500</pubDate>
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    <guid>https://www.minneapolisurbanhomes.com/blog/study-again-finds-homeownership-to-be-a-better-way-of-producing-wealth.html</guid>
    <link>https://www.minneapolisurbanhomes.com/blog/study-again-finds-homeownership-to-be-a-better-way-of-producing-wealth.html</link>
        <author>richard@drgmpls.com (Richard Newman)</author>
        <title>Study Again Finds Homeownership to be a Better Way of Producing Wealth </title>
    <description> <![CDATA[ 
Keeping Current Matters, 3/8/16





According to the latest Beracha, Hardin &amp; Johnson Buy vs. Rent (BH&amp;J) Index homeownership is a better way to produce greater wealth, on average, than renting. The BH&amp;J Index is a quarterly report that attempts to answer the question: 


Is it better to rent or buy a home in today’s housing market?


The index examines the entire US housing market and then isolates 23 major markets for comparison. The researchers use a “'horse race' comparison between an individual that is buying a home and an individual that rents a similar quality home and reinvests all monies otherwise invested in homeownership.” Ken Johnson Ph.D., Real Estate Economist &amp; Professor at Florida Atlantic University, and one of the index’s authors states:


“The nation as a whole is in buy territory. Continued near record low mortgage rates, unsteady stock market performance, and rents (on average) now out pacing the cost of ownership (maintenance, taxes, insurance, etc.) all combine to favor owning and building wealth through home equity over renting and reinvesting in a portfolio of stocks and bonds.”


Dallas, Denver and Houston currently remain deep in rent territory but, “there is some degree of good news from these markets for homeowners as the cost of renting is now increasing at a faster rate than the cost of homeownership — reducing the advantage of renting over buying.” 


Bottom Line


Buying a home makes sense socially and financially. Rents are predicted to increase substantially in the next year, so lock in your housing cost with a mortgage payment now. To Find Out More About the Study: The BH&amp;J Index and other FAU real estate activities are sponsored by Investments Limited of Boca Raton. The BH&amp;J Index is published quarterly and is available online at http://business.fau.edu/buyvsrent. 
 ]]> </description>
    <pubDate>Tue, 08 Mar 2016 14:27:00 -0600</pubDate>
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