Welcome to 4477 Cosette Lane. This home is a fabulous walkout rambler in the highly desirable Victor Gardens neighborhood of Hugo. 4 bedrooms, with a master on the main level and 3 bedrooms on the lower level. Very well maintained from the original owner of this custom built home built by American Classic Builders.
From Inman News:
$72.5 billion in deals would put the fast growing franchise on top, but Re/Max quarterly results remain delayed and elusive
JAN 31
Long the largest real estate franchise by number of agents globally, Keller Williams on Wednesday claimed it has become the leader by sales volume in the United States, too, tallying $72.5 billion in deals during a record-breaking fourth quarter. If that's true, that means Keller Williams has overtaken Re/Max for sales volume in dollars--long seen as the market leader. However, the claim came without official figures from Re/Max, to compare to, as the latter company has not released its fourth quarter 2017 earnings, and it's third quarter earnings of that year also remain delayed.
Low appraisals continue to be a concern for home sellers. Three of the last four properties I have sold have had an issue of a low appraisal. Seems like the market is moving a little too fast for the appraisers in the area.
What this means for sellers? Appraisals need to be a major concern when accepting an offer, especially multiple offers. Be very wary of accepting an offer over list price when it has buyer paid closing costs rolled into the offer. For example, if a house is listed for $350,000 and a buyer writes an offer for $360,000 with the seller paying $10,000 of the buyer's closing costs. That is a $350,000 offer that would be essentially list price. A seller may choose to accept this offer over another offer for $345,000. What happens when the property appraises for $350,000? That is essentially list price again. The buyer wants the seller to still pay for the $10,000 closing costs and then the offer would be a $340,000 offer. Not a good deal for the seller.
There are several ways to handle appraisals. Don't accept any offers where the seller is paying the buyer's closing costs because basically you are inflating the market price. Or write language into the purchase agreement that states how the situation would be handled if the appraisal comes in less than the purchase price.
However a seller decides to handle a low appraisal, in this appreciating market where appraisers are looking backwards at sale prices, instead of forward at pending and future sales, appraisals will continue to be an issue and something to be prepared for.
Fabulous, newly constructed two story in Mahtomedi School District located on 5 acres with tree top views of Sunset Lake. New everything, private lot, walk out lower level, great patio and deck, 3 car garage, 4 bedrooms with a master suite. Great home!!
As we look back at the almost year end statistics for Hugo, we see some very good indicators.
Average and median sales prices are rising and 63 days on the market to sell is a very healthy number. The amazing indicator is the month's supply of inventory number of 2.0 months for November. A balanced market is considered to be 4-6 months of inventory, so right now it is a seller’s market which leads to rising prices and lower market times. Hugo has weathered most of the building spurt of new construction and as the last of the current new builds get absorbed, prices across all price points should begin to rise, not just the lower end. Good neighborhoods, a growing, healthy housing supply, good schools, should be a healthy housing market for the future. Here’s to a good spring market!
Well, it's the time of the year when winter rolls into Minnesota and normal life becomes more difficult. Cars need to be parked inside, going outside for 5 minutes becomes a challenge, and getting kids out the door to go to school takes an extra 15 minutes getting on snow pants, mittens, scarves, and face masks. So, when it comes to looking at houses, the market in the Twin Cities really slows down. Who wants to walk around a house and look at a back yard when there is two feet of snow on the ground and the temperature is 10 below.
That's all true but the housing market doesn't come to a stop. Every year there are houses that get listed Christmas week. Every year there are buyers that write purchase agreements the day after New Years. I have a buyer right now that has been looking for a house in the Mahtomedi School District. They are going to jump as soon as a house somewhat fits their needs. There is very little inventory out there to choose from. and this is an advantage for a seller to list in this market. There are certainly less buyers out there willing to brave the elements to find a home but there are certainly less sellers to compete with as well.
The challenge can be that if the house doesn't sell right away, that it takes more market time for the next buyer to come around. If there are 10 buyers in the spring coming to market every week, there might be 1 buyer beginning their search in November.
It might not be a bad idea to do a market test in the late fall or early winter. Put the house on the market for 3 weeks. If it sells, great. If it doesn't pull it off the market right away. Buyers will not know what the situation was. They might think that a situation came up where you had to pull the house off the market or that you decided not to sell. There is no harm in a short test like this. The only downside would be if you left the house on the market from December to April, then the house becomes "shop worn" as you enter the peak of the market. If you listed for 3 weeks in December and then pulled off the market for two months, your listing would come back on the market fresh, just as if you never "tested" the market in the winter.
Every situation is different, and testing the market in the winter may not be the best strategy for your particular house, but if the situation is right and it fits into your plans, it may be a great time to sell.
Large 40 acre parcel available in Eastern Hugo. Gently rolling hills, open pasture and small pond with a great homesite for a walk out.
The off market sales continue.. Many of the premium properties have been selling before they ever hit the market. I sold this classic fourplex located close to Lake Calhoun to an off market buyer for $640,000. It was a very solid brick building with all two bedroom units. Rents were around $1475 per month and the owner paid utilities.
Just listed, the lowest priced duplex in Southwest at $265k. Solid, clean up and down duplex with a 2+ bedroom unit on the main floor with classic detailing - hardwood floors, built ins and wood fireplace. Upstairs is a very clean and bright 1 bedroom unit with a separate entrance. Nice location in quickly appreciating Kingfield. Rents are $1300 for the lower unit and $900 for the upper unit.
Beware of the FHA investor buyer....
Ok, so you sell your multi family property to a buyer on a FHA loan. Your property is in very good shape, no peeling paint or cracked floor boards. Shouldn't be a big deal, right? Not so fast. Make sure your buyer is not an owner of other investment property, because if they are it could spell trouble.
The FHA program is mainly designed by the government to encourage home ownership of an owner occupant and a first time home buyer. They allow the program with low down payments, about 3.65%, of the purchase price, for multi-family properties, because if an owner occupant wants to buy a duplex or a fourplex, the government is ok with that. They even increase the loan limits to over $500,000 for a fourplex. This is all great, the problem comes in when a buyer owns other investment properties and then they decide they want to use an FHA loan to purchase a multi-family property and owner occupy it. The government thinks that the buyer is using this low down payment loan to add to their investment portfolio. Sure, the government would require that the buyer lives in the property for at least one year after the purchase but this type of buyer is really not the type of buyer the government is trying to help. There are other restrictions that could make the loan fall through. One such restriction is that the buyer cannot own other properties in the immediate area. If the buyer owns another duplex 3 blocks away, which is often the case, and then wants to move into another duplex and owner occupy with a FHA loan, the loan will be turned down. And often, unless the loan officer is really on their game, the seller won't find this out until very late in the transaction. The rules are extremely tight if the buyer is buying a fourplex. The underwriters will want to know why the buyer wants to live in a fourplex and into a unit which is usually smaller than the unit they are currently living in. If the buyer is moving into a duplex, it can be easier but be prepared to have to show a lot of justification for why the buyer is moving into this property from their current situation and make sure the loan officer really knows what they are doing. It isn't enough to have the buyer actually want to owner occupy the property. You will want to have a loan commitment from the buyer well in advance of making any closing preparations and maybe best to stay away from FHA loans if the buyer is already an investor.
Where are all the sellers? The last couple of years there have not been many houses on the market but I don't think I have ever seen it like this. And just from my sense of the market, I don't have the feeling that there are many listings coming any time soon. This could be a tough year for buyers trying to find a home.
I am not sure why there isn't more inventory. Prices have been rising so there should be more sellers willing and able to sell their homes than anytime in the past 10 years. A big part of the problem I think is that a seller can sell but they aren't able to find a suitable house to buy. This is a conundrum that makes the problem worse. Sellers cant buy so they don't sell, which means less to buy, which means less to sell.... you get the point. If you look at the current inventory levels in the graph below, the inventory levels for previously owned homes (not new) the level is 1.8 months of inventory. That's incredibly low. A balanced market is 4-6 months of inventory, so we are not even close. Sure, a little bit is seasonal dependent but this is a key fundamental to watch throughout the spring. If our months supply of inventory level stays around 2 months, it will be a tough year for buyers, probably a good one for sellers, but maybe not the best for a balanced housing market.
The City Council will soon be voting on finalizing the re-zoning of a portion of W 44th St in Linden Hills. There are several properties that have been classified as either R1 or R2B that will be changed to either R3 or R4, from the preliminary meeting the other night it looks like it will be R4. The City staff is recommending the R4 rezone because it seems to match up with the Community Planning and Economic Development council future plan for the transit corridors, which 44th St is. I think this will be voted on at the next City Council meeting.
2 bedroom upper floor of a classic duplex is avaialble for rent. Outstanding location one block to Lake Harriet on an upper bracket street. Classic woodwork, hardwood floors, freshly painted, 1 car garage space, paver fenced in back yard. Heat and water/sewer are included in the rent. Available to see.
Available for the first time n 40 years, this classic 1886 farmhouse on 93 acres of rolling hills, woods and ponds. 3800 square foot house with 2 barns and other outbuildings. Call for a showing. 9052 140th St NHugo.
