We Want to Answer Your Investing Questions in 2019

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Happy New Year! We can’t wait to make this year our best yet, and one of the ways we plan to do this is by continuing to answer your questions.

We will, of course, continue to take new questions, but we would also like to announce an upcoming series that will cover the questions you’ve asked up to this point.

A lot of the questions we received in 2018 were about investing, so this series is going to focus on that topic, specifically. We look forward to using our personal experience with investing to help guide you toward reaching your goals.

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We look forward to using our personal experience with investing to help guide you toward reaching your goals.

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If you have any other questions or would look more information, feel free to give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

The 1 Key Reason We Switched to eXp Realty

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Our team has an exciting announcement to make: We’ve made the switch to eXp Realty!

Beyond simply keying you in on this great news, though, I also wanted to explain why we decided to make this move. Ultimately, it comes down to one simple reason: eXp Realty offers amazing technology—and this allows us to better serve you, our clients.

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It’s the least we can do to make sure our clients are achieving the best possible results.

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After 12 years of being in the business, I’ve come to realize that real estate is truly a service industry. When clients come to my team for help, they’re trusting us with one of the greatest investments of their lives. Therefore, it’s the least we can do to make sure our clients are achieving the best possible results. We want to help your buying and selling dreams come true.

If you have any other questions or would like more information, feel free to give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

What Does a Shift in Our Market Mean for You?

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I’ve been getting a lot of questions lately about the market and what exactly is going on right now. I’ve done a little bit of research for you and wanted to share my thoughts today.
As you all know, we’ve seen some interest rate hikes, but we haven’t seen anything too major. However, experts are forecasting approximately three more hikes in the next year that will take interest rates up by 2% to 2.5%.

When these interest rates go up, it’s going to affect affordability for homebuyers in the market. Instead of being able to purchase a $250,000 home, you’re only going to be able to afford a $225,000 home.

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Increased interest rates will reduce buyer pools and reduce home prices.

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For home sellers, this is going to reduce the buyer pool for their home. This will put downward pressure on the market and push your home value down.

That’s why if you’re considering selling at all in the next few years, it’s vital that you look at your options for selling this year before these rates increase and prices start to go down.

There’s a lot going on here. If you have any specific questions about this or about anything else related to the real estate market, don’t hesitate to give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you.

3 Ways to Make Money By Investing In Real Estate

What are the three ways that real estate investing can make you money? I’ll explain today.

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Today, let’s talk about the three ways you can make money by investing in real estate:

1. Cash flow. This is the money over and above your mortgage, your taxes, your insurance, and other expenses associated with the property.  When we find a property that you’re interested in, we can run a quick budget with you to make sure that you’re including all the things that you need to understand happen on a monthly basis—in order to pay X, you have to make Y amount. The point is that we want to get you on the positive side of that number.

2. Appreciation. Appreciation occurs when you buy a home for a certain price and, each year, you see a certain percentage of increase in that property’s value. This can happen through the improvements that you make or just though the normal market appreciation.

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It’s always a great time to invest in real estate because there are always deals out there that can make you money.

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3. Depreciation. Each year the property depreciates, it’ll save you money on your taxes.

At the end of the day, we’re looking to take your money and make it work for you. We can help you find that property that can make you money.

If you have any questions about real estate investing, please feel free to reach out and give me a call. I’d be glad to guide or help you as I can.

How Will You Reach Your Goals in 2018?

2018 is coming up fast. Now is the time to set goals and make plans for achieving them.

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What are your goals for 2018?

The new year is just around the corner and whatever your aspirations are, now is the time to think about how you can achieve them. Setting a plan for your goals is the first step.

If your goal is to buy or sell a home in the new year, for example, how can you prepare to do so? 

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Getting a plan in place now will benefit you in the future.

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If you are looking to sell your home, you might want to begin by walking through it and making a list of things to fix, update, or change. My team and I would be happy to put you in contact with people who can help you make these changes. Getting a plan in place now will benefit you in the future.

If you are looking to buy a home, now is the time to start working on your financing plan. Once you’ve got a plan for your finances in order, we can help you select and look at homes that are within your budget.

So, let’s work together. Let’s put a plan together to help you achieve your goals in 2018.

If you have any other questions or would like more information, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

How Do Commission Payments Work in Minnesota?

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How do commission payments work in Minnesota? Who pays them—the buyer or the seller?

In the state of Minnesota, the seller always pays the commission. This includes the total commission for both the buyer’s agent and the seller’s agent.

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There’s a lot of value and service being provided for the money sellers spend on commission.

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When you purchase a home, it doesn’t cost you any money in terms of paying a commission to the agent you’re working with. When you sell a home, you’ll pay for the selling process and the buyer’s agent’s commission.

A commission gets split among four different people, and this split occurs before any taxes or home selling expenses are paid:

         1. The seller’s representative
         2. The selling agent’s broker
         3. The buyer’s agent’s broker
         4. The buyer’s agent

As a seller, that can seem like a lot of money being shelled out to so many people, but there is a lot of value and service being provided for the money you’re spending.

I know this subject can get a little confusing, so if you have any questions about commissions or you’re interested in selling your home, don’t hesitate to give me a shout. I’d love to help you!

How Do Appraisals Work?

We’ve got a quick overview of the appraisal process for you today. An appraisal happens after an offer has been accepted and inspections have been completed.

Selling your Minneapolis home? Check out our free home value report

Buying a Minneapolis home? Search all homes for sale

We have been getting a lot of questions about appraisals lately, so we figured it would be a good idea to answer some of them today by explaining how the process works. Here’s a quick overview for you on this portion of the transaction.

Appraisals occur after the home has already been listed and sold with an accepted purchase agreement and completed inspections. It’s one of the last big hurdles to get over. The appraisal will be done by the lender who is providing financing to the buyer.

All the appraisal is doing is simply giving the lender the confidence that the house is worth what the buyer is paying. As you can imagine, we had a few problems with home values back in 2008.

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It’s one of the last big hurdles to get over.

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If a home sells for $300,000, for example, we want the appraisal to come in at or above that price in order for the lender to proceed. 

The appraisal is not something that you or your agent, or your buyer or their agent, does. It’s done by an independent third party to understand what the value of the home is for them.

If you have any questions about appraisals or any other part of the transaction, give us a call or send us an email. We would be happy to help you out any way we can.

How Is the Twin Cities Market Doing?

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As you can see in the screenshot above, Greg is the proud owner of a brand new mustache! We compete in a competitive baseball league and it’s playoff time, so our playoff tradition of growing out our mustaches will continue leading up to the state tournament in St. Cloud. 

Now to the real reason we are here, a market update for the Twin Cities. We are seeing some really great numbers right now, and prices are up pretty much across the board. In the $150,000- $199,000 price range, prices are up 11.9% In the $250,000-$350,000 range, prices are up 24% and even in the $1 million + market, we are seeing an 8.8% increase in prices.

Another thing we want to touch on is the median sale price. It has increased from $220,000 to $234,000 in just the last year. Townhome median prices have also risen from $156,000 to $165,000 and the condo market is slightly up, from $142,000 to $145,000.

Inventory levels in the $350,000 and below price ranges are much lower than they were last year. Above that level, they are slightly higher, but overall inventory is down 11%. This leaves us with a 3.7 month supply of inventory and makes it a great time to sell too. You can also buy affordably right now with low interest rates, and get the best of both worlds.

If you have any questions for us about the market, just give us a call or send us an email. We would love to hear from you!

Happy Holidays from The Winegarden Team!

There are many great Minneapolis area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at (952) 303-4347 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions. 

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, and Mele Kalikimaka to you all! Thanks so much for all your support in 2014, we are very excited about the prospects 2015 has in store for us.

We want to give a quick shout out to Miles for the great bow ties. Countless hours of watching YouTube videos later, we finally got it figured out!

Once again, thank you for your continued business and friendship. We are very much looking forward to 2015, but are going to enjoy the last few weeks of 2014 we have left.

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!