Filed under: Market Statistics, Selling a Home, Twin Cities Real Estate News | Tags: Cheryl Brenna Group, current home inventory, home sales, Selling Your Home, Twin Cities Metro Area
This May Very Well Be The Time To Put Your Home On The Market
The end of the first-time home buyers tax credit looms just 30 days beyond a Halloween horizon, and home sales remain strong in the lead-up to tricks and treats and the impending tax credit DEADline. For the week ending October 17, there were 954 signed purchase agreements, howling upward 54.4 percent from a year ago. Almost two-thirds of these pending sales were priced below $190,000—evidence that first-time buyers are carrying a heavy share of the activity.
The strong sales we’ve seen over the last 15 months mean that our inventory of available homes has shrunk like the heads in a witches’ brew. The 23,896 homes on the market right now represents a 21.2 percent decrease from the decidedly more scary market of 2008, and it is the lowest mark at this point in the year since 2004.
So, for those if you who are even considering if it is a good time to put your home on the market, the answer is YES due to the low inventory and the appealling low interest rates. There are buyers out there that may just very well become bewitched with your home!
The Cheryl Brenna Group has buyer’s we are working with, and unfortunately we have not been able to find them a home they love. Let the Cheryl Brenna Group guide you through the process of selling or buying a home or both. We have a genuine vested interest in each and every one of our clients. It is at least worth considering …a lifestyle change can be the beginning of a very exciting new journey…
Filed under: Buying a Home, Selling a Home, Twin Cities Real Estate News | Tags: Cheryl Brenna Group, foreclosure, short sale, Twin Cities Metro Area, woodbury minnesota realestate
Should I Make an Offer on a Short-Sale Property? 
Given the state of the economy, short-sale and foreclosure properties are a fact of life. Many homeowners wonder, “What happens if I can’t afford my home?” And potential buyers ask, “Should I made an offer on a short-sale property?”
Both questions can be complicated. There are myriad details to consider. It could, for example, take six to nine months before either party gets an answer from the lender. Even longer if there are two separate mortgages!
CERTIFIED DISTRESSED PROPERTY EXPERTS
Being Realtors, we are asked such questions almost on a daily basis. As a result of the market’s being saturated with these properties, The Cheryl Brenna Group is Certified Distressed Property Experts. We are prepared to assist both sellers and buyers.
SELLING
Homeowners need an advocate — someone who sincerely cares about them and is dedicated to making the process less stressful from beginning to end. We have the expertise to help: to evaluate the options and guide the seller through an appropriate course of action.
For us, it is not just about the financial benefit of a commission. The Cheryl Brenna Group has a genuine interest in helping people who are going through one of the most trying periods in their lives. We know how emotional it is. We also understand that there are many homeowners who do not fully comprehend what their options are, or if they even have options!
We appreciate the sense of loss. Life is not easy and we are all tested on a daily basis. There are always lessons to be learned, but once we realize what we’re suppose to discover in the experience, we are usually stronger and better people. As the song says, “Mama said there’d be days like this … Mama said, Mama said!”
I am not, by any means, making light of circumstances that leave a homeowner contemplating a short sale. But hanging on to your sense of humor — if possible — sure helps. If you are one of the thousands who find yourself in this situation, we hope that you will put your trust in The Cheryl Brenna Group. Count on us to get you through this distressing time.
BUYING
The Cheryl Brenna Group is willing and able to help in the purchase of a short-sale or foreclosure home. Buyers need to know how to navigate what can prove to be a complex transaction. There are pitfalls — and we know how to avoid them.
Let the Certified Distressed Property Experts at the Cheryl Brenna Group be your inside guide to short-sale and foreclosure properties.
Filed under: Buying a Home, Selling a Home | Tags: Real Estate, Cheryl Brenna Group, Woodbury, Purchase a home, Preparing Your Home for Sale, Twin Cities MN
The Critical Role of a Realtor.
A real estate transaction will involve one of the largest single expenditures most people will experience in their lifetime. You really need to ask yourself if you have the time, energy, knowledge and networking capabilities to bring about a timely and seamless transaction. In addition, there have been many recent changes within the lender and appraisal guidelines and the number of lender-mediated transactions continue to be a major factor in today’s real estate market. Now more than ever buyers and sellers need an experienced, professional Realtor to guide them through the entire real estate transaction.
Homeowners and homebuyers need to be aware of the true value a Realtor provides during the course of the real estate transaction. Realtors provide many services and take a number of steps behind the scenes that their clients
may not even realize is taking place on their behalf. It is figured that a typical real estate transaction is made up of nearly 200 actions, research steps, processes and review stages. Realtors understand the entire process. They have the skill, knowledge and attention to detail to guide you through today’s real estate transactions. A Realtor is committed to negotiating a “win-win” situation for all parties. Plus, Realtor’s are held to and committed to a strict code of ethics which ultimately helps to protect their buyers and sellers. In addition, a Realtor has added motivation because they receive no compensation until the sale closes.
You will receive full service when you hire the Cheryl Brenna Group for all of your real estate needs. Our market knowledge, negotiation skills, marketing and technical proficiency is second to none. You will find that our group is passionate about what we do! We will go above and beyond to make your real estate transaction as seamless and straightforward as possible.
Filed under: Home Maintenance, Home Staging, Selling a Home | Tags: Cheryl Brenna Group, Home Staging, Selling Your Home, Preparing Your Home for Sale, Twin Cities Metro Area, home sales
Tips for Making Your Home More Photogenic
According to re
cent statistics, up to 85% of prospective homebuyers are turning to the internet first to view their local real estate market. Therefore, good photos are essential! Great houses can be overlooked due to poor photography that does not represent how the home really looks. Listings without photos or only with an exterior photo are often overlooked. Buyers are visual and without good photos your home could be passed over or ignored.
They way you present your home to prospective buyers can make all the difference towards the successful sale of your home. Buyers don’t always have a vision so sometimes it is necessary to help them. First impressions are all too important. You want buyers to have an immediate sense of pride of ownership as they approach your home. Here are some helpful tips to make your home look great while preparing your home for sale and for taking attractive home photos:
1) Curb appeal:
- Have a clean, manicured lawn.
- Paint or stain your front door and update trim.
- Maintain an impeccable front entry.
- Update exterior light fixtures.
2) Get rid of clutter:
- Have clean, 
de-cluttered counter tops.
- Streamline shelves and built-ins. Visually place items in groups.
- Minimize! Less is more!
- Pristine condition is a must.
3) Paint:
- Update paint colors.
- Neutralize paint colors.
4) Lighting:
- Update light fixtures.
- Clean all light fixtures.
- Have all lights on.
- Have a glowing fireplace.
5) Windows:
- Windows should be clean and sparkling.
- Replace broken or cracked windows.
- Replace broken hardware.
6) Accessories:
- Update cabinet hardware.
- Have new towels and shower curtains.
- Have flowering plants.
- Add pops of color with fun pillows.
- Get rid of all dried flower arrangements.
7) Other things to remember: 
- Take summer exterior photos. It is nice to be able to display these photos when listing your home in the winter.
- Your home should smell clean and “homey”.
- Carpet should be clean and fully stretched.
- Wood floors should be clean and scratch free.
As the saying goes…”A picture is worth a thousand words!” All of these tips will help you prepare your home for sale and make it more appealing to all of the potential home buyers that will see your home on-line. It is important to create a neutral, inviting environment in which buyers can picture themselves. Our Home Composing team at the Cheryl Brenna group understands what buyers are looking for. We don’t get bogged down with emotional attachment. More importantly, we do create meaningful spaces buyers can’t resist. Give us the chance and watch us transform your home into a buyer’s showplace!
Filed under: Home Values, Selling a Home, Twin Cities Real Estate News, Woodbury Real Estate News | Tags: Cheryl Brenna Group, woodbury minnesota realestate, Selling Your Home, Preparing Your Home for Sale, Twin Cities Metro Area
CAUTION: DON’T SET YOUR LISTING PRICE TOO HIGH
Picture this: You’ve decided to sell your home, and you have an idea of what you think it is worth. You schedule appointments with three local listing agents. Each Realtor comes prepared with a Competitive Market Analysis (CMA), and each recommends a specific listing price.
Two Realtors settle on prices lower than you expected. They back up their recommendations with recent sales comparisons and data of similar homes that didn’t sell while they were listed. But you remain convinced that your house is worth more.
The third agent’s figures are more in line with your anticipated value — maybe higher. Your spirits lift. Confident that you are going to get a higher sale price, you may even start searching for a more expensive home to purchase.
Not so fast! Realtor number three has just engaged in a questionable sales practice called “buying a listing.” He seems willing to accept your input and work with you; seems to care about your financial return, right?
Wrong. He “bought” the listing by tempting you with a higher list price than the other agents recommended. Most likely, however, he is doubtful that your home will actually sell at that price. His intention from the beginning is to eventually talk you into lowering the price, and to continue asking for price reductions in order to attract potential buyers.
Think about it. If you start out with a listing price that’s too high, then drop it later, your house is “old news.” You’ll never recapture that initial flurry of activity, and your house could take longer to sell. And if you do happen to sell at an above-market price to an uninformed buyer, your sale could fall apart once your buyer’s mortgage lender orders an appraisal and determines the home is worth less than the amount agreed upon. Then you’re in the unenviable position of trying to renegotiate the price — if the buyer is willing to listen.
Several years ago, buyers were forced to make full-price offers right away. In today’s market, those same buyers are turning down deals that aren’t sweet enough. Overpricing may have chipped away at your return — or worse, put you back at square one!
The Cheryl Brenna Group will assist you in setting a realistic listing price that will generate interest, momentum, better offers and—ultimately—a mutually satisfying sale.
For more information on setting your home’s listing price, we invite you to watch the following video:
Filed under: Buying a Home, Market Activity Reports, Market Statistics, Selling a Home, Twin Cities Real Estate News | Tags: Cheryl Brenna Group, currenty home inventory, existing homes, foreclosure, Market Activity, Twin Cities Metro Area
Finding Price Bottoms: Months Supply of Inventory for Foreclosure and Short Sales
It was announced last week that the number of foreclosures and short sales on the market in the Twin Cities has dropped over 1,200 units from February to April. That’s undoubtedly a valuable measurement, but it also helps to look at metrics that take into account both supply AND demand like Months Supply of Inventory (MSI) to get a feel for where we’re at in this market cycle.
A quick review on MSI: MSI measures the amount of time (in months) that will take the current number of homes for sale to sell through completely given the current sales rate. The higher the number, the more supply there is relative to demand, the tougher it is for sellers, the longer it takes to sell a house. The lower the number, the less supply there is relative to demand, the easier it is for sellers, the less time it takes to sell a house.
A market that’s balanced between buyers and sellers is considered one in which there is roughly a 5- to 6-month supply of homes for sale.
So, what has the recent drop in inventory of lender-mediated properties meant for MSI in the Twin Cities market? Take a look:
In the last year, the MSI of lender-mediated properties has dropped 66.2 percent from an extreme buyers market of 15.6 months supply to a relatively balanced market of 5.3 percent. The traditional market has dropped very slightly from 9.7 months to 9.5 months.
What does this picture look like historically? Glad you asked. Take a gander at this here chart:
Lender-mediated MSI reached a peak of about 18 months supply during 2006. Since then its been on a general path downwards despite growing inventory thanks to increasing sales. The traditional market has been on a general path upward during that time period, though it appears to have plateaued somewhat this year.
Important takeaway #1: The foreclosure and short sale segment is not a buyer’s market anymore and likely will become a seller’s market in 2009, which will likely lead to a price bottom for that segment.
Important takeaway #2: The traditional market still sits firmly in the buyer’s market category with 9.5 months of supply. Further price declines should be expected.
For more information on where the Twin Cities real estate market is heading, we invite you to view the following video provided by MAAR. This monthly summary provides an overview of current trends and projections for future activity. Enjoy!
You can count on the Cheryl Brenna Group Blog to provide you with the most relevant, up-to-date real estate information! Feel free to contact us at 651-730-2521 for your real estate needs and more detailed market information.
Filed under: Buying a Home, Home Values, Selling a Home, Woodbury Real Estate News | Tags: Cheryl Brenna Group, Market Activity, Purchase a home, Selling Your Home, Twin Cities Metro Area, Woodbury Real Estate News
Why Aren’t People Buying Homes?
You don’t have to be a real estate agent to know this—anyone even remotely clued into the world is hearing it over and over again: it’s a buyer’s market, a buyer’s market, a buyer’s market. So, if it’s such a buyer’s market, why aren’t all the homes for sale being snapped up? What’s going on in the minds of Woodbury home buyers?
The first, obvious, answer is the economy. With national unemployment levels still rising, as well as the fear factor accompanying the recessionary black cloud hanging over all our heads, plenty of people don’t want to spend their money—even on everyday items, not to mention purchasing a new home. This mindset is perfectly understandable, but doesn’t account for the throngs of people who are in a healthy financial position and are interested in buying a house but still choosing not to move forward.
At the Cheryl Brenna Group, some of the buyers we talk to are still sitting on the sidelines and waiting for the bottom of the market to present itself. To that, all we can say is, how will you know when the bottom is reached? Of course, we’ll all know the real estate market has hit the bottom only when we’re not there anymore and prices start to rise!
Another concern we hear is from potential buyers who have a home to sell before they can purchase another house. They’re worried about the loss in equity they’ve experienced in their current home as well as the potential for any new home they purchase to decline in value. None of us has a crystal ball, but we can look to history to tell us that real estate in general is a great place to invest our money long-term. Homes may have lost value now, and may continue to go even lower, but we know—without a doubt—that if you have the time and plan on staying put for a while, your home will increase in value.
As to the loss in equity on a current home, selling for less than was possible a few years ago means you will also buy for less than you would have a while back. Sounds like a winning situation all around!
Happily, there are plenty of indicators to tell us that–although we may not be at the 
lowest point in the housing market yet—NOW is the time to buy. The housing affordability index is at a record high, while mortgage rates remain historically low. The inventory of homes available for sale is quite large in all price ranges and those looking for new construction are finding builders are negotiating like never before. On top of all that, first-time home buyers (defined as not having owned a home in the past three years) are eligible for a new federal tax credit up to $8,000 if a home is purchased by December 1 of this year.
Here’s the bottom line for all potential buyers wondering if it’s time to take the plunge—if you’ve got a down payment, a stable job, and an area you’re comfortable living in for years to come, by all means it’s the time to buy your next home (with our blessings!).
Filed under: 1, Buying a Home, Market Activity Reports, Market Statistics, Selling a Home | Tags: Cheryl Brenna Group, Market Activity, Purchase a home, Twin Cities Metro Area, Woodbury Real Estate News
Weekly Market Activity Report 3.30.09
With mortgage rates plunging downward in recent weeks in response to
actions taken by the Federal Reserve, home buying activity remains strong.
For the week ending March 21, pending sales in the Twin Cities were 13.0 percent higher than the same week last year, while the number of new listings on the market was basically flat. Over the last three months, there have been approximately 1,200 more signed purchase agreements than there were a year ago and 3,000 fewer new listings. During this time, 58.1 percent of pending sales have been lender-mediated foreclosures and short sales, while 37.1 percent of new listings have been lender-mediated. The fact that the share of lender-mediated sales easily exceeds the share of new lender-mediated listings is a hopeful sign.
New buyers entering this market will be met with strong affordability but will have less to choose from compared to previous years. There are currently 26,064 homes for sale in the metro area, which is down 15.7 percent and 4,840 units from this time in 2008.
For more information on how the recent actions taken by the Federal Reserve will help keep mortgage interest rates low for the time being, please click on the link below to view a recent WCCO news article and video. The video is located to the right of the news story.
http://wcco.com/housing/lower.mortgage.rates.2.963539.html
With mortgage rates at historic lows, it is the time to buy! First time home buyer’s can take advantage of the $8000 tax credit if they close before December 1, 2009. Whether you are first time home buyer, a move-up buyer or a buyer looking to down size, the Cheryl Brenna Group will help find your dream home. You can count on the Cheryl Brenna Group to represent you and work diligently on your behalf and simplify the exciting and emotional home buying and selling processes.
