Last year in our Hennepin County market, there were about $7.5 billion of sales throughout the year. When you look at the relationship between sales and active listings on a chart throughout a year, it looks like a bell curve—the year begins low, peaks toward the middle, and then drops back down at the end.

This bell curve is interesting because about the same number of properties that are listed end up going pending, meaning they go under contract, through the year. If 100 properties are listed in January, for example, about 80 of them sell. If 120 properties are listed in February, about 100 of them sell.

So are you better off selling now or waiting until the spring market?

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January and February can also be great times to list.

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Most people think that most homes sell in the springtime, but they don’t realize that January and February can also be great times to list. If the same percentage of homes sell in January as they do in spring, and there is less active inventory in January, supply and demand suggest that you’ll have less competition by selling in January than you will at busier points of the year. You might even be able to get a better price.

If you have any questions about selling your home or when is the best time to do it, reach out to me. Let’s take a look at your situation and see what we can do to help you make the best choice.

Selling your Minneapolis home? Check out our free home value reportBuying a Minneapolis home? Search all homes for sale Today is a special day for me because I’m proud to be able to introduce you to my new real estate partner and addition to Team Winegarden: Marissa Browne. As some of you may know, Marissa is also my fiance. She’s both a listing agent and buyer’s agent, and she’s well-equipped to provide you the high level of service you’re accustomed to from our team. Moving forward, you’ll see her pop up in my videos from time to time to help bring more education content. If you have any questions about the newest addition to our team or you’re thinking of buying or selling a home, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’d love to help you. 

The fall season is almost here! Before it arrives, though, today I’d like to look a little further into the future and discuss a topic that comes up not in our fall market, but in winter. 

I often have clients come to me looking to sell their home during the colder months. Now, anytime a home goes on the market, the best way to showcase it to buyers is to have professional listing photos taken, which can be tough when the home’s exterior is partially concealed by snow. 

A lot of times, we learn that our sellers didn’t think to take photos of their home in the spring, summer, or fall, but the good news is we don’t let this deter us from making the best of the situation. No matter what time of year, the professional photographers our team works with will have your listing photos looking like a million bucks. 

And on that note, if you know you’ll be selling your home this winter, let’s not wait to start making preparations: We can take full advantage of this beautiful fall weather and set up a professional photo shoot of your home now, which, in turn, will give us a decisive advantage when it comes time to list your home. We know that the first place buyers will look for their new home is online, so if they’re interested in a home’s listing photos, they’ll be interested to see it in person as well. 

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If you’re planning a winter home sale, we can take full advantage of this beautiful fall weather and set up a professional photo shoot of your home now.

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For the sake of argument, let’s say we listed your home in February after we’ve been hit with heavy snowfall. Let me ask you this: If every other listing is accompanied by photos taken in the winter and yours were captured in the fall, whose home do you think will garner more buyer attention? The answer seems obvious. 

The bottom line is if you’re looking to sell your home between this winter and even as late as spring of next year, now’s the time to get a leg up on the competition and organize a strategy that includes snapping some professional photos. 

If you have any questions or would like to get preparations for your winter home sale started a little early, don’t hesitate to reach out to me and my team. We look forward to speaking with you soon!     

Sellers always ask me, “What is the difference between an inspection and an appraisal?” 

Simply put, inspections verify a home’s value while appraisals verify its condition. Inspections are ordered by the homebuyer during their due diligence period. During an inspection, a professional home inspector will visit your property to assess everything from the plumbing to the electrical sockets. 

Once they’re finished, they’ll draft a report of their findings so as to alert you (and the buyer) of any issues they noticed. Then, if necessary, you and the buyer will negotiate repairs before proceeding with the deal. In short, inspections are intended to provide the buyer with peace of mind, and to ensure that the home is in liveable condition.

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Inspections verify a home’s value while appraisals verify its condition.

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Appraisals, on the other hand, are designed to give the buyer’s lender peace of mind. Just because you and the buyer have agreed upon a certain price, that doesn’t mean your home is actually worth that amount. To ensure that they aren’t lending the buyer more money than the home is worth, the bank their lender is associated with will send a third-party appraiser to objectively assess the property’s value. Assuming the home appraises for approximately the same value as your list price, you and the buyer can go ahead with the transaction. Even if the appraisal doesn’t go through, though, you still have options. If you’d like to discuss what these options are, feel free to reach out to me. 

And, as always, if you have any other questions or would like more information, please give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon. 

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.

Should you list your home now as we approach the fall and winter seasons? Or should you wait until next spring? People ask me this a lot during this time of year, so I thought I would share my thoughts with you today.

If I showed you a list of the percentages of sale from January 1 to December 31, you would see a bell curve. What's interesting about this bell curve is that, while the volume does increase, the percentage of sale meaning the homes listed and sold, are almost exactly the same throughout the year.

In simple terms, this means that if there are 100 homes listed in January and 1,000 homes listed in June, you'll see the same percentage of homes sold.

What do these numbers mean? They mean that if you're looking to sell a home in the fall, you're going to have less competition. This means you may be able to net more money because there's less to choose from for the potential buyers looking.

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There is never a bad time or a good time to sell if you need to sell real estate.

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There is never a bad time or a good time to sell if you need to sell real estate. The reality is that we'll get it done for you and net you the most amount of money.

If you have any questions about selling in the fall, please let me know. I look forward to speaking with you soon.

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.

Selling a home can be an extremely emotional process, and because it isn’t something most people do very often in their lifetime, it’s sometimes confusing to know what feelings are normal.

Well, if you’ve found yourself riding an emotional rollercoaster during your selling experience, you’re not alone. There are nine emotional stages most sellers go tend to go through over the course of their transaction.

1. Excitement. Once sellers have finally signed the listing documents, they tend to feel energized by the prospect of the sale.


2. Anxiety. After the home is live on the market, a number of “what-if” scenarios can start popping into a seller’s mind. They wonder whether anyone will like their home, whether they’re going to get a fair deal, and whether they’re making the right choice in the first place.


3. Delight. Shortly into the listing process, nervous energy starts to wear off and sellers bounce back to the positive end of the emotional spectrum. Everything appears to be going well, and all signs point to a successful closing being well in sight.


4. Disappointment. Whether it comes from an unpleasant surprise on the inspection report, a difficult negotiation period, or something else entirely, most sellers will have the wind knocked from their sails at some point during the deal.


5. Elation. As the end of the transaction draws near and problems are resolved, the joy of seeing everything come together begins to set in.

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If you’ve found yourself riding an emotional rollercoaster during your selling experience, you’re not alone.

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6. Worry. Until the sellers have reached the closing table, there’s always the chance for more problems to arise. Last-minute details, like the appraisal, can easily take a seller from thrilled to troubled once more.


7. Relief. At last, when they’ve crossed the t’s and dotted the i’s, sellers can finally relax knowing that all their hard work has paid off.


8. Sadness. Even after everything is settled, the reality of knowing their home now belongs to someone else can be somewhat hard to swallow.

9. Joy. After the melancholy dissipates, sellers will find that everything they went through up until this point was worth it.

When you go through the process of selling a home, these ups and downs are normal. As a real estate professional who handles these transactions every day, I still go through this rollercoaster when I sell my own homes. I completely understand what this process and the feelings it brings are like, and would be more than happy to guide you through both.

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.

There are six important points to remember when staging your home for sale. Selling your Minneapolis home? Check out our free home value reportBuying a Minneapolis home? Search all homes for sale When staging your home for sale, there are six important points to remember to ensure that your home sells quickly and for top dollar: 1. Provide a great first impression. It’s very important that you clean the exterior of your house and its entryway, because these are the first two areas buyers see when they walk up to it. For the exterior, simple tasks like cleaning up the yard and planting some flowers can go a long way. In the entryway, you need to declutter. Remember—buyers might have to walk through that entryway while other people are walking through it as well, so if that space is cluttered, they might have a tough time getting a feel for your home. 2. Always be show-ready. You never know when a homebuyer will drive by your home and decide they want to see the inside, so your house always needs to be show-ready. I know this can be inconvenient, but it is only for a small amount of time. 3. Kitchens and bathrooms will sell your home. You don’t have to totally renovate either of these spaces. Small things like changing the knobs on your cabinet doors or adding some knickknacks on the counters can make a big difference.  “ You never know when a homebuyer will drive by your home and decide they want to see the inside. ” 4. Take down the personal photos. This is a tough topic for some people to understand, and I always get asked why it’s a necessary part of the home staging process. First of all, you are already moving, so this will have to happen anyway. Secondly, when a buyer walks into your home, they’re trying to envision themselves living there. When they see you and your family’s pictures everywhere, it is tougher for them to imagine raising their own family there. 5. Put away the pets and litter boxes. If everybody liked pets, I wouldn’t be mentioning this point, but that is not the case. You’re trying to market your home to the masses so you can sell as quickly as possible and maximize your sale price, so hide any pet boxes, dog toys, or any other pet items that might turn a buyer off. 6. Hire an informed agent who understands the market and can price your property well. You’re doing a lot of work to sell for the price you deserve and sell in a timely manner, so hire someone who understands the marketplace and how to achieve your goals. If you have any more questions about home staging or are getting ready to sell, give me a call. I would be happy to do a walk-through of your home and help you stage it myself. If you have any other real estate needs, feel free to reach out to me regardless. I look forward to speaking with you.

Real estate transactions are the targets of scammers all the time. Here are a couple big ones that you need to watch out for. Selling your Minneapolis home? Check out our free home value reportBuying a Minneapolis home? Search all homes for sale I spoke with a friend recently who told me about a real estate scam involving one of his clients. They sold their house and were ready to move. The moving truck arrived, they loaded their belongings into it, and they drove off to the new home they had purchased. The truck never showed up at the next house. The client had been scammed by a fly-by-night moving company, and they never recovered their possessions. This is why today I would like to talk to you about real estate scams you need to avoid so that you don’t end up like my friend’s clients. 1. Moving companies. I had not heard of this before, but new scams pop up all the time. When we move, we use trusted movers that we have used over and over again and who provided consistently excellent service to our clients. When it comes to that point in the transaction, ask us about movers you are considering, and we can advise you about the reputability of that company. 2. Wiring instructions. After we close on your new home, you will receive a check either in the paper mail or you can have it wired to your bank account. A recent scam will email the buyers of pending listings and give out false email instructions for wiring money. In reality, that is not how we would do things. If you see emails like this, give us a call; let us be there for you as you walk through the process. “ New scams pop up all the time.” If you are going through the process of buying a home or moving, use our experience to your advantage. We want to sell your home for the most money in the shortest amount of time and with the least amount of stress, which is where avoiding scams comes in. If you have any questions or are thinking of buying or selling a home, please feel free to reach out to us.