Minneapolis Real Estate Podcast with Erik Winegarden

Buyers and sellers both have closing costs during a transaction. Here’s a bit more info about what sellers have to pay for. Selling your Minneapolis home? Check out our free home value reportBuying a Minneapolis home? Search all homes for sale One question I get a lot is, “What are seller-paid closing costs?” I actually get asked the question so much that I decided to answer it in more detail today. When we’re dealing with a home sale, we always send our sellers an estimate of proceeds. In that estimate, there is always a section for “seller-paid closing costs.” These are various fees associated with purchasing a home.  “ Seller-paid closing costs are customary. ” In today’s competitive market, it’s common for a buyer to come in and make a seller an offer that includes a request for the seller to pay 3% in closing costs. Most sellers finance their big purchase through a mortgage that covers their down payment and gives them a monthly payment. Then they will make a higher offer and then ask the seller to pay 3% for different closing costs from various lenders, title people, and more so they have enough money to complete the purchase of the home. If you have any more questions about this topic or any other questions relating to real estate, give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Selling your Minneapolis home? Check out our free home value reportBuying a Minneapolis home? Search all homes for sale 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. “ There’s a lot of value and service being provided for the money sellers spend on commission. ” 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!

In today’s market, it’s tough to work with an individual agent. They simply cannot match what real estate teams have to offer buyers and sellers. Selling your Minneapolis home? Check out our free home value reportBuying a Minneapolis home? Search all homes for sale When you choose an agent to help you buy or sell a home, you’ll need to decide whether you want to work with an individual agent or an agent who has a team. What’s the difference? We work as part of a team. We don’t just have a bunch of agents working with us either. We have a staff, a full team of people who are providing specific services in order to get you what you’re looking for a smooth transaction and the best return possible on your investment. “ At the end of the day, we want to provide quality service. ” An individual agent is on their own at the end of the day. They are wearing all the hats in the transaction and in today’s market, that is tough to do. At the end of the day, we just want to provide you with quality service and make you the most money possible when you work with us. If you have any questions for us or want to learn more about what we can do for you, give us a call or send us an email. We would love to hear from you.

When it comes to putting a home on the market, pricing is everything. It can be tricky to know how to find a price that’s just right for your listing—but it’s not as hard as you think. Selling your Minneapolis home? Check out our free home value reportBuying a Minneapolis home? Search all homes for sale In today’s hot real estate market here in Minneapolis, pricing is everything. So today I’d like to give you a little insight into what that means and how it affects you. Right now, inventory is low and the market is extremely hot. These circumstances combined always lead my clients to ask me one key question, “How much do I list my home for?” To answer this for you, there are a couple of things I’d like you to keep in mind. First off, consider the pricing of homes in your neighborhood. Something a lot of people might not consider is that to best price your home, you need not only to consider your own home’s features and benefits but also those of your neighbors’. When you look at what those other houses have sold for, or are listed for, you’ll get a good idea of how to list your own home, as well.  Keep in mind though, that while overpricing might seem tempting—given how quickly homes are moving off the market—it may not be such a good idea. To explain why, I like to use this analogy: When a store stocks new items, they tend to put them in the front. They’re often listed at a higher price and, sometimes, go overlooked until eventually their price is bumped down to the point where they go into the back of the store on a clearance shelf. “ When you overprice your home, you run the risk of it being overlooked and eventually being “put on the clearance shelf.” ” When you overprice your home, you run the risk of it being overlooked and eventually being “put on the clearance shelf,” so to speak. Pricing can be tricky—because you also don’t want to list your home too low. You should think of pricing like a bell curve and try to put your home on a point where you’ll create a multiple offer or quick offer scenario so we can net you the most money. If you’d like me to help you learn more, or if you have any other questions, feel free to get in touch. Give me a call or email—I’m happy to help. I look forward to hearing from you.

I am so excited about our new listing that I want to make sure you get a sneak preview before it even hits the market! Selling your Minneapolis home? Check out our free home value reportBuying a Minneapolis home? Search all homes for sale Today I’m coming to you from a beautiful property that is set to hit the market in about a week. As you’ll see in the video above, the seller is actually finishing up a great remodel. The kitchen now opens up to the living room and will have granite countertops very soon. There is also a brand-new deck in the backyard. “ This home has been completely redone! ” The backyard opens up to a state park, so you will have all the privacy you want. This is a 3-bed, 2-bath split-level home that has been completely redone. In addition to a brand-new kitchen with new appliances, the floors have been redone as well. Each bedroom is a decent size and comes with good closet space. This stunner is in a great neighborhood and will hit the market at $249,900. If you would like to learn more details about this property before it goes live on the market, give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you.

Zillow is being sued over its Zestimate tab, which should be a reminder that no algorithm can accurately price your home. Selling your Minneapolis home? Check out our free home value reportBuying a Minneapolis home? Search all homes for sale Why is Zillow is facing a lawsuit over the use of their Zestimate tab? How does this affect you? The Zestimate tab is their automated tool that gives you a valuation of your home based on an algorithm. The lawsuit comes from a woman whose home’s Zestimate was far below the actual market value of her home and what she was trying to sell it for. She’s claiming that the Zestimate value was a detriment to her sale. This isn’t the first time I’ve heard of something like this, and I’ve talked with a lot of people in the past who’ve been confused about the difference between what Zillow says their house is worth and what they can actually sell it for. Here’s the reality of the situation—no algorithm can accurately price your home. It can’t see the features and benefits of the inside of the home or the features and benefits of your neighbor’s home. At the end of the day, it’s next to impossible to replace actual eyeballs. “ An algorithm can’t account for your home’s features and benefits. ” Think about it—how’s an algorithm supposed to know the difference between two 4-bedroom, 4-bathroom, 2-car-garage homes located in the same neighborhood if one is pristine and the other is trashy? It will automatically place the same exact value on those two homes, which inevitably won’t be right. If you have questions about the value of your home or want an accurate estimation of it, give me a call so we can walk through it together and come up with a price that will allow buyers to see what it’s actually worth based on the competition. If you have any other questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’d be happy to help.

Today I’m going over three things you should consider when selling your home in our multiple offer market. Selling your Minneapolis home? Check out our free home value reportBuying a Minneapolis home? Search all homes for sale If you’re looking to sell a home in this market, chances are there are going to be multiple offers on your home. If a multiple offer situation does arise, there are three things you should consider. First, don’t focus solely on price. Take into consideration what type of financing the buyers have, whether it's a conventional loan, FHA loan, or cash. Also, you’ll want to check out their closing time frames to see which one meets your needs the best. It’s not always that bottom dollar that makes an offer the best one for you. Second, be patient when you list your home on the market. It’s all about getting the right offer. When you get the offers in, take the right amount of time to truly look through them. “ A great, unbiased agent will ensure you make the best decision for you and your family. ” Third, remember that there are a lot of emotions involved when selling a home. You need to work with an agent to guide you through the process and take the emotions out of it. At the end of the day, emotions make things harder to process, so a great, unbiased agent will ensure you make the best decision for you and your family. If you have any questions about selling a home or you have any other real estate questions, please don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you.

Our market is very competitive right now from a buyer’s perspective. Here’s how you can get a leg up on the competition. Selling your Minneapolis home? Check out our free home value reportBuying a Minneapolis home? Search all homes for sale As you are probably aware, the market is very competitive right now in the Twin Cities. Homes are moving quickly, as soon as they hit the market in some cases. If you’re looking to buy a home, we have three great properties to show you today that haven’t even gone on the market yet. We wanted you to have a look first in case you were interested. The first property is at 1661 Jefferson Ave in St. Paul. This one is pretty special. It’s a complete remodel, having been gutted down to the studs before being built back up. It is now absolutely stunning. It’s a 5-bedroom, 4-bathroom home with a 2-car garage. It’s in an amazing neighborhood and for a list price of $550,000, it’s worth every nickel. “ We want to give you that slight edge. ” The second one is at 8518 Saratoga over in Eden Prairie. This one is nestled in the middle of a great neighborhood with great schools. We’re listing this 4-bedroom, 3-bathroom home for just $309,000. The final one we have is over at 6905 Vincent Ave S in Richfield. This one is a 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom complete remodel with new granite countertops and stainless steel appliances. This one is going on the market at $269,900. Properties are coming and going at the drop of a hat in this market. If you can’t find a way to get a slight edge, you might not be able to get the home you want. We can help you get that slight edge by allowing you to come see one of these properties before we list it on the market.  If you’d like to see one of them in person or if you just have any questions, give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you.

We're getting late into the winter, which means you might be thinking about selling your house. If you've lived in that house for a long time though, how can you prepare it to sell in today's market? Selling your Minneapolis home? Check out our free home value reportBuying a Minneapolis home? Search all homes for sale Being in the late winter, many of us are preparing our homes to sell. Many of us have also lived in our house for many years, which leaves many people wondering what exactly they need to do to prepare it for sale. There are a lot of little things you can do to prepare your home for sale, but many of us don't want to mess with those things. Luckily, we have handymen, painters, and every kind of service provider you can think of to take care of those repairs for you. We're not necessarily looking to remodel your home or make it the Taj Mahal. Rather, the goal is to open up the marketplace for you by making your home more appealing to the masses. We don't want to only be able to show your home to a few people who like it. “ We don't have to turn your home into the Taj Mahal to sell for top dollar. ”As agents, our goal is to simplify this process for you, not to make life tougher. If you're thinking about selling your property but have reservations about how daunting it feels, just give me a call. We can take a walk through your house and create a simple plan of things you need to do. You'll then have the option to do these things yourself or have someone else do them for you. No matter what you choose, we will simplify it for you.  If you'd like to talk more about what your home needs to be ready for the market, just give me a call or send me an email. I'd be happy to help.

Inventory is low and buyer demand is high, making our current market very competitive and difficult to navigate. Whether you are buying or selling, you need an experienced agent on your side. Selling your Minneapolis home? Check out our free home value reportBuying a Minneapolis home? Search all homes for sale In our current market, we have low inventory and interest rates are absolutely incredible. As a result, things can get pretty competitive out there. That is why you need to hire a professional real estate agent to help you negotiate the sale or purchase of your home. Right now, saving 2% to 3% on your home purchase or gaining 2% to 3% on your home sale can mean a difference of $5,000 to $20,000, which is a significant number. “ This is one of the biggest investments you will make in your lifetime. ” When you hire a real estate agent, look for an experienced agent who has been in the game for a long time and sells homes on daily basis. You want to work with an agent who does this for a living, not a part-time paper pusher. After all, this is one of the biggest investments that you will probably make in your lifetime. Make sure you hire a professional to help you. If you have any questions, just give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!