Most people are aware that rents are always rising, but many don't know that renting is currently more expensive than buying a home. That's right -- many renters can afford to purchase a home and don't even know it. Today, I want to offer a few tips to help you avoid getting trapped in the rental market.

There are many benefits to owning a home. Home ownership protects you from rising rents in today's economy. When you rent a home, you are paying for someone else's mortgage. If you look at the costs, locking in your mortgage rate is a fixed expense. When you rent, leases are almost guaranteed to rise.

It's also important to know your options. There are a lot of misconceptions out there. For example, you don't need 10% or 20% saved for a down payment on a home. You may have enough money for a down payment already, and your credit score may be high enough to buy a home as well.

There are many different loan programs out there depending on where you want to buy. The best thing to do is get in touch with your loan officer or real estate agent to review your options. If you're thinking about buying, contact them three months ahead. There are problems with many credit reports today that take time to clean up.

Remember, don't hold yourself back! If you have any questions about buying a home in today's market, give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you.

One final note: thank you all for your support in 2015! 2016 looks like it will be another great year for real estate although we will be in a seller's market.

Today, we want to give you a quick 2015 market wrap up. What market trends have we seen over the last month and what can be expected moving forward?

Here are the quick facts:

Now is a great time to put your home on the market. Inventory is low and prices are rising, so you might be surprised to find that your home has higher equity than you realized.

If you have any questions about how to take advantage of these market conditions, or if you need real estate assistance of any kind, please don't hesitate to reach out to us. We would love to hear from you!

We’ve been a proud supporter of Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals since 1992. Tens of thousands of RE/MAX agents have been involved with this organization for 23 years. Together, we raise money for children with disabilities and these hospitals cater specifically to that demographic.

I had the pleasure of touring the Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare, a nonprofit hospital affiliated with this charity, located in St. Paul. I saw what they do behind-the-scenes there and it’s incredible.
 

There’s something you should know when working with a RE/MAX agent. If they’re involved with this program, part of their commission goes to the Children’s Miracle Network whenever a transaction closes. It’s so important to give back to the community.

As always, if you have any questions about the Children’s Miracle Network or real estate, please reach out. Give me a call or send me an email today.

When trying to get a home loan, there are many things you need to avoid in order to ensure things go smoothly. Knowing what to expect and how to handle yourself is crucial. Your finances are under a lot of scrutiny when applying for a loan to buy a home, so be sure to avoid these 10 things:

1. Change jobs
2. Charge credit cards
3. Fall behind on payments
4. Spend any money you've set aside for the buying process
5. Omit any information or debts on initial application

  

You're going to get checked a few days before closing and underwriters are going to keep a close eye on your finances throughout the process. If you do any of these things, they will notice, and it could affect your ability to close.

If you have any questions about how you can be sure the buying process goes smoothly, give us a call or shoot us a quick email. We would love to hear from you!

First off, I wanted to just thank you all for the great response last month regarding my location video for Northeast Minneapolis. I got a lot of requests to do some more of these videos for other communities in the area, so I thought I’d continue that trend. Today we are visiting Saint Anthony Village, a normal community sandwiched between Roseville and New Brighton in Northeast Minneapolis.

They have three schools in this area: Wilshire Park Elementary, St. Anthony Middle School, and St. Anthony High School. These schools have been recognized among the top 500 nationally and top 10 in the state. We have friends and family who have sent their kids to this district and are very happy about it.

Originally, St. Anthony Village was much larger, but a lot of the area was taken up by the Apache Plaza in 1961, until it was torn down in 2004. Since then, they have redeveloped the land into Silver Lake Village, a really nice area with high walkability. 

St. Anthony Village is partly located in two different counties, and the city has approximately 8,500 residents. I have buyers right now that I can’t find homes for in St. Anthony, as it is such a highly sought after community.

A few more things I’d like to note about St. Anthony Village. They were not as affected by the 2008 market downturn as some other areas, which kept home prices more stable. They also hold a village festival every year, with a big parade and live music. We always have a great time there.

If you want to learn more about St. Anthony Village or take a look for yourself, give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you!

I've been meaning to highlight areas of Minneapolis that I

enjoy and that are also worth living in. Today I'll be speaking about

my own neck of the woods, which is Northeast Minneapolis. There is a

lot to do around here, whether you like sports, music, art, or just a cold

beer.

This area boasts a strong arts district which

hosts something called Art-A-Whirl every year that brings in a lot of local

artists and musicians. You can learn more about this festival here.

as Nordeast, and a lot has changed in the last 10 years. However,

a lot of old institutions are still here like Jax Cafe, Stanley's, and Elsie's

Bowling Alley.

Anchor, which serves fish and chips and is one of the highest-rated restaurants

in the area. Betty Danger's Country Club has a Ferris Wheel

attached to their restaurant, so this is a perfect destination for your family. You

can even dine in one of the cars on the Ferris Wheel!

One of the major reasons that the Nordeast is prized is

because we have very good schools in this part of the city. Waite Park

Elementary School has been ranked extremely high, as well as Northeast Middle

School, and then there is Edison High School.

Northeast Minneapolis, I recommend you come out and take a look. It's

a very relaxed, family-friendly area. Please don't hesitate to ask me about

this part of Minneapolis because I would love to talk to you about it!

How do you determine the value of your home before putting it on the market? A lot of people have been asking me that question lately, so today, I'll try to answer it.

The main thing agents use to determine home value is a comparable market analysis. We look at homes similar to yours in your area built within five years of your home. We also examine square footage, the number of bedrooms, and the number of bathrooms. We try to find homes that are the most like yours that have sold in the last 90 to 180 days, and see how they were priced.

Then we look at the active and sold properties. I even look at the properties that didn't sell, the expired and canceled listings. I try to determine why those properties didn't sell. Was the home overpriced, or was it because of market conditions beyond the owner's control?

A lot of people also ask me if they can determine how much their home is worth from third-party websites, such as Zillow and Trulia. The short answer is no. You cannot determine what your home is worth based on their estimates. No one from Zillow or Trulia has been in your home, so they cannot give you an accurate estimate of the value. All homes are different. Renovations and upgrades can definitely change the value of your home, and Zillow and Trulia won't know about those upgrades.

If you have any questions about today's video, or about real estate in general, please contact me. I'd be happy to help you!

Hey everyone, welcome back to our blog. Today we are going to discuss a few different types of real estate agents that are out there. This way, you can decide for yourself which type of approach fits you and your goals best. 

Transactional agents are focused on a single objective: making the sale. Transactional marketing tactics include ads and promotions geared toward an immediate sale. It's great for selling quickly, but the sale is a one-time event. We call these agents one-and-done agents, because they don't take the time to build relationships, but use incentives, discounts, and buzzwords to make as many sales as they can with the least amount of effort.

Relationship agents have broader, longer term goals than transactional agents. Relationship marketing focuses on developing long-lasting relationships with clients to secure sales far into the future. Knowledge and application of this marketing helps achieve customer satisfaction, customer retention, and friendships. For this to be effective, you need to be able to stay in touch with your clients through the entire home buying and selling process. This is the way we do business on our team. 

When deciding the type of agent you want selling your home, keep these things in mind. If you have any questions for us, or are looking to buy or sell a home in the Twin Cities, give us a call. We would love to hear from you!

The Twin Cities market is hot right now, so we wanted to send you an update today to let you know how it's performing. 

If you're priced right, your home should sell. If it's not selling, you probably need to reevaluate your listing, and ask yourself the following three questions as a seller:

The biggest problem sellers have is believing their home is better and worth more than comparable homes on the market. If you don't present value as a seller on the market, your home will sit on the market and become stagnant. For buyers, you should be out looking now due to rising home prices and interest rates.

There are many buyers out there looking at homes right now, which is creating competition for the best homes. Most of the time, this will lead to homes receiving multiple offers. 

If you have any questions for us, or want to hear some more about the latest market statistics, give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to speaking with you!

The busy spring market is here, and I thought I'd let you in on what's happening in our local market. It always helps to have a good idea of what's happening, because it becomes much easier to go through with a profitable transaction. The statistics I'm sharing with you today are being compared to the numbers we saw from March of 2014.

As of today we're seeing homes sell much quicker due to a higher demand from buyers. This is fantastic news if you're looking to sell because prices are going up and we're seeing fewer days on the market. However, every neighborhood is different, so please contact me if you're looking to buy or sell this year.