Archive for the 'My Listings' Category
NoMi Home Tour…What makes it tick like it does?
July 17th, 2010 Categories: Minneapolis Home Buyers and Sellers, My Listings, North Minneapolis, Real Estate News, That Flippin' House, Twin Cities Home Buyers, Twin City Sellers
Unbelievable to some, the area (click here for a map) of North Minneapolis is a vibrant, solid and happy piece of real estate that many consider scary and decayed.
Wake up, my Twin Cities people!
Most every week, I end up defending this distinct area. I grew up in the City of Detroit (really!) and, believe me, this is like Beverly Hills, compared to the Detroit area. In fact, where I grew up, my house has been bulldozed, along with a 2 square mile stretch that I called home to me and my friends and neighbors. (Pheasants now inhabit the area. Yuck.)
Each individual neighborhood in North has its own committees that work as hard as can be to boost the homes and businesses that lay among their turf. Granted, there are shootings and robberies in North that take us back a few steps, but for for the most part, these hard-working, good citizens have a lot to be proud of.
Today, Sunday, July 18th, the NoMi Home Tour will be happening for those potential buyers who would like to live in a great city and have access to downtown only within minutes…seriously, just a couple of minutes! The homes are vintage mission style bungalows that speak to quality, charm and good neighbor issues.
Please join us Realtors who have invested in our clients the opportunity to view and purchase some of the most unique and cared-for homes in the Twin Cities.
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Twin City Sellers, Price Your Home Right - Right From the Start!
September 7th, 2009 Categories: My Listings, Real Estate News, Twin City Sellers
This is one of my listings that I sold this summer in just 35 days! 3209 Florida Avenue South in St. Louis Park.
It’s always an exciting moment for me when I have a listing appointment with a potential seller. I love to sell homes and I really love to discuss with my clients the different aspects of what it takes to sell their home, examining the comparative market analysis that I have prepared and what to expect during the selling process.
BUT WAIT! Once in a while, the seller seems to think that they know what the price of their home should be (or wants it to be)! This makes it a bit difficult for me to proceed when they already have a pre-conceived notion in their heads. I continue with my listing appointment, none-the-less, and look at all of the aspects of what will go in to the pricing decision. Most of the time, we will agree to price the home properly and all’s well that ends well.
Inevitably, there are sellers who resist and insist on pricing it higher than what the market will bear, or,in other words, what the buyers are willing to pay. This sets both the sellers and myself up for disaster.
What are the objections of the sellers when I advise them to list their home lower than they believe it should be?
- The neighbors down the street sold their home for the price that we want to list ours at and it’s even not as nice.
- We have to get this much, or we’ll be upside down.
- We put a lot of money into this house to fix it up. Just look at the bathroom!
- We have our eye on a new house up the road and it will take this price for us to be able to do it.
- We’ve lived here for ten years and we expect lots of equity by now.
- We want to price it higher so that we have some wiggle room if a low offer comes in.
These are actual comments that I have heard. So, if I don’t make it clear as to what the market is doing and they won’t listen, I have a choice to make. I either take the listing at the price my sellers want to sell it at, or advise them that I will not list their home at the price they want and risk losing the listing and subsequent sale.
To be frank, I’ve done both. In either scenario, I’ve never been wrong about where the price should be when it was originally listed. It’s a matter of whether my clients will cooperate. I have taken listings at too high a starting point and I have walked away from potential listings where I knew that it would never sell at the high price. At some point, I let the sellers know that I cannot sell their home at the current price and it has to be lowered.
If they don’t want to or can’t, then it’s time for us to part ways. This happened to me twice this summer. Both times, the sellers went with another Realtor and immediately lowered the price to where I had suggested! What!!!???
Are the sellers just saving face by making such a seemingly illogical decision? I have mentioned this phenomenon to fellow Realtors and they have gone through the same thing with their buyers, too. I have not figured it out yet, but I will persevere to get the answer.
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Short Sales and Cheese Cake
May 19th, 2009 Categories: Cool Guys, My Listings, Real Estate News, The Good Life
Short sales take a long time to happen from the moment a home is listed until the day of closing. There are a myriad of twists and turns that take place and, I for one, do not enjoy working them through. It is, unfortunately, a fact of life these days. For some reason, some buyers’ agents still don’t realize the time it takes for the bank to get its act together. I have written about short sales on this blog before, so I won’t get in to all of the gory details here.
Nope, this post is about my real estate colleague, Bob Bergh. I just want to thank him publicly for taking the helm on a tricky short sale that we just completed. He basically did all of the leg work after we received a purchase agreement on the property. We had at least four purchase agreements that I recall and hundreds of inquiries. Plus many hours, days, weeks and months of wrangling. Whew!
I also wanted to thank him personally so I took him to lunch at the Cheese Cake Factory after the closing. Bob had wild blue berry cheese cake and I had carrot cake cheese cake. Yum!
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Additional $8,000 to Buyers in the 55411 Zip! No Kidding!
April 17th, 2009 Categories: My Listings, North Minneapolis, Twin Cities Home Buyers
Here is an open letter to the “powers that be” in Minneapolis that Rony Davis wants to share with everyone:
Great News !
I am so excited…I want to shout!
Neighborhood Housing Services of Minneapolis is absolutely thrilled to tell you that the Pohlad Family Giving Foundation has provided 1 Million Dollars in home buyer assistance funding to NHS of Minneapolis, designated specifically for the Minneapolis 55411 Zip Code. This area includes the Jordan, Hawthorne, Willard Hay and Near North Neighborhoods of Minneapolis.
The down payment, closing cost funds are available up to $8,000 @ 0%. These loans will be deferred (meaning no monthly payment) and forgivable after 7 years of continued ownership and residency.
These funds have no income restrictions and are not restricted to first time home buyers, although first time buyers must complete Home Buyer Training and buyers must intend to occupy the home. Further, this program may be used in conjunction with other home buyer assistance programs. How great is that!
Eligible homes include single family, duplexes, town homes and condominiums in the 55411 zip code of Minneapolis.
We are very excited about this wonderful opportunity and we appreciate the Pohlad Family Giving Foundation for their generous commitment to the stabilization efforts in our community and their confidence in NHS.
For more information, call NHS of Minneapolis at 612-521-3581 weekdays and/or check out the flyer, attached.
Please forward this notice to others who may benefit from this exciting news.
V. J. (Rony) Davis
Executive Director
Neighborhood Housing Services of Minneapolis, Inc.
1501 Dupont Avenue N.
Minneapolis, MN 55411
612.521-3581
Check out this listing at www.JeanieHoholik.com and http://www.twincityrealestatechat.com/2009/03/20/2755-russell-avenue-north-sneak-peak/ . You have access to Minneapolis Advantage funds. If you’re a first time home buyer, another $8,000 credit and, now, $8,000 from the Pohlad Foundation! Plus that, interest rates are at an all time low.
Seriously, what are you waiting for?
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Long Story Short: Short Sales Take a Long Time!
January 3rd, 2009 Categories: Mortgage Stuff, My Listings, Real Estate News, Twin Cities Real Estate Economy
Short sales are commonplace these days and they are a force to be reckoned with. To be honest, I don’t care to delve into these transactions, but every once in a while it is inevitable.
Currently, I have a beautiful “short sale” listing in Minnetonka that clearly states in the agent remarks of the MLS there is a third party negotiator and to call my co-lister for more information. There are a team of professionals who assist me in working with short sales as well as other tedious and difficult transactions.
Here are the nuts and bolts of a short sale:
- A short sale means that you will sell your home for less than your mortgage amount.
- Sometimes you can work out payments with your mortgage company or bank, sometimes not.
- Sometimes your mortgage lender will not agree to even process a short sale.
- Short sales will have a negative effect on your credit score, however, less destructive than a foreclosure.
- There are third party negotiators, in some cases, who will take over the administrative portion of the sale, such as, ordering a broker price opinion (BPO) and coordinating the purchase agreements that come in for the property. This is coordinated through your Realtor.
- The process can be very long and it is important to let the sellers and the buyers know that they had better have some patience if they want to keep the transaction together.
- Get a good Realtor who has a strong team behind her to make the transaction as smooth as possible.
Even though short sales are an ugly part of life, the process can be made a bit more palatable when you have the people working for you and keeping you abreast of what is happening every step of the way. We know what we’re doing and are here to help!
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The Secret to Marketing a Home on the Internet
December 31st, 2008 Categories: Minneapolis Home Buyers and Sellers, My Listings, Real Estate News, Twin Cities Home Buyers, Twin City Sellers
As a Realtor, I need to be one step ahead of my competition and always on the ball when it comes to marketing my listings. It is a known fact that 87% of potential home buyers now cruise the internet real estate websites before they call their Realtor. I make sure my listings are in tip-top marketing shape before I present them to the world.
One way that my clients can find out what’s been happening out there in the market besides actual showings of their home is to have me send them some statistics from these websites. We call these “hits”.
I do this every Monday so that it gives them an idea of the traffic that visits their actual listing on line. Since I supply many pictures of the interior of the home, people will “stop by” and take a closer look at the property. I also supply a bold headline and other various marketing tools on Realtor.com. Click here to see this home on Realtor.com so that you know what I mean.
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“Water Cooler Jitters” About North Minneapolis
October 6th, 2008 Categories: Minneapolis Home Buyers and Sellers, My Listings, North Minneapolis, Real Estate News, That Flippin' House
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Great Big Flowers in North Minneapolis…I Challenge You to Find Bigger Ones!
September 8th, 2008 Categories: Minneapolis Home Buyers and Sellers, My Listings, North Minneapolis, Real Estate News, That Flippin' House, Twin Cities Home Buyers, Twin City Sellers
On our latest home buyer excursion in North Minneapolis this past Saturday, we had the pleasure to see some lovely homes and landscaping. My client is listing her new refurbished home at 3346 Girard and has done a great job of planting flowers and even laying new sod. It is absolutely gorgeous.
But, as we began to look for a new home for her to perform her magic we stumbled on this house with gigantic sun flowers! Wow! Just another great day in North!
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GE Electronic Lock “I” Box…How to Ruin a Beautiful Sunday Open House In Maple Grove
June 7th, 2008 Categories: Maple Grove Stuff, My Listings, Real Estate News
It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon and I was just about to go show houses in Savage when one of my co-agents called to say he couldn’t get into the lock box at the open house he was doing for me in Maple Grove. I told him I’d be right there and when I arrived with my “key”, which is my Treo phone, it wouldn’t open it either.
Turns out, we had a total of three showings that day and two had already come and gone without getting in to see the property. We had another showing scheduled for that evening, too!
My co-worker was kind enough to wait for the homeowner (who we called) to get another key and stay later than the scheduled open to show the other Realtor who was coming. He’s a sweetie!
The $80 GE Supra “I” Box was as dead as a doornail. I checked on my computer at home and it claimed on the website that it had an 88% battery life. OK. So what, then, was the problem? Read the rest of this entry »
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Hey, Little Miss Realtor, Don’t Even Think About Taking a Weekend Off! Here’s What Happens When A Realtor Tries to Takes a Vacation
May 8th, 2008 Categories: My Listings, Real Estate News, Twin Cities Home Buyers, Twin Cities Real Estate Economy, Twin City Sellers
I know that I shouldn’t complain. I received three purchase agreements in the last two days on three different properties that I have listed.
Trouble is, I’m taking a short vacation to go to Chicago to see my kids this weekend. I figure it’s Mom’s Day and the fishing opener here in Minnesota, so should be smooth sailing, right? NOT!
Not to mention, Read the rest of this entry »
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