Hi and welcome to our first blog!  For many years we have discussed doing a blog and since it is a new year, Danielle and I have decided it was time to check another goal off the list!  After 9 years in the business there is a lot for us to share with you, some stuff about real estate, some stuff just about us & the Twin Cities!  I want to jump right in and talk a little about where the market ended last year and where it's headed in 2015! 

Real Estate has been staying busy for several years now.  Most people would say the market has come back around after a 5 year long recession and recovery.  2012 is when we started to see an increase in the market when many first time home buyers made the jump from renting or living with their parents to homeownership.  The supply of listings & low home prices that were available from the recession made buying a home attainable for a great number of people that previously couldn't afford it.  In 2013, less listings were put on the market then expected, but we still experienced strong demand which kept the market driving forward. We experienced multiple offer situations in many of our transactions throughout the year as more people started realizing it was time to make a move and buy a home and as the inventory shrunk.  2014 brought a small increase in listings (+2.3%) over the previous year but we were down in both pending (-6.1%) and closed (-6.9%) sales and the end of year inventory is down 7.2% from 2013.  It also showed the signs of a much more balanced market as home prices tapered off from their fairly quick incline of the previous 2 years.  Days on market increased by 5 days over the course of the year and we still ended the year with less inventory than we started.  

It is considered a balanced market when we have 5-7 months of inventory on the market.  As of November 2014 we are at about 4 months of supply for single family homes, 2.4 months for town homes, & 3 months for condos. (http://spaar.com/statistics/HSO/2014/SPAAR_HSO_2014-11.pdf)

Over all, these numbers should make for a more stable environment, but 2015 is still going to be a hot year to purchase. Fueled mostly by renters that are tired of their rent going up and baby boomers that are ready to sell!  If we do not see an increase in listings it’s going to be a very competitive market for buyers this year.  With the recent reduction in the mortgage insurance rate and steadying house prices, buying a home is still affordable and within your reach! Call us to see what you qualify for, it’s a relatively easy process and you could potentially have a pre-approval that same day.  

Want to see the Annual report of the 2013 Twin Cities Market? Go here: http://spaar.com/statistics/ANNUAL/2014/SPAAR_ANN_2014.pdf

Thanks for taking the time to ready my first blog, we hope you enjoyed it! Please ask questions, leave comments, share with your friends, and most of all, love life!

 Justin & Danielle