Right now homes for sale inventory is quite low and buyers are having a hard time finding homes to look at and buy. If there is a great home on the market it sells very quickly. This shortage of homes and abundance of buyers has created a bit of a seller’s market. What strategies can you use to help get a home in a seller’s market?

• Be alert – check new listings as soon as you receive them and look at homes that fit your criteria as soon as possible.
• Be ready – be mentally and physically ready to make an offer the first time you see a home. Time is your enemy. If you sleep on it, it could cost you the house.
• Be flexible – Can you be a bit flexible with your criteria? Rather than four bedrooms, will three work, if the house is perfect except for an older kitchen, can you renovate it after you move in? Now is not the time to be extremely picky.
• Be patient – you may find the right home today or four weeks from today, but don’t despair, be patient and you will find a home.
• Be persistent – it is normal right now to lose several homes in multiple offer situations. Don’t despair, learn from each situation and develop a better plan for the next time.

Buyers are finding homes they want to buy and they are buying them, but you need to keep the above strategies in mind.

Why Sell Now? If you have been thinking of selling your home, now is the time to get it on the market! The real estate market has been a buyer’s market for a long time now but recently we are back to being a seller’s market with such a low housing inventory and so many buyers. Below are some of the top reasons why now is a great time to be a seller!

• Did you know that inventory levels declined 31.6 percent to 12,202 active listings in February 2013, the lowest number for any month going back to January 2003.
• Increased buyer demand has created bidding wars for homes on the market that are priced correctly.
• That average time on market to sale has dropped some 20% from just one year ago.
• Buyers are out in full force and want to buy now to take advantage of the still low interest rates.

There are other reasons for you to put your home on the market and I would be happy to sit down and discuss them with you. Contact me if you would like me to do a market analysis for your home or fill out the Complimentary CMA Form here on my website!

The Twin Cities is in a seller’s market right now! According to the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors, we only have a 2.9 months’ supply of inventory on the market, anything under 4 months is considered a sellers’ market, 5-6 months’ worth of inventory is a healthy market.  Traditional homes made up 72.3% of the listings making it the highest percentage of traditional homes on the market since June 2008!

What are homes selling for?  Sellers received 93.7 percent of their list price, on average, up from 90.6 percent last year. Conventional financing comprised 46.7 percent of all closed sales; FHA financing was used on 20.9 percent of sales; cash buyers made up 25.1 percent of sales.

There are so many motivated buyers on the market and simply not enough homes for them to choose from!  If you are considering selling your home, please contact me!  I would love to do a no obligation market analysis on your home – it may be worth more than you think and you may want to get it on the market while market is hot! Let me help you put a sold sign on your home!

The Minneapolis Area Association has released the Twin Cities market statistics for the week ending February 23.  The spring market is upon us and the buyers are coming out of the woodwork at a fast pace but the homes for sale are not coming onto the market causing a very serious shortage of homes for buyers to choose from. Right now it has changed from a buyers to a sellers market.  With such a low inventory of homes for sale, homes priced correctly are selling fast and often end up in multiple offer situations.

In the Twin Cities region, for the week ending February 23:
• New Listings decreased 6.1% to 1,176
• Pending Sales increased 3.1% to 927
• Inventory decreased 30.9% to 12,341

For the month of January:
• Median Sales Price increased 14.3% to $160,000
• Days on Market decreased 24.1% to 107
• Percent of Original List Price Received increased 2.5% to 93.5%
• Months Supply of Inventory decreased 40.0% to 3.0