Minnesota Real Estate Podcast With Chad and Sara Huebener

Chad and Sara Huebener
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If you are looking to buy or sell a home, get all the information and the latest updates, tips, and tricks from Edina Realty - your professional Real Estate Agents.

  1. 04/26/2022 ·  Video

    Your March 2022 Real Estate Market Update

    Here’s what’s happening in our market as we head into spring. Let’s talk today about the early spring market. Our state association of Realtors says that the number of closed sales fell by 50% compared to March 2021. If the market is so hot, how can we sell fewer homes? It’s just because we don’t have enough homes. It’s hard to sell properties when there are none available. The new listings in March of this year were down 45% compared to last year. Statewide, our inventory shrank by 25% down to one month of supply. Our inventory crunch is just continuing to build. What does this mean for sellers and buyers? One topic we’ve covered in our office for a few weeks now is buying power, or a buyer’s ability to purchase a home. Obviously, this impacts buyers, but it can also affect sellers. “These rising interest rates affect both buyers and sellers.” Right now, rates are around 5%. Two months ago, they were around 4%. If you were an entry-level buyer looking at a $450,000 home two months ago, you could only afford a $400,000 house now. That’s a big decrease in the type of home you can afford. For sellers, that means that your buyer pool has shifted. If you’re selling a $400,000 house, you’re now marketing to buyers who were looking at $450,000 properties not too long ago. That takes a different strategy. You have to understand what that means for you. These interest rates are very fluid right now, especially since we’re entering the spring market. Even with the inventory shortage, we’re still seeing a lot of interesting offers and strategies.  If you have any questions about our local market or real estate in general, please call or email us. We would love to hear from you.

  2. 04/04/2022 ·  Video

    Is Your Valuation Accurate?

    Please take a close look at your valuation notice when you receive it. Today we’ll talk about the property tax valuation notices for Scott County that were recently sent out. It’s no surprise property values increased last year, but is the county’s valuation accurate? We’ve been talking to past clients about the valuations, and we’re seeing a fairly consistent 20% increase in taxable value from 2022. We ran some reports on Scott County to see how much the median sales price increased over the past year. Across the board, Scott County is fairly consistent at 10.1%. The average sales price increase wasn’t much higher at 10.9%. The different cities within the county all hover right around that same amount, with the exception of Prior Lake. Some of the increased values we’ve seen seem to be accurate, and some are noticeably higher, so be aware of that when you get your valuation and take a look at it. Make sure they make sense to you. If we can help answer any questions for you, reach out to us at any time by phone or email. We look forward to hearing from you.

  3. 01/21/2022 ·  Video

    How To Prepare for the Spring Market

    Here’s how sellers can prepare for our spring market in Minnesota. When we meet with sellers this time of year, we usually advise that they have their homes ready for the spring market around the time of the Super Bowl. It still feels like winter, but about that time is the opening of our Minnesota real estate market. This year we’re seeing more historically low inventory levels than ever before; in some price points, there are almost no homes for sale. On New Year’s Eve, Sara showed a $400,000 home in the South Metro, and it was crawling with people. There was nowhere to park, people were all over the back and side yards, and though they were respectful of others’ space in the home, it was chock full of people. That proves how active this price point is and that there aren’t enough homes to see. “In some price points, there are almost no homes for sale. ” One of the most frequent questions we hear is how sellers can prepare their homes for sale when they have no competing inventory. We address that valid question on a case-by-case basis because, in this environment, some things you would have had to do in the past aren’t needed now. We’re also commonly asked how to begin the process of selling in this fast-paced market. That starts with you giving us a call; we’ll come out to see your home, discuss the market, what needs to be done to prepare, and make a plan for your goals. If you have questions about preparing for the spring market or any other real estate matter, please give us a call or visit our website. Also, if you have a topic you’d like us to discuss in a future blog, please let us know. We’d love to help you.

  4. 12/16/2021 ·  Video

    How Was Last Year’s Real Estate Market?

    What trends emerged from 2021 that will predict the market next year? It’s hard to believe, but we’re nearing the end of 2021. This has been a pretty crazy year in real estate, so today we want to take a look back and wrap up 2021’s market for you.  It’s hard to remember at this point, but even before COVID in 2020, we had low inventory. Once the pandemic started, inventory dropped even lower, leading to one of the craziest seller’s markets we’ve ever seen. This trend continued in 2021, and we saw a very busy spring and summer season.  If you’ve watched our videos before, you know that 2021 was what we call seasonally normal. This means the market tends to be more active in the spring and summer, and it cools off as we head into the fall and winter. Besides our low inventory, you could say this market is fairly average.  “ The story of 2021 was low inventory. ” However, the low inventory changes everything. Even during the holiday season, buyer demand is unsatisfied. Because more people are working from home, we’ve seen many people moving. This could mean they’re moving out of the city or out of the state, but it seems like a lot of people are taking the work-from-home opportunity to make a move.  We’ve also seen folks take advantage of our low interest rates and try to upgrade their living situation. A lot of people moved from their starter home into a nicer one this year. Meanwhile, single-floor townhouses didn’t see much activity. There was demand, just not at the price point sellers were asking.  This puts a bow on 2021, but that just means it’s time to start looking forward to 2022. We don’t know what the future holds, but if you’re looking to make a move, now is the time to start planning. If you want to discuss your plans for next year, please call or email us. We’d love to help in any way we can.

  5. 04/19/2021 ·  Video

    What Buyers & Sellers Need to Know About This Market

    Here’s an overview of what it’s like to be a buyer or seller in this market. What are we seeing when homes go live on our market? First, most listings coming onto the market are doing so under the ‘coming soon’ status. We’ve done a few videos that delved into this topic, so be sure to explore our website to learn more about what ‘coming soon’ means. Second, a lot of agents are setting timelines for offers received in the lower price points before their homes accept showings or can be classified as ‘active status.’ The fact that sellers are confident enough to set offer deadlines before they schedule any showings points to how confident they are that they’ll receive multiple offers. It’s like we always say when we’re out on showings: You don’t even need to look for the sign anymore—look for the cars and the people. When a home gets listed, especially if it’s under $450,000, it’ll get bombarded with prospective buyers. Maybe not all at once, but you’ll see people waiting to check in when you pull up to the curb and when you leave. Traffic is high, and buyers are very much aware of this.  In a lot of ways, this has created pressure for buyers to figure out how to make their offers stand out when so many others are interested in buying the same homes as them. Thus, we’re seeing a lot of creativity in the offers we’re getting for our listings, and the highest offer doesn’t always win. Some sellers are looking at how much buyers are willing to pay for their homes and noticing that there aren’t any comparables that are even close to justifying those high sales prices.  “Most things happen for a reason, so if you don’t get the house you wanted, the perfect one may still be out there waiting for you.” These same sellers, then, will look at things like contract terms—sometimes there just has to be a happy medium between a nice price and comfortable terms. Inspections are often being waived as well, and cash offers are coming into play too. If you’re a seller, picking the best offer usually requires having a lot of discussions about them. More than anything, we want to highlight the fact that buyers must achieve a certain mental state to compete in this market. To sit down with a buyer and have a conversation about what’s happening is one thing, but once they start looking at properties and seeing other buyers writing offers, the realization that now’s a crazy time with a lot of activity and competition really sinks in. Even if you don’t want to enter into a bidding war, practically every listing gets multiple offers, so you have to be able to put your best foot forward and be comfortable with your offer.  You also have to be patient. Most things happen for a reason, so if you don’t get the house you wanted, the perfect one may still be out there waiting for you. It’s always a good idea to have backup plans in place. Your home purchase may not happen when you hope it does, but it will happen with a little patience.  If you have questions about this market or want our help in buying or selling a home, don’t hesitate to call us anytime. We’d love to speak with you.

  6. 03/29/2021 ·  Video

    An Update on Our Torrential Spring Market

    Here's an on-the-ground perspective of our wild spring market thus far. 2021 is the third straight year of low inventory in our market. Here in early spring, we’re already seeing an extreme amount of buyer demand. Given these low interest rates and a lack of new construction, this should come as no surprise. Not enough homes are hitting the market to match this degree of demand.  On March 15, 2019, there were 87 homes for sale in Savage. At the time, that was considered historically low. On that same day in 2020, there were 67 homes for sale. As of March 15, 2021, there are just 16 active homes for sale. When you consider that 12 of those 16 homes are already under contract, you begin to understand that buyers who need to purchase today are working with virtually zero inventory.  On top of that, many sellers have put showing restrictions in place due to the pandemic, so there are no overlapping showings. The result is that plenty of buyers are finding it near impossible to even get into a house that they’re interested in.  “The last thing you want is to enter a torrential market with the wrong expectations.” Whether you plan on buying or selling this year, know that this crazy market of ours demands special levels of preparation. Have several in-depth conversations with your agent and your lender before you even start the process. We’ve already found ourselves in multiple-offer situations this spring, and new challenges continue to crop up.  The last thing you want is to enter a torrential market with the wrong expectations. You need to be working with experienced professionals who are well-resourced. Whereas the buyer’s agents of yesteryear would try to source the best deal for their clients, today’s buyer’s agents are only focused on doing whatever it takes to get their clients into new homes.  If you have further questions about this or any other real estate topic, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. It’s our pleasure to be your go-to resource, and we hope to hear from you soon.

  7. 03/08/2021 ·  Video

    How Our Early Spring Market Is Doing

    Here’s how the beginning of the spring 2021 market has been faring. Today we’re sharing how the early spring market is doing. We are assuredly in a seller’s market; we’re seeing unprecedented shortages of inventory. Usually, we’d be seeing many more homes coming onto the market by this time in the season; it hasn’t happened yet, but we’re hoping it still will. On the flip side, we’re seeing much more buyer demand than we’ve ever seen this early in the season, and a lot of that is being driven by the very low interest rates. We’re seeing multiple offers on the majority of houses; the most we’ve seen is 62 offers come in for a townhome recently. Nearly all properties are selling within days, if not hours, which means we’re seeing buyer’s creativity increase in their offers. However, some sellers are placing rigid guidelines on what they will and won’t consider in an offer, and some prefer a cleaner offer without all the layers of complexity. “Nearly all properties are selling within days, if not hours.” Just because sellers are receiving so many offers doesn’t mean it’s an easy sale; if you’re getting 62 offers for your home, where do you even start when trying to choose just one? You still need to prepare your house for sale—in that regard, you need to treat this like a typical market. We’re seeing many sellers feel the need to rush their listing, but it’s still crucial for the property to be ready and for you to be mentally ready for the market because things move extremely quickly. If we can answer any questions or you want to discuss a possible move in your future, feel free to give us a call or send an email. Also, let us know if you have a blog topic you’d like us to cover. We look forward to hearing from you.

  8. 02/18/2021 ·  Video

    How to Know What Your Home Is Really Worth

    Our Real Estate Review will let you know what your home is worth.  If you’ve ever wondered what your home is worth, that’s a perfectly reasonable question to ask.  We get asked this question a lot, and not always from prospective sellers. Sometimes people want to know what their home is worth to understand their equity position. Others are looking to refinance their mortgage. Some are thinking about remodeling and know there will be some investment required; thus, they’re interested to see what kind of return they can get.  “If you’re interested in taking advantage of this offer, give us a call or send us an email.” In any case, we can help you understand your home’s worth in a virtual sense with our Real Estate Review. It’s a simple process that follows a few easy steps. First, we’ll have a quick conversation (e.g., five to 10 minutes) about your home and situation. Then we’ll put together a market analysis with some basic market statistics. After that, we’ll follow up with you about our findings.  If you’re interested in taking advantage of this offer, give us a call or send us an email. As always, if you have any other real estate questions, feel free to reach out to us as well. We’d love to help you.

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If you are looking to buy or sell a home, get all the information and the latest updates, tips, and tricks from Edina Realty - your professional Real Estate Agents.

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