Maybe you haven’t heard this, or someone else has told you the exact opposite…but this is a GREAT time of year to put or keep your home on the market. Yes, in Minnesota… yes, even with the cold and snow! It is true that the winter months are slower, but people buy homes for many different reasons… a change in jobs, a change in the family, a change that happens unexpectedly. The buyers that are out there right now aren’t window-shopping. Many say that only “serious buyers” are looking this time of year. Who would you most like to look at your home? With fewer homes on the market, the environment is significantly less competitive for you as a seller. These are great odds. Don’t miss out!
Archive for November, 2008
A few new changes have been made this week on our web site: www.oakrealtymn.com
On our Detailed Search Page (which you can get to by clicking on PROPERTIES on our home page), has a new search field: Street Name. If all you caught was the name on a street sign as you drove by, you now have a field to help search for that property. Or perhaps there are certain streets you are interested in living on — track those listings with this new search field!
The other big change is how you can search for foreclosed/bank-owned properties. The “Bank-Owned” page that was under our PROPERTIES menu is now gone. Come to our Detailed Search Page, and use the links on the right-hand side. Look at just Oak Realty’s Bank-Owned listings, or all company’s, and by price ranges. These results are limited to listings within Wright County. Give us a call to set you up on an automatic search if you’re interested in other areas!
We hope these new tools are useful! As always, we welcome any suggestions to improve our site! Drop us an email at homes@oakrealtymn.com!
Here are some tips from article outlining 10 simple ways to Save you Green! It’s EASY, and does make a DIFFERENCE. So why not?
- Shed Some Light! Swap your standard bulbs for compact fluorescent. Changing 10 bulbs can save you $50 a year. If every Minnesotan swapped one bulb, it would save enough energy to power all St. Paul homes for 6 months.
- Captain Obvious: Regular maintenance on your furnace, air conditioner and air-source heat pump can help them run more efficiently.
- Unplug the Leeches! Every little green or red light you see on a home electronic item are sucking energy. They usually indicate the products are in stand-by mode, and this still consumes 40% of the energy it takes to run them. Unplug them completely, or use a power strip!
- One Good Turn: Programmable thermostats are common, but often not used to their full potential. For every one degree you turn your thermostat up or down, you’ll save 1 percent on your utility bill over 8 hours. Water heaters can also be cranked back.
- Freeze Your Assets! Replacing an outdated appliance with an Energy Star-rated one can save up to 15%. A 1980’s fridge in your garage can cost as much as $200 a year.
- Get the Remote Control: Volunteer energy-saving programs allow utilities to remotely turn air conditioners and electric water heaters on and off for brief periods during peak demand times.
- Tech Support: Some cooperatives and online businesses offer kilowatt-hour meters that show how much energy your home consumes, and tells which appliances are the worst offenders. Connexus Energy, a cooperative of Great River Energy, is testing an in-home monitor that shows when energy is at its lowest and highest prices, allowing the consumer to avoid peak demand times.
- Quick & Nerdy. There are many technologies on the market to help businesses, manufacturers and farmers conserve energy – energy-efficient motor startups, variable speed drives and refrigeration units to name a few.
- Love Your Auditor! Many utilities offer low-cost energy audits where an expert visits your home or business to review heating and cooling systems, insulation, doors and windows for potential energy savings. Commercial consultations are available for new construction and remodeling projects. Payoffs for simply eliminating drafts from homes are 5-30%!
- Vow to Renew: Many consumers are beginning to supplement their energy needs through geothermal heating systems, solar panels, and wind turbines. Today, they’re the exception. In the future, they may be the rule!
www.energystar.gov has more conservation tips and cool feature to compare your energy bill to the local average. Click on “Home Energy Audit” and type in your ZIP code.
Source article: Initiative Quarterly, Fall 2008
Talking real estate these days almost always includes the term “foreclosures”. The volume of bank-owned listings our office is handling grows daily, and this will surely continue into 2009.
The Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors® recently released some specific numbers regarding the continued increase of market share foreclosed homes hold in the Greater Twin Cities Area. The information brokedown lender-mediated sales by individual city, both in the month of October and 2008 Year-to-Date.
In the 5-community area we primarily serve (Annandale, South Haven, Maple Lake, Clearwater, and Cokato) the percent of lender-mediated sales thus far in 2008 ranged from 21-36%. In communities just around our corner like Monticello, Buffalo and Big Lake, those percentages climb up to 53% of 2008 sales.
“Reassuring news is that these homes are being bought with the same frequency they’re listed,” the report says. Other good news for traditional home sellers, is that although lender-mediated properties are dragging down the overall median sales price of homes, traditional properties themselves are actually experiencing quieter value declines.
View the full report at www.mplsrealtor.org. Look for the link under In The News.
