The Skinny

Minneapolis and Saint Paul: Partners in Foreclosure Absorption
Our two central sister cities, Minneapolis and Saint Paul, have launched an ambitious collaboration designed to encourage consumers to purchase homes within their borders. With lender-mediated properties comprising a healthy chunk of the homes for sale in each city, we have to assume that the effort is motivated in part by a desire to see those properties become owner-occupied. The website http://www.livemsp.org/ shows off 80-plus neighborhoods in the two cities, as well as every financial incentive for homeownership or renovation available.

Gallup: Jump in Home Buyer Confidence
Each year, the Gallup organization takes a poll of thousands of consumers to get a feel for whether or not they think it's a good time to buy a house. Not surprisingly, the numbers have taken a beating the last three years. In 2008, the percentage of respondants who believe that it was a good time to buy stood at 53%, the second lowest mark since 1979. This year? It skyrocketed up to 71%.

Finding Price Bottoms
We recently announced that the number of foreclosures and short sales on the market in the Twin Cities has dropped over 1,200 units from February to April. That's a valuable measurement, but it also helps to look at metrics, that take into account both supply AND demand, like Months Supply of Inventory (MSI), to get a feel for where we're at in this market cycle.


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Your Real Estate Expert,

Joel Hentges
Joel@homesbyjoel.com

Homes by Joel is brought to you by Joel Hentges of Counselor Realty. Helping people buy or sell homes and real estate in the Greater Lake Minnetonka area. Especially in Chanhassen, Deephaven, Excelsior, Minnetonka, Minnetrista, Mound, Orono, Tonka Bay, and Wayzata MN Minnesota. Offering many Minnetonka Lakeshore homes for sale.