We are now up and running on RealBirdTV with our own channel.

http://www.kyte.tv/AskTheAndersons

We will be posting slide shows for all of our listings so check them out and if you know of anyone who may be interested in these properties have them give us a call.

For more information on any of our listings simply go to http://www.AskTheAndersons.com and click on "Our Listings"

Minnesota still offers home buyers the opportunity to live in a rural setting while maintaining close proximity to the Twin Cities where they often have better employment options as well as many recreational activities.  Rural households typically will feature wells and septic systems in our "collar counties".  Anoka, Washington, Dakota, Scott, Carver, Wright, and Sherburne are of the counties comprising the ring around the more urban counties of Ramsey and Hennepin.

State law requires home sellers to disclose the location of the two systems, and to draw a rough illustration of their proximity to each other, and to the home they serve.  The distance required between the well and septic system varies from one county to the next--from 50-100 feet.  Each well, whether in use or capped, will have a unique well number which is on record at the Minnesota department of health.  To determine the required distance between fresh water and septic systems, I advise a phone call to the county in which your home is located, or ask your Realtor to get the required information

Counties and municipalities may also have compliance regulations regarding well and septic which must be observed prior to the transfer of real estate between buyer and seller.  Non-compliance may result in the postponement and/or cancelation of a transaction, which may prove to be very costly!

The Memorial Day weekend shot past me and I find I have a moment or two to make a post on my blog on June 6, 2007, the 63rd anniversary of D-Day.  This is my opportunity to offer thanks and a hearty "well done" to those surviving veterans who participated in the cataclysmic events of June 6th, 1944 and beyond.  This morning I heard a recording of FDR addressing the nation to ask for all to join in prayer for the success of the endeavor and for the souls of the fallen.  We owe a debt of gratitude to those who fought on our behalf that we may enjoy the preservation of our way of life!  Take time to visit with a war veteran--take them out for pie and coffee, or bring them something nice if they reside in an assisted living facility.  Help them to remember they are not forgotten!

Congratulations!  You've made it through to the next level of the game.  Like the video games many of us enjoy, life has it's graduating levels.  Perhaps you're graduating from high school with average grades, and unsure about whether to give college a try, or to enter the work force.  Or maybe you're leaving college, degree in hand, faced with the prospect of putting that degree to use in the field in which you were trained.

A word of advice:  Be sure to celebrate this latest great achievement in your life...for five minutes.  Though it seems your whole life is laid out before you, decisions made today, even the trivial ones, have a lasting impact on your life.  Your financial standing, for instance, requires some immediate attention.  If you've found that job after high school or college, the smart move is to start collecting the names of professionals who will positively impact your life.  Included in this group is a Realtor, mortgage lender, accountant, and financial planner.  When is the time to search these people out?  Once you're established in your new position--either through the granting of permanent job status, or after the successful lapse of an employment probation period.

Don't make the very common mistake of thinking you're too young to get started on this road, because this is the time to learn good habits, and how wealth is earned and distributed.  If you have a feeling of intimidation, keep in mind this feeling is natural, borne out of our typical fear of the unknown...precisely the reason to seek out good people to trust and to learn from.

So...what are you waiting for?  Grab life "by the horns" and live!  Call us today for a friendly conversation.  We promise to be much less boring than that econ teacher you had junior year!

May is a rollicking month for real estate.  There seems to be no end to follow-up work, but it needs to wait until tomorrow, due to lead generation activities, and the final band concert tonight for our resident clarinetist.  That said, everything is running along smoothly, though to be honest, there can never be enough work for a real estate professional...the pipeline must be filled.

Page two of the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) has a nice article about the economy continuing to be strong, even in the housing sector.  Home inventory is still high, and we expect a new batch of homes coming on the market.  The number of homes nationally has flattened out, indicating the market is showing signs of (at least) a moderate surge.  Note to prospective home sellers:  Price your goods according to your local market pressures!  Choose a Realtor who will be both honest, and hard working.  The valuable Realtor is the one who emphasizes pending sales and actual sold listings that have closed over the past six months.  Why is the six month time frame important?  Because it's reflective of the most current local trend for comparable properties to yours.  Just as a four bedroom, four bath colonial style home cannot be compared to a two bedroom, two bath condominium, the same is true for market periods. 

Let's use an example of a family with two children in elementary school that wants to sell their existing home, change school districts, and be in their new home by the beginning of the fall term.  Because a finite time frame exists, our sellers would be smart to price their home just below the most recent sold listings in their area, assuming comparable style and condition.  This family will likely be reducing their time on the market, or even find themselves in a multiple offer situation, which has the tendency to drive up the eventual sales price.

Regardless of motivation to sell, this is not a good market for greedy sellers.  Be realistic, and find a Realtor who will negotiate a fair price for the home your selling, and for the next one you want to buy.

To anyone who may have missed me...I've been very active lately negotiating sales and purchases, and though the negotiating process can take time to complete, the document processing has a time element all it's own.

For you readers not in the real estate business, much of what we do as Realtors is "behind the scenes" work, all designed to ensure the transfer of property from seller to buyer happens according to plan.  Did you know more than 60% of people surveyed cited the change of the time and/or date of closing as the number one stress inducer of those people buying or selling real estate?

Savvy Realtors, despite false notions to the contrary, work hard and effectively for their clients.  Yes, some Realtors fit the type behavior as those who love to play golf (myself included).  Work however, takes precedent and comes at the cost of play.  Successful agents possess the discipline to put pen to paper-even on calm and cloudless, 78 degree days when the golf course looks especially green!

Time to process the documents for another excited home buyer.  Talk to you later.

We just emerged from a four hour meeting concentrating on the advance of technology.  The real estate industry has made it very simple for consumers to employ a variety of useful tools, just over the past several years.  Today we learned about some truly awesome enhancements that will allow home buyers and sellers greater access to both listing inventories and to Realtors themselves.

Real estate agents used to be highly suspicious of internet technology-and for good reason.  Computer pundits boldly stated the internet will render Realtors obsolete, and in the future consumers will broker their own transactions.  Of course, the opposite proved to be true.  While the internet brought a greater selection of houses to the desktops of home shoppers, it also exposed shoppers to the highly complex business of selling and buying real estate.  Just as you would (or should) be reluctant to perform a tooth extraction on yourself, arrange your own legal defense, or even build your own car from the wheels up, you should seek out the services of a licensed real estate professional to handle your transactions.

Visit our website to begin your search.  We'll soon be adding new tools to aid your search.  If you feel we could provide a better site, please drop us a line or give us a call.

Here is a question to ponder:  Should a home seller set a high price and wait for a buyer to make an offer, or sell at a fair price to one of perhaps several interested buyers?

Since price is, by far, a home buyer's number one objection, it becomes abundantly clear that a home sold for a fair price is the best option.  However, many seller are continuing to make the critical error of establishing a sales price well ahead of their market value.  Some factors which contribute to this potentially disastrous decision (with my reasonings against such strategy in italics):

1)  The seller needs x in the way of sales proceeds.  Buyers don't care about the seller's needs.

2)  The seller wants more money because the next house they want costs more.  Do not buy beyond your means.

3)  A neighbor says the house should be worth x.  Perhaps the worst advice a seller can receive...unless the neighbor is a real estate professional.

4)  Steve from XYZ Realty told me the house is worth x.  How long ago did Steve say that, is Steve still in business, and have you had a look at current area statistics?

Homes are commodities, albeit emotional ones.  We tend to assign feelings to these objects, as heard in the often repeated phrase "we just love our house".  As such, we may also tend to place an artificial value on our homes when circumstances change for the worse.  Due to death or divorce, the heirs/owners often make the mistake of deciding to try to "see if the market will absorb fees and expenses".  They embark on this strategy because they don't want to see a lessening of their own bottom line following probate/settlement.  Actually, the "gold mine" found after property liquidation is most often the stuff of Hollywood scripts and trashy novels.

The reality is, a house is only worth what someone else is willing to pay for it.  Price it right, see it sold, and move on to the next adventure.

...so goes the old saying.  The opportunity that currently exists for first time home buyers is nearly unprecedented.  One of the great beauties of our economic system is there is always some balance to be found.  For example, when stocks are down, the bond market is up.  When the dollar is strong and foreign investment cools, our money goes further for goods bought overseas.  So it is also true when it comes to real estate.  Sellers are experiencing a double whammy in the form of high housing inventory coupled with an unusually high foreclosure rate.  The effect of this combination is lower prices for homes.

We're currently showing homes to smart young buyers who have quickly come to the realization that their dollars spent on rent may be better spent on equity building home ownership.  Just yesterday we spoke to a young man who has recently relocated to the Twin Cities from a rural part of the state.  Within 15 minutes of our conversation, 18 single family property listings were sent to his computer for his review, and he was provided with the name of a lender to assist him with determining his price range.  Yes, it's that easy to get started!

If you're young, have a job, and ready for an exciting stage in your life, call us now!  651 307 4020.