How did things fair way back in August?  End of the summer, families out on vacation, getting ready for school…. (Yes – I know…it’s after Halloween and that was a LONG time ago, but data is forever on this here internet!) In August, it was an interesting mix of ups and downs...single family homes holding their own while new construction struggling to find its way amid tighter lender regulations and uncertain economic times.  (that sounded almost poetic!)      Check out full Rapid City Real Estate Market report on my website!   Never a dull moment, -  Tristan Prudential Kahler REALTORSRapid City, SDwww.rapidhomesonline.com  Start your own search for Rapid City Homes 11/03/2011

  Welcome to historic West Boulevard - one of the oldest neighborhoods in Rapid City, with turn of the century homes and a beautiful tree-lined boulevard to drive, run or walk down. The path through the trees makes a great walking path.  Squirrels run everywhere.  Birds sing and chirp.  You're sure to see many folks sitting on their porches on warm summer evenings - watching the world go by.  The West Boulevard Summer Festival showcases the area with arts and craft vendors, food, free entertainment, and a historic booth featuring historic photos.  A tour of the Boulevard is available as well.   Listed in This Old House Magazine's "Best Places to Buy An Old House in the Midwest", the Bouelvard and the surrounding blocks are known for their charm, their curb appeal, and their demand.  Pro... 11/01/2011

Last week we had out annual chili cookoff competition. And it made a difference in someone's life.   From the hours of 11:30 to 2:00, the office was filled with people tasting chili, munching on breads, sipping water, visiting and enjoying the aroma that naturally comes with 18 chilis simmering in crock pots. With a $10 entry fee and $10 per voting ballot, almost $2,500 was raised to help a fellow REALTOR - whose wife was misdiagnosed early last year, and was in the hospital fighting cancer for her life. It was a good time, good food, and for a worthy cause. What will next year bring??   - Tristan Originally posted at http://www.rapidcityhomes.net/2011/10/rapid-city-agents-help-out/ 10/27/2011

During the month of September 2011, there were 12 new residential listings in and around the Box Elder and Ellsworth Air Force Base area.  The total number of homes for sale was 101, compared to 105 last month and 7 homes have sold compared to 14 last month. 10/05/2011

During the month of September 2011, there were 12 new residential listings in and around the Black Hawk area.  The total number of homes for sale was 96 compared to 107 last month.  8 homes have sold, compared to 14 last month. 10/05/2011

During the month of September 2011, there were 70 new residential listings in Rapid City, South Dakota.  The total number of homes for sale was 398 as compared to 414 last month.  63 homes have sold compared to 57 last month. 10/05/2011

The average price of a single family home sold in the Rapid City, South Dakota area in September 2011 is $182,614, which is up from $180,031 at the same time last year.  The average days on the market is 84 days, down from 94 days this time last year.  Sellers have been receiving 96.73% of current listing price which is down from 97.08% in September 2010. 10/05/2011

  Just when you think the down payment assistance programs were gone and defunct, along comes a new one to help out our Military Members. The Pentagon Foundation provides a "Dream Maker" grant that gives up to $5,000 to help with downpayment and closing costs for qualified military buyers.  This could be a great help for those families looking to move up a bit. There are certain criteria, of course:  income requirements, how long you need to stay in the home, loan requirements, etc.  Nothing too scary by any means. Check out their website:  www.pentagonfoundation.org for more information. With the proximity of Ellsworth Air Force Base to Rapid City, this may be the program for you. It's a great day to be a Dream Maker!   -  Tristan Tristan EmondPrudential Kahler REALTORS(r)www.rapidhom... 09/15/2011

The saying goes:  "Change is good."  Some circumstances make me wonder who came up with that one... The changes are never ending...with the crazy lending landscape and the government poking their head everywhere, new rules are common and often. South Dakota's rural development program - which offers 0% down on properties outside of metro city limits (Rapid City and Sioux Falls) to limited income buyers - is making things a bit tougher effective October 1, 2011. There is some good news in this...the up-front, added on funding fee to process the loan will go from the 3.something percent it was down to 2%. The bad news is they are now including private mortgage insurance with these loans.  It previously had no PMI requirements, so this will make a jump in the monthly payment.  It's also m... 09/15/2011

Well...what should you do? Buy? Rent? What? I could bring out all kinds of charts and worksheets and posts and data to show you what you should do on paper.  We would look at how much money you made and how much would go out the door each month.  And then we would consider how long you planned to be in a place.  And calculate this and that. It does need to be a financially feasible endeavor.  Don't expect to buy a home if you are knee deep in debt, have no cash, and your monthly income would be topped out with a home payment.  That just wouldn't make a whole lotta sense. Then we could have talks about how you could get into a home cheaper than rent...and if you qualified for a zero down program such as South Dakota Rural Development, and asked the seller to pay for closing costs, you wo... 09/15/2011

During the month of August 2011, there were 17 new residential listings in and around the Box Elder and Ellsworth Air Force Base area.  The total number of homes for sale was 105.  14 homes have sold compared to 7 last month. 09/13/2011

During the month of August 2011, there were 21 new residential listings in and around the Black Hawk area.  The total number of homes for sale was 107.  14 homes have sold compared to 15 last month. 09/13/2011

During the month of August 2011, there were 93 new listings in Rapid City.  The total number of homes for sale was 414.  57 homes have sold compared to 64 last month. 09/13/2011

In the Rapid City and surrounding area, the average price of a single family home sold in August is $186,392 which is up from $181,421, with an average of 85 days on the market, up from 83 days this time last year.  Sellers have been receiving 96.78% of the current listing price which is down from 98.57% in August 2010. 09/13/2011

    Hello Birdwatchers, Turly here.  Sorry I haven’t introduced myself sooner.  As you must know, I am a bird. TurlyBirds are big, bright, bold, and constantly seeking new adventures.  I have traveled all over the world, visiting foreign lands and fascinating sites.  But my wings are getting tired, and a writing job about local events will allow me to recover from my extensive travels.  It is in my nature to always want to know what the cool thing to do is.  TurlyBird.com permits me to see EVERYTHING FUN that is going on at one time, and it will be my sincere pleasure to keep you Birdwatchers updated on what is happening now. So, I have joined the TurlyBird team to help you.  I will be your fellow blog companion, relating interesting facts and fun events in your neighborhood!  TurlyBird... 08/31/2011

The fun one - graphs by price - how things sold in Rapid City SD so far in 2011... I really like these graphs - they show really quickly and clearly what price ranges are selling the best in Rapid City.  As usual, the $125,000 to $200,000 price range takes the prize.  What I found was also interesting was the uptick in homes sold over $300,000 in June.  20 units sold compared to the under 10 the previous months. Enough blabber.  Here are the charts!   1st Quarter 2011   2nd Quarter 2011   There we have it! As always, if I can be of any help buying or selling real estate in Rapid City, South Dakota, shoot me an email or give me a call!   -  Tristan Tristan EmondPrudential Kahler REALTORS(R)www.rapidhomesonline.comtristan@rapidhomesonline.com605-391-7086  08/11/2011

Rapid City Real Estate Market - for July 2011...   Did things continue to hold during the month of July?  We finally had some warm temps, but typically July tends to be the summer doldrums as people are out vacationing and enjoying the few months of summer we have up here.  But this year things were more happenin'. Across the board, we had 21 more units sell than last year (up 2.6%) and a 10% growth of homes under contract. Things keep rolling in single family homes - number of sold homes up 7.5%...with days on market being slightly longer - averaging to be 15 more days.  But again, average sold price is holding steady at an upward trend compared to last month - this month being up 3% from last year. New construction continues to find its balance.  It's getting almost impossible to fina... 08/11/2011

Rapid City Real Estate market report and stats for June 2011: June was a crazy month!  I personally had the best month of my career, closing on 5 properties.  Hence, catching up on my market stats has been pushed off until...well, now! June saw some amazing stats in the Rapid City area.  As an office, we filled up our sale and listing boards 3 months in a row...resulting in an office party, of course.  Since May was really cold, and we were wondering in April if Spring was ever gonna come, the spring time "let's go buy a home" hit a bit later!  It didn't get hot until the first week in July! Total residential saw a spike of under contract listings - up 27% from the same time last year.  And that is on a market where there are 105 less units avaialable.  Even the number of sold listings ... 08/10/2011

Yikes!  It's been a busy summer.  August and I'm finally catching up on my market report blogs.  Oh well - at least the data is getting out there...late as it may be. Rapid City real estate continues to hummmmmm right along. In single family homes, we had 9% fewer listings than last year at the same time, BUT sold just 3 units less.  There was an increase in days on market from 76 days to 92 days, but it all turned out OK in the long run....average home prices were UP about 4% from last year. New construction continues to adjust itself.  After making some big gains the past few months, it has been leveling out and finding its place.  17% fewer sold listings than the same time last year, but the days on market down 12.6%.  All in all, average sale prices were down 4.5%.               As ... 08/10/2011

Finally - the report is in!  Rapid City Real Estate stats for the month of April! We are seeing some activity!  At our company, we have a board to enter listings and one for sales - 30 lines each.  We get a party if we fill up both boards in the month.  Well, so far we have had 2 parties for the past 2 months, and we are in line to get a 3rd!   Interesting numbers this month... Across the board, sold residential Rapid City listings are down 7%, and the under contracts are down 32% from last year.  As I am looking at those figures and scratching my head - my assessment would be they are down due to the expiration of the tax credit.  To qualify for that credit last year, the home had to be under contract by April 2010.  And since none of us ever procrastinate... New construction is taking... 05/19/2011