Twin Cities Real Estate Blog

Last Tuesday, June 20th, police dash cam video footage was released showing the shooting death of Philando Castile. Castile was killed by Jeronimo Yanez, a St. Anthony police officer, during a traffic stop in Falcon Heights on July 6th of last year. Yanez was charged with manslaughter and of two counts of dangerous discharge of a firearm. After a high profile trial, Yanez was found not guilty and acquitted on July 16th, 2017. This week, the city of St. Anthony agreed to pay a $2.995 million ...

If you haven’t been brought up to speed over the last eleven years of Cars history, I’ll help you out. The Cars movie only exists to sell toys. And if you’re parent, it’s likely you know this pretty well by now. Pixar makes bank selling Lightning McQueen and Mater toys. However, as a film franchise, it’s one of the worst Pixar properties in their long and successful film history. Of all their movies, Cars 2 is the only critically panned Pixar film to date. Usually, when a sequel gets panned,...

All in all, June 19th, 1954, was a crazy day. Maybe surreal was a better word. A regular at the Brass Rail bar on Hennepin sauntered outside and had to do a double take at the passing rail car. Could it be? That sure looked like Hubert Humphrey, our famous senator wearing a Twin Cities Rapid Transit (TCRT) motorman’s cap and driving the eight carriage Oak-Harriet street car toward St. Paul. And as the trailing cars swoosh past, they are filled with well-dressed civic leaders dining on chicken salad over white table cloth tables. The bar patron shook his head and darted back...

There is no doubt that mortgage credit availability is expanding, meaning it is easier to finance a home today than it was last year. However, the mortgage market is still much tighter than it was prior to the housing boom and bust experienced between 2003 - 2006.

The Housing Financing Policy Center at the Urban Institute just released data revealing two reasons for the current exceptionally high credit standards:

1. Additional restrictions lenders put on borrowing because of concerns that they will be forced to repurchase failed loans from the government-sponsored enterprises or Federal Housing Administration (FHA).
2. The concern about potential litigation...

A recent study of more than 7 million home sales over the past four years revealed that the season in which a home is listed may be able to shed some light on the likelihood that the home will sell for more than asking price, as well as how quickly the sale will close.

It’s no surprise that listing a home for sale during the spring saw the largest return, as the spring is traditionally the busiest month for real estate. What is surprising, though, is that listing during the winter came in second!

“Among spring listings, 18.7 percent of homes fetched above asking, with...

If you are debating purchasing a home right now, you are probably getting a lot of advice. Though your friends and family will have your best interest at heart, they may not be fully aware of your needs and what is currently happening in the real estate market.

Ask yourself the following 3 questions to help determine if now is actually a good time for you to buy in today’s market.

1. Why am I buying a home in the first place?

This truly is the most important question to answer. Forget the finances for a minute. Why did you even begin to consider purchasing a home? For most, the reason has nothing to do with money.

For example, a recent survey by Braun showed that over 75% of parents...

There are many potential homebuyers, and even sellers, who believe that they need at least a 20% down payment in order to buy a home or move on to their next home. Time after time, we have dispelled this myth by showing that many loan programs allow you to put down as little as 3% (or 0% with a VA loan).

If you have saved up your down payment and are ready to start your home search, one other piece of the puzzle is to make sure that you have saved enough for your closing costs.

Freddie Mac defines closing costs as:

“Closing costs, also called settlement fees, will need to be paid when you obtain a mortgage. These are fees charged...

When I look at the success of the Minnesota Twins thus far this season, there’s one pitcher that stands out -- Ervin Santana. When Santana takes the mound tonight against the Seattle Mariners at Target Field, he would be making his 13th start of the season which leads the club. He has a record of 8-3 with a 2.20 ERA in 90 innings pitched. He’s allowed 23 runs, 22 of which are earned. He has held opponents to a .154 batting average, but unfortunately has given up 11 home runs. He also has 33 walks with 63 strikeouts. Santana has pitched three complete game shutouts this season which leads the majors. His most recent shutout Occurred on Friday in the Twins...

Last Thursday, a reported 19.5 million people watched former FBI Director James Comey's testimony to the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee on television. For context, this huge viewership number is roughly equivalent with this year's NBA Finals, which have been among the most watched games in league history. (The 19.5 million viewers of the Senate hearing doesn't...