By Dennis Norman, on July 6th, 2017
Below is a 10-year chart, showing the median price per foot (one of the most accurate ways to look at home prices) for each of the 5-counties that make up the St Louis core-market. As the chart reveals, there doesn’t necessarily seem to be any correlation between home appreciation and population shift. Below is a quick analysis: Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on July 5th, 2017
Recently, the U.S. Census Bureau released the 2016 population estimates revealing that the city of St Louis continues to lose residents while outlying counties like St Charles, Jefferson and Franklin grow and St Louis county remains relatively stagnant. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on July 4th, 2017
It’s good when the value of your home increases, right? Yes, generally, most homeowners, look at their homes as an investment in addition to shelter for their families so they are generally happy to see the value of their investment increase. The flip side of it is, homebuyers, particularly first-time buyers, would, of course, like to see lower prices and better value in the home they buy. The thing that helps balance out these competing interests is inflation, but more specifically, the rate of income growth. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on June 29th, 2017
The housing bubble that led to the housing bubble burst in 2008 started a decline in the value of homes, including those in St Louis, for the following 3 to 4 years. This resulted in much larger number of homeowners facing financial struggles including late payments, foreclosures, short sales, bankruptcy and the like, than was the historic norm. As a result, while maybe not a new concept but certainly one that had been more obscure in the past, credit repair, became a lucrative and growing business as consumers sought to repair the damage done and position themselves to buy a home. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on June 24th, 2017
Ok, I’ll admit it, I know I’m sort of a big data nerd and not everyone is, so I may be in the minority when it comes to the attention I give, and time I devote, to market data, stats, trends and the like. However, while not everyone wants to study this stuff, anyone in the market to buy or sell real estate either needs to be up to date on what is going on in the market in terms of price (and the other stuff I mentioned) or be represented by a real estate agent that is. Otherwise, without this information or, worse yet, with bad information, home buyers and sellers can make some really bad decisions. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on June 22nd, 2017
St Louis continues to enjoy a pretty robust real estate market, albeit it a challenging one for buyers due to the low inventory of homes for sale in most areas, with St Louis home sales, during the past 12 months, up over 5 percent from the prior 12-month period and St Louis home prices up over 5 percent for the same period as well. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on June 21st, 2017
The low inventory of homes for sale in St Louis comes up today in most conversations related to the St Louis real estate market. St Louis home buyers have struggled to get to new listings quick enough, and then make strong enough offers, to successfully beat out the competition. Well, while that may be the story for the majority of the St Louis real estate market, it is certainly not the story for the $1Million+ market. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on June 15th, 2017
Home flipping accounted for 8.6 percent of all the home sales in the St Louis MSA during the 1st quarter of this year according to a report released today by Attom Data Solutions. This is an increase of 14.7% from the prior quarter when 7.5% of the homes sold were flips and is an increase of 6.2% from a year ago when 8.1% of the homes sold in St Louis were flips, according to the report. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on June 15th, 2017
There are several ways to look at home prices and home affordability as well as to argue the merits of homeownership versus renting, however, one my favorite metrics to consider along these lines is the relationship between home prices and rental rates. Most home buyers, that are seeking a home to live in, never consider what the home they are considering purchasing would rent for, since that is not their intended use. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on June 15th, 2017
What a great time to be a home seller! This month, as the video below shows, there remains a shortage of homes for sale in many areas throughout the St. Louis area making it fun for sellers and challenging for buyers Listings that have been properly price, positioned in the market and marketed appropriately are selling in a matter of days in many areas and price ranges throughout St Louis.
Whether you are thinking of buying or selling and would like me to look at your situation and your market to determine the best strategy, just call, or text me, Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on June 14th, 2017
According to a report just released by Corelogic, the 30-59 day mortgage delinquency rate in March (the most recent month reported) fell to just 1.7%, the lowest level since January 2000. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on June 13th, 2017
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced last week that the Silver State Fair Housing Council, and the owner/manager of four apartment complexes in Reno, Nevada had reached an agreement to settle four Fair Housing complaints. Silver Lake State Fair Housing Council filed the complaints on September 20, 2016 against ERGS, Inc. alleging ERGS had violated the Federal Fair Housing Act by charging a pet deposit to tenants with service animals. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on June 12th, 2017
In the real estate community there are frequent discussions about the millennial’s and their impact on the real estate market. Since their generation makes up the largest share of the population presently, their interest, or lack thereof, in homeownership definitely has the attention of us in the real estate industry. The consensus among many in the real estate industry is that millennials don’t value homeownership as much as their baby boomer parents did, and do, however, they don’t necessarily have anything against the idea. The millennial generation seems to be more driven by lifestyle and flexibility than whether or not Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on June 8th, 2017
On June 2, 2017, in a victory for landlords, St Louis County Circuit Court Judge Gloria Clark Reno declared St Louis County’s landlord license ordinance unconstitutional. Going into effect on December 31, 2015, after being passed by the St Louis County Council, in a surprise vote, the St Louis County Landlord Licensing Ordinance required landlords to obtain a license annually to have the right to rent out their property. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on June 7th, 2017
There were 2,707 homes sold during May within the St Louis 5-county core market down slightly from May 2016 when there were 2,736 homes sold according to the latest data from MORE, REALTORS (see chart below). The median price of homes sold in the St Louis core market during May 2017 was $125 per square foot, an increase of 2.5% from May 2016 when the median price of homes sold in the St Louis core market was $122 per square foot. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on June 1st, 2017
The U.S. Department of Commerce just released it’s 2016 CHARACTERISTICS OF NEW HOUSING in which it revealed features, amenities, prices, sizes, etc of new homes built and sold during 2016 in the United States. You can see all the data in the complete report for the U.S. by clicking on the link however I’m going to just focus on the homes built here in the midwest region. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on May 31st, 2017
From the outset I need to admit that this is probably a pointless article as the mindset of someone that would want to buy a luxury home ($750,000+) in St Louis County is quite different than someone that would want to buy one in the city of St Louis, and vice versa, so neither will probably be swayed in their preference by which location offers a better return on their investment. Having said that, I still thought it would be interesting to examine the market and see how luxury home buyers have fared over the years in both locations.
St Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on May 30th, 2017
Of the 6,137 homes that were sold in St Charles county during the past 12 months, 5,839 (95%) of them had a garage. Nearly 68 percent of the homes sold with a garage in St Charles county had a 2-car garage, nearly 24 percent a 3 car garage or larger and just 8.5 percent had a one-car garage. So, if you are a St Charles county homeowner with a one-car garage, how much can you expect to be impacted price-wise when you sell? Of, if you are a buyer, looking at a home in St Charles county with a one-car garage, how much should you discount what you pay for it versus a similar home with a 2-car garage? Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on May 28th, 2017
I am always marveled by great marketing and promotion therefore I must give a tip of the hat to Zillow® for their new “Instant Offer” program. First, it’s getting them tons of attention and press, particularly within the REALTOR® community, which is probably where it is the most beneficial to them since agents are, after all, Zillow’s® paying customers. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on May 23rd, 2017
It is common for home buyers, particularly those moving to St Louis from outside the area or perhaps moving to a different part of town than where they currently reside, to inquire about crime rates and other safety issues related to the area they are looking to move to. Today, like pretty much every other topic out there, there is a wealth of information available on the internet with regard to crime activity however sometimes it is difficult to find real data and not just “headlines” from local news stories or social media posts. Therefore, in keeping with our mission of providing up to date, accurate and trustworthy information that is relevant to homeowners, as well as buyers and sellers, we developed our own Index to make it easier to people to assess an area. Since we are in the real estate business and the people I’m talking about there are interested in home values, we wanted to have our index consider both crime rates as well as home price appreciation. As a result, our Home Appreciation & Safety (HASTM) Index was born. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on May 18th, 2017
Even in this low-inventory sellers market the St Louis housing market has been experiencing for some time now, there are areas where homes are selling slow. For home buyers that are tired of the fierce competition that exists for most new listings and tired of losing out, these slower selling areas may offer an opportunity to buy. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on May 13th, 2017
It probably won’t come as a surprise to you that many homeowners feel their homes are worth more than perhaps they are, particularly when the time comes to sell them. This is evidenced by the Quicken Loans’ Home Price Perception Index (HPPI) which looks at appraised values of homes versus the the homeowners estimate of value. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on May 12th, 2017
Zillow, the behemoth real estate search site, revealed in it’s Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this month for first quarter 2017, that the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB) is investigating some practices by Zillow, apparently specifically their co-marketing program, and, according to Zillow’s filing, is alleging that Zillow violated parts of both RESPA as well as the Consumer Financial Protection Act. The complete Form 10-Q can be viewed here. On page 40 (outlined in red by me) is the section where Zillow makes this disclosure, and I have pasted that section of the report below as well (the emphasis and color have been done by me). Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on May 11th, 2017
There were 1,814 foreclosure filings on homes in the St Louis metro area during the month of April 2017, an increase of 13.23% from the month before and an increase of 12.25% from April 2016, according to a report just released this morning by ATTOM Data Solutions. As the table below shows, all 7 Missouri Counties included in the report saw an increase in foreclosure activity last month from both the prior month as well as a year ago. Of those, Lincoln County (which has very little foreclosure activity) saw the largest year-over-year as well as month-over-month increase, follow by St Louis County with a 45.37% increase from the month before and Franklin County with a 71.43% increase from a year ago. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on May 10th, 2017
The Missouri Insurance Department announced they will have Consumer specialists in place this week and next at Multi-Agency Resource Centers (MARC) throughout the state to assist flood victims with their insurance claims. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on May 10th, 2017
The foreclosure rate in Missouri continues to decline with the foreclosure rate for February 2017 coming in a 0.4 percent, according to a report just released by CoreLogic. The rate for February is down slightly from a year ago when the Missouri foreclosure rate was 0.5 percent. Based upon the mortgage serious delinquency rate (90 days or more) as well as delinquency rate (30 days or more), both lead-indicators or predictors of things to come with regard to foreclosures, the foreclosure rate will continue to decline in the near term. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on May 9th, 2017
The St Louis market continues to be hot although there is a little downward pressure on pricing. This month, as the video below shows, the St Louis real estate market continues to be low on competition and favoring sellers although the home buyers out there are savvy and are not reacting to over-priced listings. Listings that have been properly price, positioned in the market and marketed appropriately are selling in a matter of days in many areas and price ranges throughout St Louis.
Whether you are thinking of buying or selling and would like me to look at your situation Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on May 9th, 2017
We are about half way through the spring real estate market in St Louis, normally the most active time of the year for the St Louis real estate industry, and, thus far, the 2017 spring market is shaping up pretty good! As our chart below illustrates, there were 4,582 homes sold in the 5-county core St Louis market during March and April of this year, an increase of 2.4% from last year when there were 4,473 homes sold and the median price per foot of those homes sold was $126 per foot in April, an increase of 6.8 percent from April 2016 when the median price per foot was $118. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on May 5th, 2017
The homeownership rate for the St Louis MSA during the 1st quarter of 2017 was 61.6% according to recently released data from the U.S. Census Bureau. As our table below shows, the current homeownership rate for St Louis is at the lowest level in our records. On the table I also compute a rolling 12 month average which helps smooth out seasonal variations in the data and it shows an average homeownership rate of 64.8% over the past 12 months, down from 68.8% for the prior 12-month period and, like the percentage for the quarter, the lowest level in our records. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on May 3rd, 2017
In today’s world of just about anything you would want to know being available on the internet it’s not hard getting information today, it’s everywhere. This includes information on people…where just about anything you would want to know is often available online either on information websites, in blogs or in social media, often even from the person themselves. With all this information so readily available, it has become common for home buyers, sellers and their agents to use the internet to try to get a leg up on the other side in a real estate transaction. Continue Reading →
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