Real Estate Market - St Louis Real Estate News

St Louis Real Estate Market Update VIDEO – June 2017

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 →

Mortgage Loan Delinquency Rates Hit Lowest Level Since 2000

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 →

Charging Pet Deposit For Service Dog Costs Landlord $20,500

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 →

The City Of St Louis Has Youngest Population and Lowest Homeownership Rate In Area

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 →

St Louis County Circuit Court Judge Strikes Down St Louis County Landlord License Ordinance

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 →

St Louis Home Sales Fall Slightly in May From Year Ago – Prices Up

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 →

Characteristics of New Homes Sold In 2016

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 →

Is It Better To Invest In a Luxury Home In St Louis County or City?

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 →

What Is The Value of a Garage?

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 →

Zillow’s “New” Instant Offer Is Nothing New

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 →

Ballwin Tops List On Home Appreciation & Safety Index

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 →

St Louis’ Slowest Selling Neighborhoods

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 →

Homeowners More Optimistic About The Value of Their Home Than Appraisers Are

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 →

Zillow Under Investigation By CFPB Over Co-Marketing Program With Real Estate Agents

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 →

Foreclosures In St Louis Increase In April

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 →

St Louis Real Estate Market Update VIDEO – May 2017

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 →

St Louis Spring Real Estate Market Snapshot

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 →

Homeownership Rate In St Louis During 1st Quarter of 2017 Drops To Lowest Level In Years

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 →

Should You Investigate Your Home Buyer Or Seller Online?

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 →

Why Pricing Your Home Accurately From The Start Is A Must For Sellers

By Dennis Norman, on May 2nd, 2017

Even in a hot real estate market like we have today, it is still important for sellers to price their homes accurately from the start. If you are a homeowner thinking about selling, it is easy to fall into the trap of thinking you can get away with over pricing your home as buyers are desperate, but that is just not so. Don’t get me wrong, you should be able to sell your home for every dollar that it is worth, and perhaps even a tad more, but only if your home is priced and marketed accurately from the start. Continue Reading →

Does Commission Rate Paid To A Buyers Agent Affect Sale Price Or Time To Sell?

By Dennis Norman, on May 1st, 2017

If you want to start a debate amount the real estate community that will go on forever and most likely not have the participants reach a consensus, just bring up the topic of my headline: Does the commission rate offered to a buyers agent affect how much a listing will sell for or how quickly it will sell? Without getting into any philosophical or ideaoligcal debate on the topic, I wanted to just look at the data to reveal what it shows on the topic.

With this in mind, I pulled MLS data from our database for homes sold in Continue Reading →

St Charles County Home and Condo Prices Have Outperformed St Louis County Over Past 10 Years

By Dennis Norman, on April 30th, 2017

The median price per square foot of homes sold in St Louis County have increased 3.5% over the past 10 years, from $116 per foot in 2007 to $120 per foot currently. As the chart below illustrates, home prices dipped to a low of $90 per foot in 2011, a result of the housing bubble burst in 2008. During the same period, the price per foot of homes sold in St Charles County increased 5.1% from $117 per foot in 2007 to $123 per foot currently. Like St Louis County, St Charles County saw home prices bottom out in 2011, hitting a low of $95 per foot. Continue Reading →

What is a basement worth in St Louis?

By Dennis Norman, on April 27th, 2017

In many parts of the country it is typical for homes not to have a basement but here in St Louis, we love our basements and it is typically harder to sell a home without one. St Louisan’s like the safety offered by a basement in times of bad storms and during the threat of tornadoes, but also like the opportunity to add some additional, and fairly affordable, living space to their homes. Continue Reading →

St Louis Home Sales Increase in March

By Dennis Norman, on April 25th, 2017

As the chart below shows, there were 2,880 homes sold last month within the 5-county core St Louis market (city of St Louis and counties of St Louis, St Charles, Jefferson and Franklin) an increase of 6.5% from March 2016 when there were 2,705 homes sold. Continue Reading →

How Much More Do Home Prices Increase In Better Neighborhoods Than The Rest?

By Dennis Norman, on April 22nd, 2017

Yesterday, I did a post on the 10 St Louis neighborhoods that made it in the Niche list of “100 Best Places to Live In America”. This prompted a question as to how much better price appreciation have home owners seen in these neighborhoods as a result of the features they have that make them the “best places to live” verses the normal appreciation for the area? Since it just so happens that all ten of the neighborhoods that made the list are in St Louis county, I decided to pull a chart to compare the median price per foot (the most accurate way to compare home prices) of homes sold in the top ten neighborhoods versus St Louis County as a whole. As the chart below illustrates, here is what I found when I looked at home prices from January 1, 2012 (around the bottom of the market after the housing bubble burst in 2008) through the end of 2016: Continue Reading →

Ten of The Niche “100 Best Places In America To Live” Are In St Louis

By Dennis Norman, on April 21st, 2017

Niche, a website that gives rankings and profiles of schools and neighborhoods throughout the U.S., recently released it’s list of the 100 best places to live in America, 10 of which, were in the St Louis area! Coming in at 18 on the list, and the best-ranked St Louis area, was Clayton followed by Creve Coeur at number 20. The complete list of the St Louis neighborhoods that made the list of best places to live, along with their ranking on the list by Niche is below. Continue Reading →

St Louis Real Estate Market Update VIDEO – April 2017

By Dennis Norman, on April 19th, 2017

The supply of homes for sale continues to be a major impediment to the St Louis real estate market! This month, as the video below shows, every county in the St Louis core market area has seen the inventory of homes for sale (in terms of months of supply) decline from last month and last month was already low! In spite of the low, low inventory, home prices have remained reasonable and, in fact, we are seeing a little bit of a downward trend price-wise in some areas. With these things in mind, along with the fact that interest rates are sure to go up, there’s no better time to buy or sell than now! Continue Reading →

St Louis Real Estate Agents Be On Lookout For Phishing Scams Disguised As Fake Lead

By Dennis Norman, on April 19th, 2017

Real estate agents should be on the lookout for a phishing scam disguised as a real estate lead from Realtor.com. A phishing scam involves sending emails that look to be from a real, reputable company, but are not, in order to get the recipient to reveal personal information , such as credit card numbers, email passwords, etc so the scammer can use the information for some fraudulent purpose. Over the past couple of years real estate agents have been a specific target of these scammers. Real estate agents are targeted in an effort to obtain the agents email password so the scammer can then send a phony email to the agents clients tricking them into wiring money to the fraudsters account rather than the title company for a closing. Continue Reading →

Supply Of Homes For Sale In St Louis Hits Record Lows In March

By Dennis Norman, on April 11th, 2017

The supply of homes for sale in St Louis continues to fall making it even more of a challenge for the home buyers out there while making it pretty easy on sellers. For the past couple of years we have seen homes, that were properly priced and marketed correctly, sell often on the first day, or within the fist few days, of coming on the market for sale. In fact, more and more it’s become common for homes to sell before actually even hitting the market officially. Continue Reading →

Fastest Selling St Louis Neighborhoods Today Selling Nearly 50 Percent Faster Than 3 Years Ago

By Dennis Norman, on April 7th, 2017

The St Louis real estate market has been a fast-selling seller’s market in many areas for what seems like a long time now. Currently, the fastest selling city within the St Louis area is Warson Woods where homes for sale there have been on the market just an average of 7 days, followed by Valley Park at 16 days. As the table below, with the 15 fastest selling neighborhoods, shows, the “slowest” fastest-selling neighborhood on the list, Webster Groves, is at 49 days for the average time current listings have been for sale there. Continue Reading →