By Dennis Norman, on August 3rd, 2017 Brought to you by
It’s no secret that here in St Louis we are little slow to embrace new trends or styles and that holds true when it comes to our housing market. I remember when I first entered the real estate business in 1979 although condominiums had become quite popular in many metropolitan areas in the U.S. at the time, since the early 60’s when the popularity began to increase, they weren’t very common here. I remember many early condominium developers in St Louis struggling to make a profit doing condo conversions (where multi-family properties were Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on July 29th, 2017 The St Louis real estate market is hot, but there are some areas that are not as hot as others and are slower selling. While the hottest St Louis markets are seeing homes sell within a few days on average, there are some markets where homes are taking much longer to sell. Granted, as the table below shows, there are only two on the top 10 slowest markets list where the average is over 100 days (and still well below historic average times to sell) so even the slow markets, are pretty good today! Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on July 23rd, 2017 The St Louis real estate market continues to be like the weather, hot! Many neighborhoods through the St Louis area continue to enjoy a seller’s market, largely driven by a shortage of homes for sale, creating a low inventory. So where in the St Louis metro area are homes selling the fastest? While you would need to click on the list below to go the live data for the latest information from our site, as of the day I wrote this, Vally Park was number 1 on the list. During the past 30 days, homes that sold in Valley Park were on the market an average of only 4 days before selling! Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on July 19th, 2017 The Mississippi river clearly defines the Missouri/Illinois state line in fact it does so much so that it is often easy to forget that nearly half (8 of 17) of the counties that make up the St Louis MSA are located in Illinois. Granted, many of these are smaller counties, in fact Illinois has 6 of the 8 smallest counties (by population) in the St Louis MSA, however, Madison County and St Clair County, both with roughly 260,000 people, are the 4th and 5th (respectively) largest counties in the St Louis MSA. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on July 18th, 2017 For the 12-month period ending June 20, 2017, as the table below shows, there were 36,447 homes sold in the St Louis MSA an increase of 2.08% from the prior 12-month period. The median price of homes sold in the St Louis MSA during the past 12 months was $169,000, an increase of 4.0% from the prior 12 month period. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on July 14th, 2017 Yes, I often harp on the importance of having accurate information when it comes to the St Louis real estate market and, admittedly, am a data nerd, however, considering that a home sale or purchase is generally one of, if not the, largest financial transactions a person makes, I think it’s worth the effort to get it right. This is why at our company, MORE, REALTORS, we have spent thousands and dollars and thousands of hours of work over the course of several years to develop software for our agents, and clients, that provides what we feel is the most accurate and relevant information out there when it comes to St Louis home prices and sales information. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on July 13th, 2017 Home prices are cooling slightly as we transition from the spring market to the summer market… Every year we see home prices reach their peak in the spring market which, depending on weather, the economy as well as other things, could be May or June typically, and then fall slightly as we go into the summer months. This year is no different and we are seeing the normal seasonal change in home prices but St Louis continues to have a strong real estate market and continues to favor sellers for the most part. Continue Reading →
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 →
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