By Dennis Norman, on February 19th, 2017 Investors that rental property may find their best returns, relative to the price of the homes they buy, in the City of St Louis, according to some county-level rental data compiled by MORE, REALTORS. As the tables below illustrate, over the past 12 months the median price of homes sold in the City of St Louis was $106.57 per square foot and the median annualized price per foot homes lease for was $11.04 which works out to a gross annual return on investment of 10.4% in the City of St Louis, the highest of the four St Louis area counties we looked at. The next best return is found in Jefferson County with a 9.8% return, followed by St Charles County at 9.3% and finally, St Louis County, at 9.1%.
Data limitations…
There is an excellent source of very accurate market data available with regard to prices of homes sold, that being the REALTOR MLS which is where our sold data comes from. One of the reasons this data is so accurate is because the lions share of homes sold in St Louis are done through REALTORS and the data that is reported on those sales to the MLS is subject to strict guidelines and rules to insure accuracy. When it comes to rental and lease data however, the data is much harder to assimilate. This is because the majority of rentals are leased without the assistance of REALTORS and therefore the lease data does not make it’s way to the MLS and there really is no other reputable data source available for it. When it comes to rental data for larger apartment complexes and the like, there is such data available, but not for single family homes. Therefore, we have worked to produce rental data from the leases that are handled by REALTORS. As you can see from the tables below, the number of leases reported in the MLS is much smaller than sales (1,283 vs 13,330 for St Louis County for example) however, there are enough reported I believe to make the data statistically significant.
We can drill it down more…
We can drill down the data to a more local level, such as at the school district, city or zip level, and do this for our investor clients, but what I’ve compiled here gives an overall view of the market at the county level. Another thing I suggest investors evaluate as well before investing their money, is the appreciation rate of homes in that area. This is data we also compile and, when you put the rental return rate data next to the price appreciation data you get a pretty good picture of the areas that make the most overall sense to invest in.
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By Dennis Norman, on November 25th, 2016 While it’s not a new thing, there have certainly been a lot more “coming soon” riders on for sale signs in yards over the past couple of years than in prior years. This has created some questions among home buyers, particularly when they ask their buyer’s agent about seeing a listing are told it is not available to be shown yet, then later see the rider on the for sale sign change from “coming soon” to “sale pending”. So, what’s the deal with “coming soon” listings?
The good and the bad of coming soon listings:
The Good – Many good listing agents use “coming soon” as a way of generating interest in their client’s (the seller) home in advance of it hitting the market, perhaps while the seller is completing repairs or tweaks suggested by the listing agent or the agent is finalizing marketing materials. Typically, this is done for a short period, perhaps a week or two, and then the agent makes it known to everyone the date the listing will be available for viewing which, when done on a properly priced listing in a market with reasonable demand, results in multiple showings the first day or two the listing is available for viewing, which is good for the seller and often results in a quick sale at, or near, the list price.
The Bad – While it’s rare, there are some listing agents that use “coming soon” as a way of trying to keep the listing to themselves. They use it to attempt to force potential home buyers to contact them for info and to avoid having to cooperate with another agent on the sale, thereby saving both sides of the commission for themselves. As I said, this is rare as most agents out there take their fiduciary responsibility to the seller seriously and practice their craft in an honest and ethical manner, however, it only takes a few to spoil it for all.
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By Dennis Norman, on October 13th, 2016 Last month the median price of homes sold in the St Louis MSA was a very-affordable $169,000 however, during past 12 months, homes have sold for as much as over 50 times that amount in St Louis. That’s right, during the past year there was a home that sold for $9,000,000 in St Louis, over 53 times the median St Louis home price. The $9,000,000 St Louis home that was sold was at 2105 South Warson and sold in November of last year for $9,000,000. The next highest home sale was a $4,000,000 one at 760 Kent Road, followed by 2 more Ladue homes. In all, 13 of the 31 homes that sold in St Louis for more than $2,000,000 (based upon MLS data) were in Ladue, 7 were in Clayton (3 of those being condo’s), 3 in Town & Country, 2 in Huntleigh, 2 in Chesterfield, 2 in Creve Coeur and 2 in the Central West End (both were condos at the Private Residences in Chase Park Plaza). See below for addresses, photos and details.
Continue reading “Check Out St Louis’s $2Mil+ Home Sales From The Past Year“
By Dennis Norman, on September 2nd, 2016 One of the more controversial topics to discuss within the REALTOR community is the topic of agent bonuses, a bonus that a seller, by way of the listing broker, would pay to the agent that sells their home, over and above the normal sales commission. Sometimes seller’s, or their listing agents, see this as a way to draw more attention to their listing and to encourage buyer’s agents to show it and sell it. However, there are many conflicting opinions on this topic within the industry which creates some confusion for seller’s (and buyer’s for that matter), so I thought I would take some time to discuss it.
Why not just offer a higher sales commission?
The first thing that comes to mind when addressing bonuses is, if a seller wants to offer more compensation to a buyer’s agent, why not simply agree to a higher commission rate and/or higher payout to the buyer’s agent (the portion of the commission the listing agent shares with the buyer’s agent). Well, this is where some of the problems with bonuses arise. The reason seller’s don’t do it this way is the bonus is usually conditional, meaning it will only be paid, if certain terms prescribed by the seller or listing agent are met, whereas the buyer’s agent commission must be paid at the rate published in the MLS no matter how good or bad the seller feels the deal is they accept. For example, below are some bonus offers from the “agent only” remarks section of the MLS (comments only agents see and not the public):
- *Buyer’s agent bonus of $2000 for accepted contract on or before 8/21/16″
- “ATTENTION!!! $5,000 AGENT BONUS FOR AN ACCEPTED OFFER BY 9/15/16!!! “
- “$1000 Buyer Agent Bonus @Closing if FULL net price Seller accepted contract on or before 7/11/16.”
- “AGENT BONUS!!! $3,000 with successful closing by mid August.”
- “Seller is offering a BUYERS AGENT BONUS PAID DIRECTLY TO THEM of $5000 for bringing an offer that is accepted and closes prior to Sept. 15, 2016!!”
So, as you can see, the bonuses are conditioned upon some sort of “performance” on the part of the buyer’s agent, such as producing an acceptable offer by a deadline, closing the sale by a deadline or even netting the seller seller full price. Therein lies the answer to the question of why not just raise the commission…the seller wants something in return for the additional payment.
What’s wrong with the seller wanting something in return for the bonus?
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By Dennis Norman, on August 8th, 2016 If you are in the market for a 30,000 home with multiple guys suites, apartments for employees, bowling alley, racquetball court, spa, salon, 5,000 bottle wine cellar and a whole lot more on 4 pristine acres in Ladue, then you’re in luck! The home of Dennis Jones, the founder of Jones Pharma, Inc., and his wife Judy, just hit the market with a price tag of $10.75 million, making it the most expensive current listing in the St Louis area. In fact, according to MLS records, there has never been a home sold in St Louis for $10,000,000 with the highest being the home of Robert Fox at 2105 South Warson, which sold in 2015 for $9,000,000.
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By Dennis Norman, on July 9th, 2016 “Should I sell my home myself” is something that some sellers are asking today, particularly those in fast selling neighborhoods and areas where the inventory of homes for sale is low, after all, how hard can it be to sell a home if homes are in such high demand? Well, there’s a lot more to selling your home than it may appear on the surface, particularly today with all the many regulations that affect a home sale.
But I know people that are interested in my home…
Yes, finding people “interested” in your home is not that difficult, the tricky part is finding a buyer that is qualified, ready to buy, and is interested in your home at a price and under terms that work for you. Lately, with the shortage of inventory of homes for sale, the problem hasn’t been finding a buyer, it’s been selecting the right buyer the leads to a successful closing and, for this, there is nothing better than having a professional real estate agent representing you who knows what to look for in a buyer.
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By Dennis Norman, on May 24th, 2016 Three days ago I wrote about how St Louis home prices in April had increased just roughly 1 percent from April 2015 which was in sharp contrast to what was being reported in the local media at the time. I did this because I’m a data nerd I guess and feel it is important, whether we are talking about home prices or anything else, to have the most accurate information possible. Today, social media and even many news outlets often report things that are either only partially true, not true or accurate at all or perhaps taken out of context giving it a different meeting. For those that know me you know I refer to myself as an “Acts 17:11” guy. Acts 17:11 is a bible verse that says, in the “Dennis paraphrase”, be eager to listen to others, but go to the source yourself to find out whether it’s so. The verse is referring specifically to the Bible but I think it has great application outside of the Bible as well. So, with that said, that’s what I do and what we try to do at my company, MORE, REALTORS…..find the source of the most accurate information we can, study it to understand it the best we can, then deliver that information to our customers, clients and the public. Then, to the extent possible, I try to deliver sources of information and encourage people not simply to take my word for it but to verify it themselves.
Finally…the point….there is a better way to look at St Louis home prices:
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By Dennis Norman, on May 21st, 2016 There were 2,290 St Louis Existing Homes Sold in April (in the 5-county core market), an increase of 1.0 percent from April 2015 when there were 2,265 homes sold. The median home price of homes in the St Louis 5-county core market (city of St Louis and counties of St Louis, St Charles, Franklin and Jefferson) during April 2016 was $173,850, an increase of 4.4 percent from April 2015 when the median price of existing homes sold was $166,500.
For the combined markets of the City of St Louis and the County of St Louis, there were 1,241 existing single family homes sold during April 2016, an increase of 9.6% from the prior year and the median home price of homes sold during the month was $158,250, an increase of less than 1% from the prior year.
Distressed home sales still account for over 1 of every 10 home sales….
During the month of April in the St Louis core market, there were 243 distressed home sales (foreclosures, short sales, bank-owned property) which is 10.6% of the total home sales during the month. The median sales price of these distressed sales in April 2016 was $51,780, a decline of 1.0% from a year ago when distressed homes sold for a median price of $52,314.
St Louis home prices in April, on non-distressed existing home sales, rose just 1 percent from year ago…
In spite of some recent news reports boasting much bigger increases in home prices (as much as 17%) based upon the data I have compiled, courtesy of MARIS, the REALTOR regional MLS, the increase in home prices is nowhere near that. If we remove distressed home sales from the data, and look at what the “normal” housing market looks like, in April 2016 there were 2,045 homes sold, an increase of 5% from a year ago when there were 1,947 non-distressed single-family home sales in the St Louis 5-county core market. The median price of these home sales in April was $185,000, an increase of 1.0% from a year ago when the median home price for non-distressed single-family home sales in the St Louis 5-county core market was $183,000.
Why a 17% increase in home prices would not be good and 1% is better…
If St Louis home prices had in fact, as reported by some of the media, increased in the past year by as much as 17% that would mean home prices rose about 17 times more than the rate of inflation. As the table below from the US Labor Bureau shows, the St Louis rate of inflation from the 4th quarter of 2014 to the 4th quarter of 2015 was 0% and, the best I can tell, the most recent rate only indicates about a 1% rate of inflation. Therefore, a 1% increase in home prices in the past year, as I have reported above, is consistent with the current rate of inflation and is a good thing for the long term health of the housing market as we don’t want home prices to rise significantly faster than inflation. How do I know this? Well, as the chart below shows, where I have graphed historically, there has definitely been a relationship between home prices and CPI with the two normally rising at a fairly consistent rate with the big exception being in the early 2000’s. As the chart shows, being in early 2000, home prices began rising at a rate higher than the inflation rate eventually reaching the tipping point in the 4th quarter of 2007 when home prices had increased 42% during the prior 7 year period and the rate of inflation only 20%. We all know what happened next, the housing bubble burst and home prices plummeted back to where they should have been. So, during the period that lead to the housing bubble, home prices were, on average, just increasing just a little over double the rate of inflation and look what happened. Now do you see why I say a 17% increase in home prices in the past year would be bad and the actual 1% it was is good?
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By Dennis Norman, on April 26th, 2016 Yes, believe it or not, in spite of how fast some homes, in some price ranges and neighborhoods are selling, often the first day on the market, and in spite of how many St Louis markets are currently seller’s markets, giving seller’s the upper hand in negotiations, there are some buyer’s markets in St Louis, where the buyer actually has an advantage over sellers! To find these markets, there is no one statistic or piece of data that can identify it, but I use a couple to find those markets and will share what I feel are currently the best places in St Louis to be a home buyer today.
Top St Louis Buyer’s Markets based upon the months supply of listings:
One of the best ways to identify a buyer’s or seller’s market is to look at the month’s supply of homes for sale in a given market. It’s basic economics 101, supply and demand. At MORE, REALTORS, we have this data available live, online, at StLouisRealEstateSearch.com and compute it based upon data we obtain straight from the MLS. We simply look at the number of active listings in each market, then divide that number by the number of homes sold in the past 30 days to come up with how many months supply of homes are on the market at the current sales rate. As the table below shows, there are currently 19 St Louis neighborhoods that, based upon this data, we are calling buyer’s markets since they have over a 6 month supply of homes for sale (6 months is considered a balanced market). At the top of the list is Sullivan, in Franklin County, with a 21 month supply of homes for sale, followed by Byrnes Mill, in Jefferson County, with a 17 month supply and then Hillsboro, also in Jefferson County, with a 14 month supply. The first city to appear on the list from St Louis county is Jennings, with a 13 month supply.
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By Dennis Norman, on April 24th, 2016  It’s a beautiful spring Sunday morning in St Louis and many people will spend part of the afternoon touring open houses…some looking for their next home, some to see what homes in their neighborhood are selling for and some simply to kill time, satisfy curiosity or get some decorating ideas. Whatever your reason for seeking out St Louis open houses, the best source to find information on all the homes that are scheduled to have open houses today (with information from a database that is updated direct from the MLS!) is StLouisOpenHoues.com. On this site, you can search open houses in a variety of ways:
As of the time I wrote this article, there are 1,188 St Louis Open Houses scheduled for today and showing on StLouisOpenHouses.com
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By Dennis Norman, on April 22nd, 2016 Today is earth day, so here are some interesting housing facts from the U.S. Census Bureau, related, more or less, to earth day issues:
- 48.8% of all homes in the U.S. have gas as a primary heat source;
- 2.1% of all homes in the U.S. have wood as a primary heat source;
- <1% of all homes int he U.S. have solar energy as their primary heat source;
- 91% of the new single-family homes built in the U.S. in 2014 have air conditioning;
- The median size of a new single-family house completed in 2014 was 2,453 square feet.
- The median price of a new single-family house completed in 2014 was $345,800
- There were 11,000 multi-family buildings built in the U.S. in 2014 – 63% of them have electricity for their primary heat source.
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By Dennis Norman, on April 21st, 2016 St Louis home prices appear to be trending downward a little even though we are in the midst of a fairly robust spring market. This is based upon the current price per foot of active listings for sale compared with what home sales that closed last month, as well as prior 12 months, sold for on a per-foot basis. As the tables below show, the price per foot trend is down in all 6 counties we track, with the biggest downward trends showing in St Louis County and the city of St Louis, both of which have seen the median price per foot of active listings fall below what homes in those counties sold for in the prior 12 months.
Condo prices trending downward as well..
Beneath the table for home prices is a table showing condo price trends which shows St Louis condo prices trending downward as well.
Remember, real estate (and home prices) are very local…
What I have discussed thus far is at the county level, but you must remember real estate is very local and home prices, sales, etc, can vary greatly within the same county. For example, see the chart at the bottom of home price trends by zip code – I have shown it two ways…first where the prices are trending upward and next where they are trending downward. As the tables show, there are several zip codes in the area with definite upward trends in home prices as well as areas going the other direction as well.
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By Dennis Norman, on April 19th, 2016 It’s hard to drive through a neighborhood today and not see a “coming soon” rider on a for sale sign in front of a house. With the St Louis real estate market still favoring sellers in many markets due to a low supply of homes for sale, it’s not surprising that coming soon listings create somewhat of a fervor among would-be buyers and their agents. However, it is not uncommon for a buyer to wait patiently for a coming soon listing to hit the market, only to find that that at the same time it comes on the market “live” in the MLS, it immediately goes to a pending sale status leaving the would be buyer out on the cold.
What’s wrong with this picture?
Assuming the seller was under the impression that, by listing their home with a REALTOR® they would get maximum exposure for their listing, through the MLS as well as the thousands of websites that receive MLS info through syndication, IDX feeds and the like, and therefore obtain the highest price the market would bear for their home (which is what you would expect from maximum exposure to the market) then the seller was short-changed. By presenting an offer to a seller before the listing was ever taken “live” and given all the exposure the MLS has to offer, then the seller has no way of knowing that they received the highest price and/or best terms the market would bear. All the seller knows, is that from the few people that happened to call on the coming soon sign, or that the listing agent told about the property, this was the best offer.
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Continue reading ““Coming Soon” Listings – Good For Sellers Or Just Listing Agents and Buyers?“
By Dennis Norman, on February 18th, 2016 St Louis home prices have been, for the most part, increasing over the past couple of years at what most would consider from a historical basis, a “normal” rate. However, market conditions can vary widely from neighborhood to neighborhood as illustrated by the table below which shows St Louis zip codes where homes prices (on a per square foot basis) have increased the most in the past year. As the table shows, there are 13 zip codes in the St Louis area where home prices, on a per foot basis, increased over 10% during the 12 month period ending January 31, 2016 from the prior 12 month period.
Four low-priced zip codes are at the top of the list with the first triple-digit price per foot area making the list being the Maplewood area (63143). At the other end of the spectrum, shown on the second table below, are the zip codes where home prices declined during the same period. Fortunately, there are only 3 zips on this list with the Ferguson area, 63135, at the top, followed by Bellefontaine Neighbors (63137) and DeSoto (63020).
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By Dennis Norman, on February 3rd, 2016 The St Louis real estate and housing market saw a good year last year but, as we are frequently reminded, real estate is very “local” and prices, as well as market conditions, can vary widely even between cities or towns just a mile or two apart. This is clearly illustrated when I look at a report our company produces, based upon home sales data, obtained directly from the St Louis REALTOR® MLS, that shows the median price per foot for homes sold (or currently for sale) throughout the St Louis area. I like price per square foot data as I believe that is one of the more accurate ways of seeing trends in home prices. We compile this data and publish it live, and real-time, online, for each city in St Louis as well as zip code.
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By Dennis Norman, on July 2nd, 2015 St Louis bank and government owned home sales are down as banks and government enterprises such as Fannie Mae, FHA, VA and Freddie Mac whittle down their inventory of foreclosed homes while, at the same time, new mortgage delinquencies and foreclosure rates continue to decline. While this is good for the St Louis real estate market, it makes it tough on investors, as well as owner occupants, who are looking for a deal on a distressed sale, as the competition is growing fierce driving prices up and opportunities down.
St Louis Bank and Government owned home sales down over 30% from year ago:
As the charts below show, year to date, through the end of May, there have been a total of 1,598 bank or government owned homes sold in the St Louis 5-county core market (the city of St Louis and counties of St Louis, St Charles, Jefferson and Franklin), according to data available from MARIS, the REALTORS® MLS for the area, which is a decline of 31.4% from the same time a year ago when there were 2,100 bank and government owned home sales.
St Louis Distressed Home Sales Selling At Record Percentage of List Price:
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Want be successful buying distressed property? Check out my video on how to buy distressed sales here. Continue reading “Bank and Government Owned Home Sales Down But Selling For Record Percentage of List Price“
By Dennis Norman, on June 25th, 2015 It wasn’t that long ago that sellers were practically begging buyers to purchase their home but that is not the case today. Today, in some very sought after St Louis neighborhoods the inventory of homes is so low and demand so high that when a new listing hits the market it’s like a feeding frenzy for buyers. This has led to frustration and disappointment for many buyers leading some to become a little too overanxious and buy a home that really is not right for them or overpay for one out of fear of “missing out”.
So, how do you get your offer accepted on the home you want?
While there is no fool-proof or guaranteed method, my 35 years experience in the business, including being the principal in the purchase of more than 2,000 properties, as well as having an excellent recent track record of my buyer and investor clients getting contracts accepted and beating out the competition, has helped me develop some methods that I know work and will stack the deck in your favor. While not all my suggestions are right for every situation, and a plan must be custom tailored to the specific buyer and transaction, here is a list of things that have worked when right for the given situation and client:
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5 Key Strategies To Assure A Quick Home Sale At The Maximum Price
Continue reading “How To Buy A Home In A Hot Market Like This One“
By Dennis Norman, on June 24th, 2015 Further proof of just how “local” real estate is and how important it is for home buyers and sellers to have accurate, targeted, local data is the fact that today the St Louis Business Journal reported “home sales increased 17.9 percent year to date in the St. Louis metropolitan area, more than twice the national rate of 8.4 percent”. While I’m not saying their reporting is inaccurate, as they were quoting data from the St Louis Federal Reserve, the problem is the data is based upon sales for the whole St Louis MSA which is comprised of 17 counties with 8 of them in Illinois as well as the fact the data does not come from what is probably the best and most accurate source of data, the REALTOR MLS.
However, many home buyers and sellers just see or hear the headlines from the media which could negatively impact you if you think the market you are buying or selling in is in fact stronger or weaker than you think. For example, based upon the headline, if you were looking to buy a home in the City of St Louis you would probably find some comfort knowing you are buying somewhere where the housing market is so hot home sales have increased more than double the national average year to date from last year. The reality is though, while home sales in the city of St Louis are doing better so far this year than last year, as the table below shows, this year there have been 1,385 homes sold, an increase of 7.7% from last year when there were 1,286 homes sold during the same period. Don’t get me wrong, an increase of 7.7% is good however, it is actually below the national average of 8.4% and certainly not double the national average as the headlines and MSA data may make you think.
So what’s the answer? Call me and I’ll make sure you get the accurate information you need for your particular situation and can also connect you with one of our professional, hand-picked agents that can help you put the data and information to work in your best interest whether buying or selling. Seriously, don’t you think you deserve this for what may be the biggest financial transaction you make? Call or text me at 314.332.1012 or email me at Dennis@STLRE.com.
Oh yeah, and check out all the tables below for accurate sales data for the REAL St Louis market as well as the individual counties.
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See ALL Homes That Will Be Open In St Louis This Weekend
5 Key Strategies To Assure A Quick Home Sale At The Maximum Price
Continue reading “St Louis Home Sales Are Up But Amount of Increase Varies Widely By Area“
By Dennis Norman, on June 5th, 2015 The other day I had a client, who was planning on using FHA financing, as me if I thought she would be able to negotiate as good of a deal as if she was obtaining a conventional loan. The concern was that, as an FHA buyer, would she be perceived as a weaker buyer in the seller’s eyes since FHA’s credit and income guidelines are not as stringent as Fannie Mae, and FHA requires a smaller downpayment as well.
This prompted me to do some research to see if I could determine if there was any merit tot he concern that a buyer going FHA may not be able to negotiate as good of a deal as a buyer putting more money down and going conventional. To determine this, I looked at homes sold in St Louis County during the month of May with financing terms reported to the MLS and then looked at the percentage of the list price that FHA buyers paid versus the percentage of list price conventional buyers paid and here are my findings:
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Continue reading “Do Conventional Buyers Get Better Deals Than FHA Buyers?“
By Dennis Norman, on May 8th, 2015 There is no doubt the St Louis real estate market has been HOT thus far this spring and homes are selling well. Personally, four, of the last five listings I’ve taken, sold within the first day of hitting the MLS. Granted, there is a lot that goes into this in terms of pricing, marketing strategy etc., but even with everything done perfectly we weren’t seeing results like this last year.
As you have heard me say many times though, real estate is very local and not all markets perform the same. There may be drastically different results between two neighboring areas or even between two price ranges within the same neighborhood, which is why good, accurate local market data with an “apples to apples” comparison is more important than ever today. With this in mind below is my list of St Louis’s fastest selling neighborhoods based upon the average days on market of the homes for sale in those neighborhoods as of today.
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5 Key Strategies To Assure A Quick Home Sale At The Maximum Price
Continue reading “St Louis’s Fastest Selling Neighborhoods“
By Dennis Norman, on April 11th, 2015 This week, the 10,000 square foot Ladue Manse that is the home of Barry H. Beracha and his wife Barbara, came on the market with a price tag of $3,75 million. “Casual elegance” is how the listing describes this 16 room home, with 5 bedrooms, 7 bath rooms and a 1.5 acre lot located at 5 Warson Hills Lane in Ladue.
Mr. Beracha currently serves as a Director for Hertz Global Holdings, Inc. and, prior to retirement, served as Chief Executive Officer of the Sara Lee Bakery Group.
5 Warson Hills, Ladue, Misouri 63124
To view all photos as well as complete description, click here.
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Disclaimer: The information herein is believed to be accurate and timely, but no warranty whatsoever, whether expressed or implied, is given. Information from third parties is deemed reliable but not verified and should be independently verified. MORE, REALTORS does not display the entire IDX database of Mid America Regional Information Systems, Inc. (MARIS MLS) on this website.
By Peter Wright, on March 5th, 2015 Traditionally the only Rental history that gets reported to the credit bureaus is negative! If you fail to make your payment to your landlord…look for a collection account or even a judgment to show up on your credit profile and potentially drop your credit score like a rock!But what about tenants that pay their rent on time? Remember rent is often an individual’s single largest monthly bill, and the impact of that reporting to the credit bureaus could be huge!There are over a 100-million renters in the U.S. and less than 1% of them have had any positive rental payment history reported to the credit bureaus…but that is all about to change! (We work hard on this and sure would appreciate a “Like”)[iframe http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FStLouisRealEstateNews&send=false&layout=standard&width=50&show_faces=false&font&colorscheme=light&action=like&height=35&appId=537283152977556 100 35 ]
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Continue reading “Renters Get Respect!“
By Dennis Norman, on November 7th, 2014 Robert G. Brinkmann, founder and CEO of Brinkmann Constructors, has listed for sale his 12,000 square foot
St Albans estate home for $8.5 million. The Brinkmann estate, named “La Charette”, sits on 15.7 acres overlooking the Missouri river valley and claims to have “the most beautiful views in St Louis“. I was pondering the name given the estate, “La Charette”, and did a little research to try to find a connection between the name and Brinmann, who built the home 12 years ago. I looked first at the french definition of the word which is basically a “cart”, sort of like a chariot or wagon which at first made no sense to me until I discovered this type of French cart was often used to transport drawings. However, the other definition I found of it, which seems perhaps even more fitting, is (from Merriam’s) “the intense final effort made by architectural students to complete their solutions to a given architectural problem in an allotted time or the period in which such an effort is made.”
This is not the first time on the market for La Charette as it spent a year on the market from May 2013 through May 2014 at a price of $8.9 million. Whether or not the $400,000 price reduction will be enough to motivate a buyer in what has been a rather stagnant market in St Albans is hard to say but it is safe to say the St Albans housing market has been soft for a while. As the chart below shows, the price per foot for homes in St Albans peaked around 2009 and the fell to a low around 2011 pretty much like the rest of the St Louis market however, different than most markets in this area, after spending a year or so gaining back some lost ground in home prices, has taken another dip and now reached a point even lower than the bottom in 2011.
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See “La Chartte” photos and complete info as well as the St Albans market chart below.. Continue reading “Brinkmann Constructor’s Founders’ St Albans La Charette Estate Hit’s Market“
By Dennis Norman, on October 27th, 2014 St Louis pending home sales increased in September to 2,285 for the 5-county core St Louis housing market (St Louis city and the counties of St Louis, St Charles, Jefferson and Franklin) from 2,203 in September 2013, an increase of 3.7%, according to the latest MLS data. Year to date, the number of pending home sales for 2014 is running about 3.3% behind last year however.
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Continue reading “St Louis Pending Home Sales In September Increase From Last Year“
By Dennis Norman, on October 14th, 2014 One of the most frequent questions I have been asked over the years by home buyers is “Should I Buy A Home Directly From The Listing Agent?” While no answer is correct for every situation, I would say that, in most cases, the answer to this question is “no”, you should not buy a home directly from the listing agent. You may be thinking though “won’t I get a better deal by cutting out the middle man?” In reality by going to the listing agent you are in fact NOT cutting out the “middle man” because in 99.99%* of the listings in the MLS the Seller will pay the SAME commission regardless of who sells their home, therefore, there is NO savings to the seller when you buy from the Listing Agent, just MORE COMMISSION to the Listing Agent.
Think of buying a home without a buyer’s agent representing you like going to court without an attorney….when the other side has an attorney. That’s basically what you are doing when you buy a home without being represented by a buyer’s agent…the “other side” (the seller) has professional representation and someone that has a legal obligation to represent them and get the best deal possible for them (the listing agent) and you have no one with a legal obligation to make sure you get the best deal possible.
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(*a search on 10/11/14 of the MLS (MARIS) revealed 18,218 residential listings and of those, only 25 had a “variable rate” commission meaning the seller would save money if the listing agent sold the home)
By Dennis Norman, on October 13th, 2014 The fastest selling neighborhoods in St Louis are found in St Louis county with the bulk of them in West St Louis County and the exceptions in Mid-County, according to the latest data available from MORE, REALTORS. As the table below shows, the fastest selling neighborhood in St Louis as of today is Rock Hill where homes on the market have been for sale an average of 41 days.
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Continue reading “The Fastest Selling Neighborhoods in St Louis“
By Dennis Norman, on October 9th, 2014
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) just announced that Wells Fargo Home Mortgage has agreed to a $5 Million settlement to resolve allegations that Wells Fargo discriminated against women who were pregnant, or had recently given birth, and were on maternity leave. (Click HERE for settlement agreement)
There have been a total of 190 maternity leave discrimination complaints filed with HUD against lenders in the past 4 years and those complaints have resulted in 40 settlements for a total of $1.5 million, prior to today’s settlement with Wells Fargo.
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StLouisMLS.com
Continue reading “Wells Fargo Agrees To $5 Million Settlement of Claim Of Discrimination of Pregnant Women & Women On Maternity Leave“
By Dennis Norman, on September 23rd, 2014 St Louis software developer and owner of Nu-Calgon, Brian Butler and his wife Kelly have listed for sale their 11,000+ square foot English Country Home which sits on over 6 acres in St Albans and overlooks the Missouri River for a price of $4,400,000. The home, located at 508 Heron Court in the Bluffs at St. Abans was built in 1999 and was listed for sale for $3,975,000 on 4 previous occasions in 2012 and 2013 but did not sell.
To see complete details as well as all photos for this home, click here.
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Disclaimer: The information herein is believed to be accurate and timely, but no warranty whatsoever, whether expressed or implied, is given. Information from third parties is deemed reliable but not verified and should be independently verified. MORE, REALTORS does not display the entire IDX database of Mid America Regional Information Systems, Inc. (MARIS MLS) on this website.
By Dennis Norman, on September 23rd, 2014 The City of St Louis was at the top of a list that you don’t really want to be on, the “Top 50 Counties with the Highest Prevalence of Man-Made Environmental Hazards“, just released this morning by RealtyTrac. The city of St Louis scored a 87.2, more than triple the score of Philadelphia (27.8) which occupies the number 2 spot on the list.
In scoring locations for this list, RealtyTrac only looked at counties with a population of 100,000 or more and then ranked them based upon the % of bad air quality days, the number of Superfund sites on National Priority List per square mile and other environmental hazards per square mile. The City of St Louis experiences bad air quality days 7.89% of the time, about 45% higher than the national average of 5.43%, has 5.35 Superfund sites on the the National Priority list, 178 times the national average of .03 and has 13.3 other environmental hazards per square mile, 147 times the national average of .09.
This is yet another example of how the City of St Louis, by not being part of St Louis County and instead being treated as it’s own county, ends up on the short end of the stick (or perhaps exhaust stack in this case) on national statistics. Normally, a city within a metropolitan area is going to be more likely to have environmental hazards than the suburbs but the stats don’t look as bad with the cities’ data is mixed in with that of the suburbs, which is not the case here in St Louis.
Speaking of St Louis County, as the table below shows, it made the list also, coming in at #15 on the list.
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Continue reading “City of St Louis Tops List of Places with Man-Made Environmental Hazards“
By Dennis Norman, on September 11th, 2014 For the first time in a long time, there was an increase in St Louis Foreclosures with 497 foreclosure actions in August, equivalent to 1 foreclosure action for every 2,511 housing units, an increase of 2.47 percent from the month before. While up from the month before, St Louis Foreclosures in August 2014 were down 58.41% from August 2013. As the table below shows, St Charles County had a big decline in foreclosure activity in August and the city of St Louis a modest decline, but Jefferson County and Franklin County both saw increases in foreclosures over over 100% from the month before. With the exception of Franklin County, all the counties listed had a double digit decline in foreclosure activity from the year before.
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Continue reading “St Louis Foreclosures Rise Slightly In August; Up over 100 Percent In Outlying Areas“
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