By Dennis Norman, on February 21st, 2020 Over the past couple of months, I have written a couple of articles about a new policy approved by the National Association of REALTORS® in November 2019 known as the “Clear Cooperation Policy”. While I’m not sure how closely consumers are watching, or if they even care at all about the policy at this point, REALTORS® have definitely been following the policy and have been pretty vocal about their thoughts on the policy, both for and against.
Before I go on, I should disclose that I currently serve as Chairman of the Board for MARIS (Mid-America Regional Information Systems) which Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on February 20th, 2020 Opportunity Zones were created by the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that President Donald J. Trump signed into law on December 22, 2017. Opportunity zones were established to help communities that are economically-distressed and work by promoting private investment and development through the use of tax incentives. There are a total of 8.760 designated Qualified Opportunity Zones in the U.S. and there are 140 Opportunity Zones in Missouri.
Opportunity zones appear to have had a positive impact on the housing market in several opportunity zones in the St Louis area. According to data just released by ATTOM Date Solutions, Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on November 22nd, 2019 Annually, the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) does a massive survey of people that purchased and sold a home in the prior year to gather information about them and their transaction. This is done using a 125 question survey that was sent to nearly 160,000 people, in randomly sampled geographic areas, that purchased or sold a home in the prior year. The results are published by NAR in their “Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers“. From this publication, some great information is obtained (in my humble opinion, the best and most accurate information available) about home buyers and sellers as Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on November 12th, 2019 Yesterday, the board of directors for the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) approved a new policy dubbed the “Clear Cooperation Policy” which goes into effect January 1, 2020, and Multiple Listing Service’s (MLS) have until May 1, 2020, to adopt and implement.
While the vote by the board of directors, 729 in favor of it to 70 opposed, may not reflect it, there is a lot of controversy about this policy among real estate agents and brokers that are members of NAR. The two main changes this new policy bring about are that agents would be mandated to put, for Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on October 3rd, 2019 The MLS Technology and Emerging Issues Advisory Board, of the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR), proposed a rule change that is sparking some controversy among its’ members. The proposed “Clear Cooperation Policy” requires that all listings be put in the MLS within 24 hours of “marketing a property to the public“. The policy defines “public marketing” as including, but not limited to, “flyers displayed in windows, yard signs, digital marketing on public-facing websites, brokerage website displays (including IDX and VOW), digital communications marketing (email blasts), multi-brokerage listing sharing networks, and applications available to the general public”.
But, isn’t that how Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on June 26th, 2019 This year is a reassessment year for real property in Missouri, so assessors throughout the state are going to update the property values that tax assessments are based upon. According to state law, the value should reflect the value of the property as of January 1, 2019. Reassessment is done every two years, so the prior reassessment was in 2017. Given that the real estate market has been performing well now for the past several years, and property values are increasing, it’s not surprising that most property owners will see an increase in their assessment from the 2017 value to Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on April 23rd, 2019 According to the latest estimates by the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR), there are approximately 2 million licensed real estate agents in the United States. Last year, according to the NAR, there were a total of 5.341 million existing homes sold which equates to one agent for every 2.67 homes sold during the year in the U.S. Wow, talk about competition! Granted, not all licensed agents sell residential real estate as many focus us on commercial real estate, including industrial, retail, office, multi-family, and land, and others focus on farms, large tracts of land, recreational property, etc. Nonetheless, there is Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on March 22nd, 2019 I saw an article recently about the results of a survey done of home sellers that found that nearly half of them didn’t realize they pay the buyers’ agent commission when they sell their home.
Sellers pay the buyers’ agent in almost all home sales in St Louis…
While I don’t know for sure, I would guess that the people surveyed were homeowners that planned to sell their homes, rather than sellers that already had their homes listed for sale. I say this because the standard listing agreement used by St Louis REALTORS® spells out the total commission being charged Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on November 26th, 2018 The impact of the strong economy the U.S. is currently experiencing can be seen in the National Association of REALTORS (NAR) 2018 Member Profile. In the NAR report when agents were asked about the most important factor limiting potential home-buyer clients from completing a transaction, the answers given in the most recent survey show a strong improvement in economy-related issues from the 2015 survey. For example, below are some highlights from the survey for the most important factor limiting potential buyers in completing a transaction:
Difficulty in obtaining financing dropped from 26% in 2015 to just 12% in 2018 Low Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on November 1st, 2018 It would be an understatement to say that Zillow® has many real estate agents nervous about their future. It’s not just Zillow® though, it’s Amazon, big banks, and dozens and dozens of new real estate start-ups and changing business models.
A true dysfunctional family…
The most common name that comes up in real estate agent circles when discussing the impact of the internet on the real estate profession topic is Zillow®, and usually in the context of “the enemy“, so to speak. It seems to me the biggest fear among agents about Zillow® is that they want to eliminate real Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on September 19th, 2018 Money Magazine just released its “The Best Places To Live In America” list and St Charles came in at number 32 on the list and was one of only two cities in Missouri to make the list. The other was Lee’s Summit, in the Kansas City area, which came in at number 41 on the list.
In choosing the best cities to live in, Money Magazine looked at cities with populations of at least 50,000 people, then eliminated any place that had either a crime rate more than double the national crime risk rate, a median income of less than Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on July 4th, 2018 Today, the Fourth of July is the day we celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence which took place 242 years ago on July 4, 1776. With the signing of this Declaration, the 13 colonies, or united States, declared their independence from Great Britain and thus, the United States was born!
While I don’t recall the specific number of times I have read this document, I can say with reasonable certainty that I doubt the number would take more than one hand to count. It’s pretty amazing that such an important document while referred to often, and celebrated Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on May 21st, 2018 St Louis home buyers today face stiff competition from other buyers and often find themselves in a “multiple bid” situations where a seller has several offers to consider. This has led many buyers agents to suggest the use of “escalation clauses” by their clients in order to increase their chances of success. However, not everyone in real estate industry agrees that this is a good practice and some think it is doesn’t serve the buyer well. I tend to fall into the latter camp as I am not a fan of escalation clauses for buyers, however, in the right situation Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on March 29th, 2018 If I had a dollar for everytime someone asks me when is the best time to sell their home I would probably not have to be writing this article today and instead would be relaxing somewhere warm :). My initial answer, while somewhat snarky, is always the same “when you have a buyer“. Actually though, just because there is a buyer doesn’t mean you are realizing the best price and terms as may be possible.
It’s not really possible to be totally objective when analyzing this as no more which data I choose to use or consider is going to Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on March 18th, 2018 In today’s low-inventory real estate market here in St Louis, it’s common for would-be buyers to miss out on a house they want even when they make a strong offer only to find out they got beat out by another buyer offering a higher price or better terms. This is particularly true for people trying to buy a foreclosure with increasing demand and decreasing supply, it is not uncommon to have 5, 10 or even more offers for the newly listed foreclosed property.
Does the listing agent have to inform you of multiple offers?
No one Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on October 12th, 2017 The National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) just released it’s 2017 Remodeling Impact Report, in which they rank Kitchen Renovation and Upgrade at the top of their list for appeal to buyers as well as for most likely value to the home for resale. Next on the list, in both categories, was Bathroom renovation.
According to the report:
The average cost of a kitchen upgrade was $35,000 and, on average, added $20,000 to the value of the home, for a recovery rate of 57% of the cost. The average cost of a complete kitchen renovation was $65,000 and, on average, added 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 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 →
By Dennis Norman, on November 23rd, 2016 Yesterday, the National Association of REALTORS (NAR) released their existing home sales data for October 2016 which revealed home sales in the U.S. during that month were at a, seasonally-adjusted, annual, rate of 5.6 million homes, an increase in rate of 2 percent from the month before. We track St Louis home sales data in a little different manner, comparing the most recent 12 month period with the prior 12 month period, so a rolling 12 month average of sorts, and, as the table below shows, home sales in the St Louis MSA for the 12-month period ending October 31, 2016, increased 6.64% from the prior 12 month period and we have branded the St Louis MSA housing market as a “Hot Seller’s Market”. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on October 7th, 2016 Over the past 5 years or so I have written a few articles on the topic of the mortgage interest deduction (MID) and how, in spite of what many others in the industry say, I didn’t think it was that critical to the housing industry. All the while, the National Association of REALTORS (NAR) (of which I’m proud to be a member, just happen to disagree on this topic) has staunchly supported the MID and warned that if the deduction went away the housing market and home buyers would suffer. NAR published a fact sheet on the topic stating:
Repealing Continue Reading →
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. Continue Reading →
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. Continue Reading →
By Mike Hejna, on April 8th, 2016 St. Louis County is entertaining the idea of adding the City of St. Louis to its list of incorporated municipalities. All legal opinions rmly show that the County will absorb NONE of the City’s nancial responsibilities. If this were to happen the City of St. Louis will be no di erent than municipalities such as Clayton, Ellisville, or Chester eld. It would simply be another city located in St. Louis County. I am an advocate for this move. The City needs to cease County functions and turn them over to the County. Currently, practices and city functions run at ine cient levels. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on January 27th, 2016 Before I begin, I should point out that what I’m about to tell you runs contrary to what the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR), the largest trade association in the country and one I belong to and support, will tell you. The NAR position on the mortgage interest deduction (MID) is, quoting from their website, “the mortgage interest deduction (MID) is a remarkably effective tool that facilitates homeownership.” Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on November 10th, 2015 The number of homes sold “For Sale By Owner” (FSBO) dropped to a record low of just eight percent of all homes sold, according to the National Association of REALTORS (NAR) 2015 Profile of Home Buyers and Home Sellers report. A commentary posted on the Economist’s Outlook Blog by Amanda Riggs, Research Survey Analyst for NAR. on the NAR website indicated that homeowners that sell as a FSBO often find it doesn’t turn out as they expected either in the amount of time it will take on their part nor in the price they ultimately receive. Highlights from Rigg’s commentary include: Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on October 29th, 2015 Pending home sales in the U.S. fell again in September, to the second lowest level this year, according to a newly released report from the National Association of REALTORS (NAR). According to the report, pending home sales in the U.S. dropped 2.3 percent in September from the month before.
St Louis Pending Home Sales Increase In September..
In contrast to the national picture, as the charts below show, St Louis Pending Home Sales rose in September, increasing 8.6 percent from September 2014 and on a year to date basis, through the end of September, pending home sales for 2015 are Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on August 14th, 2015 I often find myself very surprised to hear how a consumer chose the real estate agent they hired to represent them and hear things such as “I work with him…”, “She is a friend of….”, “He is my cousin…” etc. When I hear these responses several things come to mind: Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on July 7th, 2015 The median price of homes sold in St Louis (the 5-county core market) this year thus far has been $169,000, an increase of 5.7 percent from when the market peaked in 2006 at $159,900. While the peak of the housing bubble is considered to be 2006, as the chart below shows, St Louis home prices actually peaked in 2007 at $162,000 but, in either event, St Louis home prices have not only regained what was lost when the housing bubble burst, but then some. Continue Reading →
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”. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on April 21st, 2015 Between 2006 and 2014 nearly 9.3 million homeowners in the U.S. were either foreclosed on, did a deed of lieu of foreclosures, or did a short sale of their home, according to a recent report by the National Association of REALTORS (NAR). Continue Reading →
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