By Dennis Norman, on July 10th, 2015
The St Louis real estate market continues to be hot with many sellers benefiting from the low inventory of homes for sale resulting in buyers flocking to new listings and, when the homes are priced right, multiple offers being received in the first day. Happened for one of my clients again this week…took the listing live on Tuesday at noon, had over 8 buyers through that afternoon and evening and multiple offers in hand by the next morning, all above listing price. Granted, there were a couple of weeks of pre-listing marketing we did to generate interest, and the seller worked hard to make sure the home was in show condition, but still, it sold quick! Continue Reading →
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 Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on June 19th, 2015
The St Louis real estate market continues to be on fire in many areas with buyers flocking to new listings like St Louisan’s to a Cardinals versus Cubs game! In some areas and price ranges it is not uncommon to have new listings receive 5 – 10 showings the first day and to sell within the first day or two and be sold before the ink is barely dry on the listing agreement.
St Louis’ Fastest Selling Neighborhood’s Are Selling 35% Faster Than Last Month!
Last month around this time I wrote a similar article with a list of Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on June 18th, 2015
St Louis foreclosure activity in May 2015 continued the downward trend with a drop of almost 9 percent from the month before for the St Louis MSA as a whole, according to data just released this morning by RealtyTrac. As the table below shows, foreclosure activity in May was up over 55% from May 2014, however, when we look at the 12 month rolling average, which gives a better indication of the trend (blue area in table) we see that for the 12 month period ended in May foreclosure activity is down over 13% from the same time a year ago. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on June 12th, 2015
During the 2nd quarter of this year, there was foreclosure activity on one out of every 887 housing units in Jefferson County, giving it the highest foreclosure rate of the main counties making up the St Louis real estate market, according to a report just released by RealtyTrac. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on May 21st, 2015
St Louis foreclosures increased in April from the month before in the St Louis area counties of St Charles, Jefferson and Franklin, were fairly level in St Louis County and declined almost 12 percent in the city of St Louis. For the 5 counties that make up the core of the St Louis real estate market, the median increase in foreclosure activity in April 2015 from the month before was, as the table below shows, 10.68%, and, compared with foreclosure activity from April 2014, the median increase in foreclosure activity was almost 30 percent, according to data released this morning by RealtyTrac. Continue Reading →
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 Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on April 24th, 2015
St Louis home sales, in the 5-county “core” St Louis market, increased 16.9 percent in March from the year before, with 2,589 homes sold in March 2015 up from 2,214 sold in March 2014. As the chart below shows, there was the normal “seasonal” dip during the winter months, but the St Louis real estate market has come out of winter strong!
St Louis home prices on the rise too!
As the chart below also illustrates, the median price of homes sold in St Louis has increased from a year ago as well. The median price of homes sold in Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on April 9th, 2015
The St Louis real estate market has definitely heated up and we are seeing as many as 10 or 20 showings on new listings within the first day or two of hitting the market with many of the homes also selling during the first couple of days. Naturally, this is not happening for all homes in all price ranges in all areas, but is certainly happening in some. So where are homes selling the quickest in St Louis? To answer this question, I pulled market data for homes that are currently under contract but have not closed, then looked at how much time they were on the market before selling and have the results below. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on April 2nd, 2015
Real property tax rates in St Louis County effectively cost homeowners in that county about 1.43 percent of the value of the home which is 57 percent higher than Jefferson and Franklin counties were property taxes cost homeowners about .91 percent of their homes value. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on March 30th, 2015
Pending home sales in St Louis rose in February with 1,710 sales pending in the St Louis 5-county core market (city of St Louis and counties of St Louis, St Charles, Jefferson and Franklin), an increase of 17 percent from 1,460 pending home sales the month before, however was a decrease of 11% from February 2014 when there were 1,917 pending home sales in the St Louis 5-county core market. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on March 27th, 2015
RealtyTrac published a report earlier this week that prompted an article on Bloomberg Business with a headline of “U.S. Home Prices Are Surging 13 Times Faster Than Wages”. RealtyTrac’s report included a chart (below) showing several metropolitan areas throughout the U.S. where, over a recent two year period, home prices were outpacing wages and that “either wages are going to need to go up or (home) prices are going to need to at least flatten out and wait for wages to catch up”. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on March 24th, 2015
St Louis home sales jumped in February to 1,633 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), an increase of almost 15 percent (14.8%) from February 2014 when there were 1,423 homes sold, and an increase of over 22 percent (22.3%) from the month before, according to the latest data available from MORE, REALTORS Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on March 19th, 2015
St Louis foreclosures declined in February for the St Louis MSA with a total of 843 foreclosure actions occurring during the month, a decline of over 22 percent from the month before and a decline of over 10 percent from a year ago, according to data just released this morning by RealtyTrac. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on March 19th, 2015
This week FNC, Inc., a large company that provides real estate market information to mortgage lenders across the country, published their FNC Residential Price Index™ report which showed St Louis home prices declined slightly in January from the month before (0.4%) and were also down slightly (0.7%) from a year ago. Continue Reading →
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! Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on February 25th, 2015
The St Louis real estate market is definitely recovering from the housing bubble burst that sent it into a tail spin about six years ago. With the recovery, home sales have increased, although at a slower pace in 2014 than the year before, and St Louis home prices have increased but, in spite of this, are St Louis home prices too low? Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on February 23rd, 2015
St Louis home sales slowed in January to 1,322 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) which is a decline of over 36 percent (36.65%) from the month before, and a decline of almost 3 percent (2.94%) from a year ago, according to the latest data available from MORE, REALTORS. As the chart below shows, the median price of homes sold in St Louis in January was $144,498, down from $159,500 in December but up from a year ago when the median home Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on February 9th, 2015
The St Louis real estate market is off to a good start and homes and condos in many neighborhoods are SELLING FAST! Find which St Louis neighborhoods are hot markets and selling fast as well as which are not and much more in our newly published, 5-minute, market video update for February 2015, below.
If you have considered selling your home, or perhaps tried and failed in the past year or so, now is the time to consider it again. Give us a call and we’ll be happy to let you know the value of your home in today’s market or, try our new online Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on February 2nd, 2015
The city of St Louis made the list of the top 50 markets to rent to Millenials, published by RealtyTrac. In determining the best markets in the U.S. for renting to millennial (most of whom are in their 20’s or early 30’s), RealtyTrac looked at rental markets where the gross annual yield on rentals was at least 9 percent, where Millenials make up more than 22 percent of the market (the national average) and where the Millenial population had increased at least 5% from 2007 through 2013. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on January 30th, 2015
According to the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) 2015 Profile of Home Staging (the first ever by them), over 50 percent (52%) of real estate agents representing buyers said that a staged home will increase how much their buyer client is willing to pay for a home. For those not familiar with the term a staged home is one that has been prepared, usually by a professional, to help make the home show as well as possible and appeal to as many buyers as possible leading to ultimate goal of selling the home quickly for the highest price. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on January 28th, 2015
So you may be asking, why am I writing about crime here, after all isn’t this site about real estate? Correct but there are few things that can affect property values more than crime rates and school districts. Not to mention, from an economic development standpoint, crime also plays a role in the success we have as a region attracting businesses to St Louis to create jobs which also has a major impact on home prices. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on January 27th, 2015
Last summer I wrote an article addressing the issue as to whether paying a higher rate of commission will help a seller sell his or her home faster. My research for that article, in which I looked at a years worth of home sales in the St Louis area, showed that a higher than normal commission rate in fact did not lead to faster home sales. Now that we are seeing the market heat up I decided to take another look at this topic and this time focus on whether paying a higher real estate commission results in getting a higher price for the seller. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on January 23rd, 2015
St Louis home sales for 2014 fell 2.4 percent from 2013 with a total of 30.557 homes sold in St Louis (in the 5-county core market) during 2014, shy of the 31,329 homes sold the year before. St Louis home prices, on the other hand, increased 5.6 percent during the same period, increasing from a median price of $142,000 for homes sold during 2013 to $150,000 for homes sold during 2014. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on January 22nd, 2015
There were 119,936 St Louis homeowners with negative equity, or in a seriously underwater condition on their mortgage meaning they owe more than the current value of their home, in the St Louis MSA during the 4th quarter of 2014 which is a 21% improvement from the prior quarter when there were 152,025 St Louis homeowners seriously underwater, according to a report just released today by RealtyTrac.
As the table below shows, for the immediate St Louis, MO area, the city and county of St Louis had the highest percentage of underwater homeowners at 22% and St Charles county had Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on January 17th, 2015
The 63376 zip code area of St Charles County, which includes the City of St. Peters and a portion of Cottleville, had the most homes sold in 2014 of any other zip code area in St Louis with 1,145 homes sold. For the zip area with the second most homes sold in 2014 we jump to the east side of the Missouri river with the 63021 area of St Louis County, comprised of Ballwin, Manchester and Ellisville, with 856 homes sold. The chart below shows the top 20 zip areas in the St Louis area and then the charts that Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on January 16th, 2015
Missouri foreclosure filings during 2014 occurred on a total of 9.762 properties in Missouri which is down over 70% from 2010 when foreclosure activity in Missouri hit an all-time record high with foreclosure filings occurring that year on 33,120 properties, according to data just released by RealtyTrac. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on January 13th, 2015
St Louis home sales in 2014 failed to keep pace with the year before however St Louis home prices rose during the same period. How much they rose as well as how much St Louis home prices are expected to increase (or decrease) in 2015 are just two of the important pieces of information you will find about the current St Louis real state market in our newly published, 5-minute, market video update for January 2015, below.
There are neighborhoods throughout St Louis that are low on inventory and high on demand creating a seller’s market! If you have considered Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on January 9th, 2015
Yesterday, President Obama announced that he will, by executive order, direct FHA to lower the mortgage insurance premium charged on FHA loans to home buyer from 1.35 percent to .85 percent, lowering home buyer’s house payments by about $900 per year on average. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on January 8th, 2015
The number of St Louis Homeowners with negative equity (or underwater) during the third quarter of 2014 hit the lowest level since Corelogic began tracking this data in the 3rd quarter of 2009. During the quarter, 8.43% of St Louis homeowners with a mortgage were underwater or in a negative equity position meaning their mortgage balance exceed the current value of their home, according to the latest data from Corelogic. Continue Reading →
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