As the Jefferson’s said, “we’re movin’ on up!”
Are you hoping to make the move to your “next” home?

Do you need a bigger house because of a growing family or maybe you want to move into one of the Twin Cities best school districts like Wayzata, Minnetonka, Edina or Eden Prairie. Or, maybe you just want to take advantage of the great home prices in the Twin Cities or the even better mortgage rates that lenders like Cornerstone have to offer.
As a Twin Cities home buyer, we have a great seminar that you should check out that will cover all of your questions.

Moving in a Down Market
Tuesday, June 2nd, 6:30- 8 PM

Afraid to move in this market? Learn the math behind buying a home at a great price and with a great interest rate! Take advantage of the opportunities to enhance your current financial stability in today’s low mortgage interest rate environment by joining us for our upcoming seminar and Q&A forum.

Topics include:
- Eye-opening financial benefits of buying a home now versus waiting for economic recovery
- Pricing and preparing your home to sell in this market
- How a loss on your sale may be recouped with a good buy
- Cost effective services to rent and manage your home if it doesn’t sell

Please contact me for more information or to register:
Jen McKinnon
612.384.1073
jen [at] mnrealestateteam [dot] com

Ok, I was out showing houses last weekend and I think I collected a bouquet of smells from all the various vacant properties that my client and I were looking at.
Everything from cat pee to feces to mold to old food smell and other scents that we had a hard time identifying!
Sometimes I don’t understand how people live the way they do. How do you get so many stains on your carpet and not even bother to TRY cleaning it up?! Has the bathroom EVER seen a sponge and how is it that so much grease builds up in the kitchen that you need a Brillo pad to clean off the top of the range?
I saw one house that had more dirt and handprints on the walls that there was paint. I just don’t get it….
I see some houses in all parts of the Twin Cities and assume they have been empty for months given the condition they are in and then when you ask the neighbor about the situation of the house (all neighbors love to give you the scoop if you ask…) you find out that it’s only been empty for a week. A week! That means the old owners lived in the piles of junk and dirty carpet and walls and oh my gosh, it’s pretty gross. My favorite was a house in Minneapolis that had a bloody handprint on the wall. Needless to say we walked out pretty quickly. I don’t even want to know how that got there.

Stay tuned for more humerous stories!

Jen McKinnon
Realtor / Investor
612.384.1073

Are you a first time home buyer in the Twin Cities? Now is a great time and even better than we saw last year! Hello….$8,000 tax credit!
If you are wondering about First Time Home Buyer financing and assistance, Alec Grebis with Cornerstone Mortgage is a great person to contact. He wrote a great article about this at his blog, The Mortgage Scoop. Remember, talking to a knowledgeable lender is the first step in the home buying process!

Are you looking to buy and live in Minneapolis or St Paul?
Do you want information about all of the financial resources available to you from the State, County, City or Non Profits?
There is a new website coming out tomorrow, Thursday April 23 2009 that will give you all of that and more.
Live MSP is a website dedicated to showing potential buyers all of the neighborhoods in Minneapolis and St Paul, available homes and most importantly, all of the financial programs that are available to home buyers and home owners to entice buyers to buy in the city and encourage current city dwellers who may want to remodel.
Check out Live MSP now!

There are a few areas in the Twin Cities where the $1 million dollar price tag is still the “norm”. According to Mpls St Paul Magazine, the cities of Woodland (a strip of shoreline along Lake Minnetonka’s east side), Tonka Bay (a south central bay on Lake Minnetonka), Sunfish Lake (between Hwy 110 and Hwy 494 just west of Robert Trail) and Mendota (just across the Mendota Bridge from St Paul) had median price tags of $1 million in 2008.

These areas are high demand because of their locations and the homes are beautiful.
Currently, there are 43 single family homes listed as active – 26 are under $1 million and 17 are over the $1 million mark. Looking for the best? There is a Tonka Bay location for $5,950,000 and 7,348 square feet of Mediterranean styled luxury. Want the biggest in Woodland? $8,500,000 will buy you 8,036 square feet on Wayzata Bay and 571 feet of lakeshore and private boat docking.

Want more information on these types of homes?
Contact me
Jen McKinnon
Realtor / Investor
MN Real Estate Team – #1 Team in MN

612.384.1073
jen[at]mnrealestateteam[dot]com

I showed a house last weekend that was in a high demand neighborhood in Minneapolis near Uptown that was listed at $300,000 which seemed to be a decent price for the size of the home, number of bedrooms, baths, location, etc…UNTIL we walked in and the painter was there working, the kitchen cabinets were not completed, the trim work was not done and the “master bath” upstairs was still a framed out shell.  It was a nice touch to have a paper sign posted that said “build to suit your tastes.”  

Personally, if I want to buy new construction, I will buy new construction but I am certainly hesitant of buying and spending $300,000 on a home that first of all is not finished and second is not finished carefully or with great skill.   Personally, I’d want to hire my own contractor to finish the job and offer them $50,000 less for the house.

In my opinion, if you are rehabbing or “flipping” a house, PLEASE have it finished before you list it OR at least fill us in on how far along you are with the construction so we know what we are walking into.

Looking to buy in the Twin Cities?  Give me a call!

Jen McKinnon
Realtor / Investor
MN Real Estate Team – #1 Team in MN!

612.384.1073
jen[at]mnrealestateteam[dot]com

I knew that Short Sales were frustrating but just had a recent scenario to share….

A client and I put in an offer on a short sale property recently. The listing agent does ALOT of short sales and as usual, forwarned us that it would probably be at least 30-60 days until we got a final accepted offer. Just this week – about 30 days in he tells me that the offer is dead because the bank will no longer take anything less than the full amount owed by the seller. This amount is approximately $50,000 more than our offer so, NO, we were not going to resubmit a new offer.

To make a long story short, the bank conveniently waited for the sherrif sale to go through so that now they no longer have to accept the short sale.
Essentially, they are forcing the seller into foreclosure which means 7-8 years of not being able to buy a new home versus being able to try for a new loan in a couple of years. PLUS, my client lost the option to buy this home for the nice low price that he wanted to buy it for.

In the end, no big deal for us because we can go find another house but I feel bad for the seller who is now in a bigger mess and will have a foreclosure on his record.
Gotta love the banks. Bottom line, stay away from short sales or make sure the listing agent has full information on what the bank is planning to do. I do believe that the agent I was working with had everyone’s best interest in mind but the bank did not communicate correctly with him.

Jen McKinnon
Realtor / Investor
612.384.1073
jen[at]mnrealestateteam[dot]com

So, I get alot of questions about the new $8000 tax credit and what is involved.

Here are the VERY basics and of course, you should always contact a tax professional if you have any questions specific to your situation.

1. $8000 can be yours if you are a FIRST TIME HOME BUYER
2. Who does the Government consider a First Time Home Buyer? Anyone who has not owned a principal residence for the last 3 years.
3. This tax refund DOES NOT have to be paid back IF you hold the residence for at least 3 years.
4. This tax credit is available for homes purchased January 1 2009 to November 30 2009

Here is how you can take advantage of the tax credit for your 2008 tax year:
1. The tax credit can be applied against your 2008 tax return that is generally filed on or before April 15, 2009.
2. If you have already filed your 2008 tax return, you can immediately amend your return once you purchase a home and you should receive a refund in 30 to 60 days.
3. If your home is scheduled to close after April 15, 2009, you can file an extension until October 15, 2009 to file your 2008 tax return to take advantage of the tax credit and receive your refund.

If you are looking to buy in the Twin Cities please give me a call!
Jen McKinnon
Realtor/Investor

612.384.1073
jen[at]mnrealestateteam[dot]com

Real Estate Investing 201 Seminar – Saturday, March 21st, 12:00PM-?
North Minneapolis Bus Tour
I am frequently asked where the best deals are for investors in the Twin Cities area. Right now North Minneapolis has the largest concentration of amazing investment property opportunities. For several years now, the majority of North Minneapolis has been going through a transformation. North Minneapolis Crime is down, rental demand is strong, foreclosures are running rampant, and good deals are everywhere. Nice properties in nice parts of North Minneapolis are selling for $49,900, $39,900 and even $19,900.

We have put together a program for new and seasoned investors to capitalize on this perfect storm of investing and buy up properties that sold for up to $200,000 just years ago. Our team has assembled real estate agents, a general contractor, leasing agents, property managers, and the financing to make this a rare turn-key investment.

If you have ever been interested in the great opportunities in North Minneapolis, let us show you around. This is a rare bus tour where we will drive you around the areas, show you both rehabbed houses and for sale properties. The tour will leave at noon on Saturday, March 21, from nearby Robbinsdale and will take approximately 2-3 hours. We handle parking, finding the properties, and logistics. You simply sit back and listen and see how so many investors are taking advantage of these great deals. Because of limited seating, a reservation is required. Contact us now!

Future Seminar Dates: April 28, May 26
Please call me at 612.384.1073 or email at jen [at] mnrealestateteam [dot] com

Jen McKinnon
Realtor / Investor
MN Real Estate Team

Ok, now I am definately not advocating any funny business or any faulty appraisals here. An appraisal with fudged numbers and unrealistic comparables does not do anyone any good. And, it won’t make it through underwriting and then the deal is dead anyway. Plus, we don’t need anymore bad deals out there – this is part of the reason the housing market took a dive to begin with.

What I am saying is that if you get one appraisal that is not where you’d like it to be it does not hurt to get a second opinion (or 3rd or 4th). You would get a 2nd opinion from a doctor if you were not sure about the original diagnosis, right?! So, why not get a few opinions for what is probably the largest purchase you will make?

I bring this up because I just had clients who had an accepted offer on a home in Richfield, MN that they absolutely loved and 2 weeks prior to closing the appraisal came back $75,000 UNDER their offer price! Nothing against the appraiser that did the appraisal or the lender who ordered it – they did a great job but we wanted to see what other appraisers would have to say.
So, what happened?
This house in Richfield was somewhat overdeveloped for the neighborhood it is in (I have to say it is gorgeous!) so there were no accurate comparables to choose from. Going into the offer, we knew this but to my clients, the house was worth the offer price (and the seller’s were firm on their pricing). The appraiser did a very thorough job but bottom line, if this house had been in Edina or Minneapolis it would have hit the offer price NO PROBLEM!! Unfortunately, Richfield does not have as many high priced homes. So, instead of just walking away from their dream home, we went to 2 other lenders and 3 other appraisers to get their opinion.

What did we find out about this house in Richfield? 2 of our new appraisals came in $25,000 better and our final one came in $45,000 better than the original appraisal. How does this happen? These different lenders have underwriting with different guidelines on what comparables can be used. Again, these were legitimate appraisals! Sometimes there can be more leniency with local lenders.

Bottom line, we never did get an appraisal at the original offer price which is OK because now we know what the more realistic value of this house is and we were able to negotiate the offer down to the new appraisal. In this market, the seller’s now know that they would not get a higher price for their home and that if they wanted to sell it, they would have to come down to match the appraisal.

In the end, my clients got their dream home at a fair market price!

Now, you ask, what happens if the home appraisal comes in under the offer price and you can’t renegotiate the offer? What happens?

1. Home buyer can walk away due to financing
2. Home buyer can pay the difference between the appraisal and the offer price in cash at closing because the lender will not loan on the difference
3. Home buyer can get more opinions from other lenders and appraisers and potentially renegotiate again

Bottom line, it will depend on how badly you as a buyer want a house and how badly the sellers want to sell. Make it happen!

Looking to buy a home?
Give me a call!

Jen McKinnon
Realtor / Investor
MN Real Estate Team

612.384.1073
jen[at]mnrealestateteam[dot]com