Q&A

With pricing going crazy, what happens if the home doesn’t appraise?

With pricing going crazy, what happens if the home doesn’t appraise? Great question and lots of spin offs on that one. The short answer is we get to sit down with all parties of the transaction and figure it out. If there are costs built in for the buyer – that’s usually the first thing that is removed. If that’s not an option, then you get to have a very open discussion about the reality of how it affects each person. As a seller – if this buyer doesn’t work out, will the next buyer have the same issue? As a buyer – do you have funds available to help bridge the gap? Is that worth not being able to buy the home you want? Long story short – we put on our problem solving & conflict resolution hats and get to work.

I assume it’s easier to sell a home right now due to the market, right?

I guess that would depend on what you mean by “easier”. It can take less time with a market like this but you also work through different challenges. Appraisal issues like the last question are a reality. At times you have buyers that feel an offer over list price enables them to be unreasonable with inspection results. And then there’s good ol’ fashioned buyer remorse. Buyers have to move quickly and sometimes that means re-thinking their offer and backing out completely.

Where do you see rates going in the future?

Simple .. rates will be going up sometime in the future. Am I a world class psychic on that? No. They’re just so low that it’s not feasible to expect lower rates. I believe rates will be steady and any increase we see in rates should be balanced not to completely offset a market and push home prices negative. There are so many factors that go into rates that I have to defer to our mortgage partners for this. Thomas Jussila with My City Mortgage can get into that with more details on market indicators to watch for moving rates. They’ll go up.. the better question is when and how quickly?

Now that the Packers are out of the playoffs – who do you have in the Super Bowl?

Let me preface this with a few things. Today is Feb. 4th.. around 2pm and it’s snowing like crazy in the Twin Cities. The Super Bowl is in a few days and by the time you get this, the game will be a distant memory. So even though you get this after the game – here’s my prediction before the game: The winner will be me! I’m looking forward to nachos and wings and football with the family. Doesn’t get any better than that – oh wait, it does. If my Packers would have gotten their head out of their @$&, it could have been much better. A bit jaded? Maybe. That said – Chiefs by 10 and Tom Brady can go sit in the corner and cry.

Do you see an exodus out of Minneapolis or St. Paul due to covid or what happened last summer?

Covid brings a ton of natural activity to a downtown. From the commuters to the industries that support them, sports, nightlife and so on. I think the main real estate markets that are effected are in the commercial world with empty office space and companies re-thinking what an office actually is and how it’s used. For residential real estate – the condo markets are one to watch over the years to come.