How To Sell (or Buy) Your House Now

The real estate market in Inver Grove Heights is looking up, but that does not mean that selling – or buying – a home here is suddenly easy. Real Estate professionals Paul Johnson of Edina Realty, Bob Reynolds of the Inver Grove Heights Real Estate Group, and Todd Wicker of T. Wicker Appraisals share valuable advice.

FOR SELLERS

“To sell quickly, your home has to be at the right price,” Johnson said. But it also has to be marketed right.

Inver Grove Heights is somewhat unusual in that respect, said Johnson. “A large number of the buyers are from the area already. If I have something in Inver Grove Heights, I’m going to market it Inver Grove Heights, South St. Paul and West St. Paul. I’m not going to waste my money marketing to Minneapolis, because they’re not going to come over here.”

“But above all”, said Johnson, “Your home needs to be in impeccable condition. Many young buyers seem to lack the skills to even paint a room. They want to see the house ready to go. So make it look as new as possible.  Paint it, replace the carpets, do anything you can to make the house look new. The goal is to make the buyer walk into the front door and think, ‘I could live here tomorrow.’ Houses that are pristine and shiny are the ones that sell. If a house is not perfect, the houses that are perfect will have to sell before a buyer will consider buying it.”

A home that looks like fixer-upper immediately loses a lot of its value, said Wicker, even if it’s structurally sound. In his opinion, it’s better to spend a few thousand dollars on crowd pleasers such as granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances, than to lose 10% off the top.

“It doesn’t have to be a big rehab,” said Wicker, “But it’s amazing what paint and new light fixtures will do.”     

As always, timing is important. It’s still a buyers’ market, but that doesn’t mean you should sit on your property indefinitely.  

As job creation and manufacturing pick up in Minnesota and the nation, home sellers lag behind the optimism of the broader  economy, said Johnson. “House prices are obviously still down, so there’s less of an incentive for a seller if he or she can wait. Many people have put their sale plans on hold. I think once the sellers are realizing that prices are stabilizing and maybe starting to go up, they’ll jump in.”

“I expect with the interest rates low, that things are going to improve,” said Bob Reynolds. “So I’d try to sell now. I would definitely get things taken care of, and beat the spring market, when there are going to be more properties on the market.”

FOR BUYERS

If you’re going to buy in Inver Grove Heights, think hard about what you really want. The local housing market is showing signs of a rebound, but not all types of properties are bouncing back yet. For now, the buzz around local real estate circles is that smaller houses, at the lower end of the price spectrum are making the strongest comeback.

If that’s the kind of house you are looking for, and you want to buy near the bottom of the market, be ready to make a quick move. If you’re looking for a larger home, it may be wise to wait a bit little longer

“I think the lower end housing is going to keep going up, and the mid-range housing is going to stay even,” said Wicker. “And these really big houses – it seems like people are kind of shying away from them. They still have a ways to come down.”

Since people are falling all over themselves to snap up the perfect, move-in-ready, turnkey home, you might be wise to take a closer look at the homes with the older carpet, dated fixtures or beat-up looking appliances, said Wicker.

“If you’re buying a house, first and foremost, see if it’s structurally sound. You can get so much for your money right now, you just have to shop around and look. There’s a lot of people out there buying the foreclosures, and doing some really nice stuff with them.”

If you have your heart set on one of those rare turnkey properties, be ready to go, because they’re hard to find around Inver Grove Heights. If the perfect one pops up, you won’t have weeks to line up your ducks.

“The first step a buyer should do is to talk to a loan officer,” said Johnson. “It’s free to learn what they can afford, and then when they stumble across a real great deal, they’ll be ready to make a move. As more and more buyers come into the spring market, there’s going to be more competition for the shortage of quality listings.”