St. Cloud MN Real Estate Podcast with Chris Hauck

How do we help sellers get top dollar for their home in St. Cloud? Here’s a brief overview of our process.Looking to buy in St. Cloud?  Get a full home search Looking to sell in St Cloud? Get a free Home Price EvaluationA question I’ve been hearing a lot recently is, “How can I get full price on my home sale?” Well, the first thing you should do is give us a call, but here’s where we’ll go from there.The key to getting a full price offer is in the preparation and presentation of your home. Most buyers today are looking for something that’s move-in ready, so cleaning and decluttering are two of the most important things you can do.I also have the luxury of going through 30 to 100 homes every week, which gives me a great opportunity to see what buyers like, what they don’t like, and ultimately, what’s going to get you that full price offer you want.The initial showing for a home today is online, so it must be represented well there. Professional photography and great curb appeal are the most important things here. When you’re home’s presented well online, it will create interest among buyers and start to generate showings.“A home’s first showing these days is online. ”By getting your home prepared properly and setting things up the right way, we can help you have the most successful sale possible in St. Cloud. If you have any questions for us or you’re looking to sell your home this fall, don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

We have an extremely attractive market in St. Cloud right now for buyers and sellers. Here’s why.Looking to buy in St. Cloud?  Get a full home search Looking to sell in St Cloud? Get a free Home Price EvaluationIt’s been an outstanding year for our team so far. We’ve been able to help 83 families buy or sell a home this year, and we’re looking forward to helping many more as the year goes on. We just wanted to bring you a few of the most recent numbers that show where our market is at and where it’s going.There have been 1,750 home sales in the St. Cloud area over the last six months. This is a good, solid number for our market. Our pending sales are strong as well. We currently have 290 of them. We currently have 954 homes on the market in St. Cloud. This gives us about a four-month-supply of inventory, which is much more than there is in the Twin Cities. Our inventory is stronger, which helps buyers, while the average home can still sell within two to eight weeks if it’s prepared properly for the market.“Our inventory is much stronger than in the Twin Cities. ”This is an extremely attractive market for buyers and sellers. Sellers can sell their homes quickly and for a good price, while buyers have a decent amount of inventory to choose from.If you have any questions for us or need any help buying or selling a home in St. Cloud, don’t hesitate to reach out and give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Our summer market has been great so far, and that trend is expected to continue into fall. Let’s take a look at the numbers.Looking to buy in St. Cloud?  Get a full home search Looking to sell in St Cloud? Get a free Home Price EvaluationNow that summer is ending and we’re about halfway through the year, it’s the perfect time for a look at what’s going on in our St. Cloud market. Recently, I’ve received a lot of calls from people asking if it’s too late for them to jump into a real estate transaction. The truth is: no. Though summer markets are notoriously hot, this fall market is set to be excellent, as well. In the last six months, 1,621 homes have sold in our local market. With 3,200 families making a move, this has been a very good year so far. The current 363 pending sales we’re seeing today is down only just slightly from March, when that number was 452. Within a 20-mile radius of St. Cloud, there are 962 homes on the market. Compared to the 640 homes on the market we saw in January, this is a significant growth. With a good selection of homes, a market time between two to eight weeks, and interest rates at record lows, our current market holds a lot of great opportunities for buyers and sellers alike. “Our current market holds a lot of great opportunities for buyers and sellers alike. ”If you have any other questions or would like more information, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Zillow and its Zestimates have become a common topic of conversation. Here’s what you should know about them.Looking to buy in St. Cloud?  Get a full home search Looking to sell in St Cloud? Get a free Home Price EvaluationOne of the most common questions I’ve been receiving lately is: “How accurate is the Zillow Zestimate?” Every time we do a market evaluation on a home, we pull up its Zestimate and we are also pulling up recent comparable sales numbers. After reviewing dozens of these Zestimates and comparing them with the home's actual market value, I have a few thoughts about them.The first is that they are extremely good at analyzing large amounts of data. If you had 10,000 homes as a sample size, the numbers would be right on the money.However, when it comes to individual homes the numbers aren’t as accurate. In fact, they are off by 15% to 22% nearly 70% of the time. It’s a good tool to use when you’re just starting the process, but when you’re trying to come up with an actual list price for your home, there is a much better way to determine what that price should be. “We can get you an accurate home valuation. ”If you have any questions about the value of your home or if you or someone you know is looking to make a move, don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I would love to hear from you.

What's going on in the St. Cloud real estate market? I've got a quick update for you.Looking to buy in St. Cloud?  Get a full home search Looking to sell in St Cloud? Get a free Home Price EvaluationWhen it comes to the state of the St. Cloud real estate market, I'm happy to report that it's continuing to be very strong like it has been in recent months.The inventory of homes for sale is a bit low, but has gone up since the first of the year. We have about 864 homes on the market, and interestingly enough, we also have 498 pending sales in our market. Compared to last year at this time, we had about 380 pending sales, so sales are strong currently. Inventory last year was about 1,200 homes.Inventory is good, but it's a little bit tight. As a result, homes are moving quickly. We see quite a few homes sell as fast as a week to eight weeks. The great news in real estate is that interest rates are right around 4% or even better on some days.“The great news is that interest rates are only about 4% currently. ”If you're thinking about making a move, it's a great time due to low interest rates and good home prices with a decent selection.If you have any questions, you can always give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to helping you with your move!

How do rising interest rates affect you? I’ll go over a couple of things you should know if you plan on buying or selling a home.Looking to buy in St. Cloud?  Get a full home search Looking to sell in St Cloud? Get a free Home Price EvaluationThere have been a lot of questions about rising interest rates lately. The good news is that mortgage rates are still extremely attractive and hovering around 4%. Financing is readily available, and you can get a home loan with 10%, 5%, or 3% down. If you qualify for a VA loan or want to buy in certain rural areas, you can get a home with no down payment at all. What happens if interest rates go up in a year or two years from now? While we don’t know what rates will be, let’s say they go up to 6%. If you’re looking at a $200,000 house, your monthly payment would go up $273 a month thanks to your 6% interest rate; you would have to pay $1,192 a month. So, if you want to wait to buy a home, it could cost you more down the line. “If you wait to buy a home, your monthly payments will go up with interest rates. ”Also, let’s say that you qualify for a $200,000 house at a 3.75% interest rate. If rates go up to 6%, you would only qualify for a $155,000 house. Rising rates dramatically impact your purchasing power. There are two advantages to buying today. First, you will have a lower monthly payment for as long as you own the home. Second, if you do want to buy a home, then you will qualify for a lot more home now than you will in a couple of years (assuming that the rates go up). Right now, you have a great selection of homes on the market. If you are looking to sell and then buy, doing so now is fairly predictable, as most houses are selling in two to eight weeks. So if you are interested in buying or selling a home, or if you have any other real estate questions, just give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!

We’ve got an important notice for anyone moving this spring or summer.Looking to buy in St. Cloud?  Get a full home search Looking to sell in St Cloud? Get a free Home Price EvaluationI’ve got some important information if you’re moving this spring or summer. We’ve been talking to a few of the local moving companies this year and it seems that they are getting booked up pretty far in advance, especially for moves at the end of the month. Make sure you get your movers booked as soon as you’ve got your closing date. In fact, it would be a really good idea to plan your closing date more toward the middle of the month when movers aren’t quite as busy. “Make sure you get your movers booked as soon as you’ve got your closing date. ”If you have any questions or need anything from me and my team, please feel free to give us a call or send us an email. We’re more than happy to help.

News is good across the board in the St. Cloud market as we head into spring.Looking to buy in St. Cloud?  Get a full home search Looking to sell in St Cloud? Get a free Home Price EvaluationThere's good news all over the St. Cloud real estate market as we head into spring.As of right now, there are 717 homes on the market, which is great for anyone looking to buy a home because it's up substantially from the 650 we had just a couple weeks ago. If you're selling your home, it's a less competitive market and it's a good year to be a seller again.As of the first week of March, we had 286 home sales waiting to close that went under contract in the last 60 to 90 days. At this time of the year, that's a really good start. I think it's due to the great mortgage interest rates and the warm weather we've had lately. The spring market started early. It's a really good time to be in the market either as a buyer or a seller. It's a really good time to be in the market either as a buyer or a seller. If you'd like any additional information, give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to helping you in this great market.

If you’re worried about rising interest rates or having to put down 20% to purchase a home, I have some great news for you.Looking to buy in St. Cloud?  Get a full home search Looking to sell in St Cloud? Get a free Home Price EvaluationDo you have to put 20% down in order to purchase a home? How much will rising interest rates affect the market? I get those two questions quite often, and I have some great news! First, 30-year fixed loans are still at a 4% interest rate, which is still very attractive.“A 4% interest rate is still very attractive.”Second, we have conventional financing with 20% down or more. However, we have a number of programs that require a substantially smaller down payment. FHA loans are about 3.5% down, rural development loans are 0% down, VA loans are 0% down, and regular conventional loans can be anywhere from 3% down to 15% down depending on what you qualify for. There are a number of ways you can get into a home, and if you have any questions, please feel free to give me a call. I’m always happy to help!

Staging and preparing your home the right way are more important than ever, and most home sellers know this. However, things are a little bit different this time of year.Looking to buy in St. Cloud?  Get a full home search Looking to sell in St Cloud? Get a free Home Price EvaluationWhen you sell your house, how much staging and preparation work should be done?In this day and age with HGTV, staging is more important than it was even eight to 10 years ago. However, we have a very neat opportunity for you if you're thinking about selling early this year.“Thanks to HGTV, staging is more important than ever.”Our inventory is still lower than it has been for the past few years. So while staging is important, if you're planning on selling before March, there's a chance you can get by with a little less staging than we'd need later in the year when inventory is higher.If you're worried about closing while it's cold out, remember that if you put your house on the market now, you probably won't close until late March, early April, or even the beginning of May.If you have any questions about staging or preparing your home to sell, we can give you some tips and ideas and tell you what your competition is doing. We can also let you know what buyers like to see and, most importantly, help you avoid spending money in areas that won't help sell your home or make you more money. Just give us a call or send us an email. We're excited for a fantastic year in 2017!

Happy New Year! What can you expect from the 2017 market? When does the spring market begin? I’ll tell you everything you need to know today.Looking to buy in St. Cloud?  Get a full home search Looking to sell in St Cloud? Get a free Home Price Evaluation Happy New Year! Lately, a lot of people have asked when the spring market starts.I have exciting news for you: the spring market has already begun! As of January 2nd, calls picked up immediately, and between Christmas and New Year’s, the hits on our website went through the roof. It was amazing!There are a lot of people who are excited and looking forward to moving this year. Interest rates are excellent and there is a lot of confidence in the market.“There is a lot of confidence in the 2017 real estate market.”If you would like to know how much your home is worth, just give us a call. We can give you some ideas for updating the house and preparing it for sale. If you are planning on buying a home this year, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. When we get a new listing, you can get it as fast as we do—just let us know if you would like instant updates. With that, I hope you all enjoy 2017. It’s going to be a great year for real estate!

Here’s a look at what is happening in our spring market so far.Looking to buy in St. Cloud?  Get a full home search Looking to sell in St Cloud? Get a free Home Price EvaluationI wanted to take a second to give you a quick look at what is happening in the 2017 spring real estate market. We are off to a pretty tight start when it comes to inventory. Right now, there are around 657 homes on the market within a 20 mile radius. Compare that to the last few years, when we had 1,100 to 1,200 homes on the market at this time. “Sell your home now and move when it warms up.”Now is a great time to be a seller, as there is much less competition than usual for the spring market. Spring is already here in the real estate world. The spring market is active and surging. If you would like a more in-depth market update, would like to set up an appointment, or if you have any questions, please give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help!

If you’re planning a home sale this upcoming spring, have a real estate professional walk through your home now so you can make the right improvements.Looking to buy in St. Cloud?  Get a full home search Looking to sell in St Cloud? Get a free Home Price EvaluationIf you plan on putting your home on the market this coming spring, what can you do to make it look as presentable as possible?One important tip is to have a real estate professional do a quick walkthrough of your house. This will give you an idea of what your competition is doing and what buyers like to see in today’s market. Additionally, this will ensure that if you are making improvements specifically to sell the house, you’re spending your money in areas that will both benefit you and showcase what buyers really care about. For all your home improvement and repair needs, we have an excellent list of vendors we could provide you. They do a great job, their workmanship is outstanding, and the end result will be exactly what you’re looking for at a reasonable price.  Starting January 2nd, inventory will start picking up right away, so if there’s anything we can do to help you with your home improvements or you’re thinking about making a move next spring, please feel free to give us a call. We’d be happy to help! 

We want to thank all of you for your support. You have made this a great year, and we are looking forward to 2017.Looking to buy in St. Cloud?  Get a full home search Looking to sell in St Cloud? Get a free Home Price EvaluationWe just wanted to stop by today to give you a quick recap on the year and extend to you our warmest holiday greetings. First, some great news about the market.In the upper price ranges especially, our market is greatly improving. Right now, we have 279 pending transactions. For this time of year, that’s an outstanding number.It looks like we will have an early and strong start in January. For those of you itching to get going on a new home, our spring market starts January 2nd. If you have any questions or if there is anything we can help you with over the holidays, let us know. “We expect 2017 to be even better.”2016 was great, but we expect 2017 to be even better. Thanks to all of you who helped out our business this year. We are always here for you, just give us a call or send us an email. 

Interest rates can have an enormous impact on your purchasing power as a home buyer. When we say they’re good, you need to strike while the iron is hot.Looking to buy in St. Cloud?  Get a full home search Looking to sell in St Cloud? Get a free Home Price EvaluationWe’ve had a lot of people calling us lately and asking what it means when we say that interest rates are so good right now. Here’s an example of how interest rates can impact your purchasing ability as a home buyer: In 1982, the real estate market was quite slow because the interest rates were at 15% to 16%. That meant that if you bought a $300,000 home in that market at a 15% interest rate, your payment would have been a whopping $3,793 a month. Needless to say, we weren’t selling a lot of homes at that price at that time.Today, our interest rates are hovering somewhere in the range of 3.25%. This means that same $300,000 mortgage would now only cost $1,309 a month—only slightly more expensive than renting a nice two-bedroom apartment. To give you an idea of how this can change, let’s say these same rates climbed up to 5%. That would mean that your $1,309 monthly payment would increase to $1,610. Or, if you wanted to keep the payment exactly the same, that would mean you could only afford a house that costs $56,000 less than the one that cost $300,000. “Today’s interest rates are fantastic.”If you’re thinking about buying and would like to take advantage of these incredibly low interest rates and resulting payments, give us a call or shoot us an email. We look forward to working with you. 

The St. Cloud market is strong with good inventory, record-low interest rates, and homes moving at a steady, predictable pace. Tune in for more details.Looking to buy in St. Cloud?  Get a full home search Looking to sell in St Cloud? Get a free Home Price EvaluationToday we wanted to give you a quick recap of the spring and summer markets, as well as what we’re expecting to happen this fall in St. Cloud real estate. It’s been a good year. In the last six months within 20 miles of St. Cloud, we’ve closed 1,623 homes. It’s not a record high or low, but it’s a steady, consistent market. Looking at inventory, we have 1,023 homes on the market, which is about 200 fewer than last year at this time.If you’re a buyer, it’s a good year because we’ve got a good selection of properties and we’ve got record-low interest rates. That means record-low monthly mortgage payments.“Inventory is good and interest rates are lower than ever.”If you look at pending sales — a sign of where the market is right now — we have 345 pending sales, which is a very strong number, and a little bit up from last year. What we’re seeing is good inventory, homes selling in a predictable fashion (many times in two to eight weeks), and we’ve got those record-low interest rates. You can buy more house for less money than ever.If you have any questions or would like specifics about your personal situation, feel free to give us a call or send us an email. We’d be happy to help you!

Looking to buy in St. Cloud?  Get a full home search Looking to sell in St Cloud? Get a free Home Price EvaluationLately, we have been getting a lot of questions about professional photography. Should you use it? How much should you use? Is it really important? Photography is important because it is the first introduction to your house. In today’s market, most buyers will see your property on the Internet before they see it in person. When they see the photos online, they will either eliminate it from their home search or put it on the list of homes they want to see. Then, you aren’t wasting your time showing the property to buyers that aren’t interested in your home. The photos should be of good quality: crisp, clear, and not too dark or too light. Photographers make minor adjustments to the photos to make sure the lighting is appropriate and the home is shown in the best light. We do put out a number of photos online in order to create interest. However, we do want to leave some new, exciting things for buyers to see when viewing the home in person. That way, potential buyers have more to discover when viewing your property. We download these professional photographs to high-quality websites like Zillow, Trulia, Realtor.com, and our own corporate site. If a customer determines that your property is a good fit, we get an instant email from them. That way, we can get in touch with them immediately, make sure they are qualified to buy the home, and set an appointment to show them your property right away. We can also answer any questions they may have about the property. If you have any other questions about professional photography or about real estate in general, give us a call or send us an email. We would be happy to help you!

Looking to buy in St. Cloud?  Get a full home search Looking to sell in St Cloud? Get a free Home Price EvaluationThis spring has been great for the real estate market. In fact, the market is the best it has been since 2005, before the recession. I’m here with a quick update on some exciting numbers from St. Cloud real estate.As of right now, we have seen 1,054 closed sales over the last six months, which is a very nice increase. We also have 495 pending sales, which is the highest number of pending sales in 10 years. That’s great news for sellers!Not only that, if you are thinking of selling your home, you can expect to sell in two to eight weeks. Selling a home is a far more predictable, much easier process today than it was just a few years ago. I also have good news for buyers. Currently, there are 1,034 homes on the market within a 20-mile radius of St. Cloud. That’s a very nice selection. The market is moving a little quicker, so you do have to make decisions faster. However, we can help you through that process. Even better than that, buyers today are able to take advantage of historically low interest rates. You can get a 30-year fixed mortgage with an interest rate between 3.5% and 4%. If you get a 15-year mortgage, the rates are even better. Overall,  now is a great time buy or sell real estate. If you have any questions about the market or need help with your specific property, please don’t hesitate to give me a call. I would be happy to help you.

Looking to buy in St. Cloud?  Get a full home search Looking to sell in St Cloud? Get a free Home Price EvaluationToday, we’ve got some exciting news for you: the market is shifting in St. Cloud. Every two weeks, we run a quick set of numbers to see how many listings and pending sales we have in order to get a pulse of the market. Last week, inventory was the lowest we’ve seen in 15 years. There are only 833 listings on the market. The only time we’ve ever been close to inventory levels this low was back in January 2015, with 989 listings on the market. Normally, we have about 1,200 to 1,300 homes on the market. With our inventory so low, a few things could happen. First of all, right now we’re seeing homes sell in 2 to 8 weeks. If inventory stays this low, we may start to see multiple offers, which is great news for sellers. We may also see home appreciation if inventory remains this low. We will keep a close eye on inventory levels as the year progresses. Right now is a great time to sell. In fact, this might be your chance to get the best price for your home in 2016. Ultimately, 2016 is shaping up to be a great year for sellers in real estate. There may not be as much selection for buyers, so we recommend buying early. You will have less competition as a buyer now than you will in May, June, or July. If you have any questions, give us a call or send us an email. We would be happy to help you!

Looking to buy in St. Cloud?  Get a full home search Looking to sell in St Cloud? Get a free Home Price EvaluationWe’re experiencing a shift in the St. Cloud market. We had 833 listed homes on the market last week. That’s the lowest we’ve seen since in about fifteen years! In January 2015, we had inventory this low with 989 listings, but it only lasted for a week.Instead of the normal 1,200 to 1,300 homes on the market, our inventory is quite low. This leads homes to sell in two to eight weeks on average. Likewise, we might begin to see more multiple offer situations in a competitive market climate. This benefits sellers, but makes it more difficult for buyers.Secondly, we might see home appreciation increase in 2016 with tight inventory. Sellers have the potential to earn top dollar for their properties now compared to the rest of the year. Buyers have the best opportunities to purchase a home right before the start of the spring market, such as in April.If you’re thinking about buying or selling a home this year, reach out to us by phone or email today! We’d love to hear from you.

Looking to buy in St. Cloud?  Get a full home search Looking to sell in St Cloud? Get a free Home Price EvaluationWe've got a short message for you today, but it's an important one. In the last few weeks, the stock market has been going wild. This instability has pushed mortgage rates down below 4%! We aren't sure how long this is going to last so if you've been thinking about making a move, now is a great time to take advantage of these rates.

According to the latest market statistics, it’s a great year to be a buyer or a seller.Looking to buy in St. Cloud?  Get a full home search Looking to sell in St Cloud? Get a free Home Price EvaluationWhether you’re buying or selling in our market, I have some good news to share with you today. Let’s start with a few statistics to give you an idea of where the market currently stands. There have been 1,095 home sales in the last six months, which is a really good number. We currently have 439 homes waiting to close, or what we call ‘pending sales.’ That number is up quite a bit from last year. Our inventory has also grown quite a bit. At the beginning of the year, we had about 654 homes on the market, and today we’re up to 807, which is a little less than the 1,100 to 1,200 we would’ve had last year. If you’re a seller, this means there’s a good chance your house will sell in a reasonable amount of time. If you’re a buyer, the really good news is that mortgage rates are close to record lows. In fact, on a 30-year fixed rate for a conventional loan, you’re looking at rates in the 3.75% to 4% range. For FHA or first-time buyer financing, rates will probably be in the 3.5% to 3.75% range. If you’re considering financing 15 years or less, your rate will be quite a bit better.  It’s a great time to be a buyer or a seller. If you’re thinking about selling, it’s a great year to do it. If you’re thinking about buying, you’ll save a lot of money over the life of your mortgage with rates where they are. If you have any questions about our market or you’re thinking of buying or selling a home, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We would be happy to help you.