​I hope this letter finds you happy, healthy and full of optimism for the fresh upcoming New Year!  2016 was another interesting year for me and am looking forward to what 2017 brings.  I’ve been good about traveling a bit more.  I’ve done my annual trek to KC for the Jazz in the Woods Festival, gone to wine country with girlfriends as well as a trip to Florida.  My son, Beau, finally graduated from college this spring – just an incredibly happy day for our family J.  However, we had to relocate him to the Dallas area at the end of July for an incredible opportunity with Hewlett-Packard.  The only thing keeping me from tears on a daily basis with him being so far away is how proud I am of the extraordinary start he’s getting in his career.  He’s happy, and I can’t ask for more than that. 
 
My work in 2016 was very fulfilling - a great year in real estate!  I got to work with many past clients again and/or their families.  Some looking to see where their property values are today, others looking to move up into a larger home and some empty-nesters wanting to downsize .  I also had a healthy number of clients looking to make their first investment in real estate. Simply a great year of diverse needs that I could help with.
 
Let me give you some market indicators to check out from 2016 for some perspective:

• Overall closed transactions were up 6% in 2016.  Our sales growth was a bit stunted due to our lack of inventory. We were, and still remain, in desperate need of listings.  Every Realtor I know has a pipeline of qualified buyers who are just simply waiting for homes to be listed.  This is our 4th consecutive year of a significant back-up of buyers ready to buy and not enough homes to show them.
• A positive outcome of this high buyer demand is a drastically reduced market time for sellers with a property in good condition and competitively priced.  The average days on market (DOM) until accepting an offer has dropped to 31 days (down an additional 12 days from last year). 
• As a whole, across the 7-county metro, real estate values appreciated more than 5% in 2016.  As is always the case, some markets appreciated at greater rates than others e.g. Brooklyn Park @ 10.4%, Blaine @ 4.5%, Maplewood @ 6.5%, Shakopee @ 6.2%, Eden Prairie @ 3%, Minneapolis @ 4.5% and St. Paul @ 7.1%.
• Also, you can like my Facebook page @katemurphyrealtor for your real estate needs and market trends . . . or just to keep in touch J

 
In my opinion, 2016 was the year of building confidence in the real estate marketplace.  I’m anticipating that 2017 may mark the beginning of a more normal and growing market!  The spring market has already begun (thus my delay in getting this letter out to you this year).  Interest rates continue to be incredibly low with promises of eminent increases.  2017 is the year to take a good look at your finances relative to real estate, determine if your needs/wants have changed from your current living situation and let me know how I can help.  You can find my contact information below.  Thank you all for your continued support and trust in referring your friends and family to me for their real estate needs. I wish you all good things for 2017!

How Much is Your Home Worth Today?
After our economy fell off the proverbial cliff in 2007, property values depreciated at varying rates over the next five years. Nationally, some markets were hit harder than others – the same is true even within the 7-county metro of the twin cities.

Our home values depreciated due to the impact of the large number of bank-owned and short-sale properties available for purchase (over 9200 homes at its’ height in March, 2011). Most of these properties had mild to significant condition issues which led to the value decline. With competition like that, it made it extremely difficult for traditional sellers, who maintained or even improved their properties, to obtain a reasonable price for the sale of their homes. As a result, if they were able to, most traditional homeowners hunkered down to weather the storm and did not list their properties for sale unless they had to. Today, a dramatically lower 1200 bank-mediated properties are listed for sale in the 7-county metro.

What Does Fewer Bank-Mediated Houses for Sale Mean to Me?
In January, 2013, we were over a year into our market recovery. Since then, the median sales price across the twin cities has increased on an average of 24% with some cities performing better than others:

• Brooklyn Park up 27%
• Maplewood up 21%
• Lakeville up 22%
• Eden Prairie up 15%
• Maple Grove up 13%

The bottom line: your home may be worth more than you think it is.

We are currently in a fast real estate market fueled by consistent job growth and continually low interest rates. In January, 2013, the average number of days it took for a property to sell (days on market – DOM) was a reasonable 61 days; roughly 2 months. Today, the DOM is down to an average of 36 days! Updated properties in good condition and priced accurately can sell in under a week – truly a “sellers” market.

If you’d like to know what your property is worth in today’s market, please call or text me at (612) 802-4337 or email me at KateMurphy@EdinaRealty.com. I’d be happy to run a market analysis so you can see your home’s current value – chances are you’ll be pleasantly surprised.