Real Estate Information

--J.D. Power survey shows drop in buyer satisfaction with real-estate agents.

--There remain steep barriers to buying a house, including higher down-payment requirements for the best mortgage rates and tighter loan standards.

--Both buyer and sellers were most satisfied with the Re/Max brand.

By Amy Hoak

A DOW JONES COLUMN

We're in a buyer's market, yet Americans who recently purchased a home are even less satisfied with their real-estate companies than last year.

That's according to an annual survey by J.D. Power and Associates, which reported that a big reason for the decrease was buyers' drop in satisfaction with their real-estate agents.

To be fair, while it's a buyer's market in terms of housing prices, inventory and mortgage rates, there remain steep barriers to buying a house, including higher down-payment requirements for the best mortgage rates and tighter loan standards overall, said Jim Howland, senior director of the real-estate and construction practice at J.D. Power and Associates. And agents who don't effectively manage their client's expectations may not get the best grades.

On the flip side, sellers were more satisfied with their real-estate companies when those firms helped them sell their homes. In this market, there's a good chance these sellers started with low expectations, and were happy that a company succeeded in helping them sell their place.

The J.D. Power survey involved more than 3,680 respondents who bought or sold a home between March 2010 and April 2011.

Regardless of market circumstances, it's always worth the time to do some research before choosing an agent. Your chances of being satisfied increase when you find a professional who suits your needs.

Here are tips on how to select someone to help you buy or sell a home.  

Tap Your Network For Help
For many, selecting a real-estate agent begins with collecting recommendations from people they trust. According to research from the National Association of Realtors, 48% of buyers pick an agent through referrals while 41% of sellers use referrals, and 23% use agents they've dealt with in the past.

But while people may start with a referral, they're also doing some of their own research, too, Howland said.

"Recommendations and referrals are still a key driver, and that shows up in the research. But there is evidence that a high proportion of people go online to research the agent up front," he said.

Recently, real-estate website Trulia.com said it began assisting consumers in the referral process through a new social search function that works with Facebook and allows people to get agent recommendations from their contacts.

"As an agent, it's a part of their natural transactional life cycle, 'write me a review, refer me,'" said Matt Holder, product manager for social search at Trulia. "People are doing that offline," but the new application allows clients to provide that feedback online so their contacts can see it.

Of course, word of mouth isn't the only way to find an agent. Real-estate agents spend plenty of time marketing themselves to the public. Attending open houses is another way to meet agents with whom you may want to work.

Research The Agent Before You Commit

But even for those agents who come highly recommended, do a little more investigating as well, and watch for red flags in your first interactions with the agent and company.

"A simple task is calling and seeing how fast they can respond to you," Howland said. Top agents will get back to clients within 30 minutes of receiving the call, he said.

"Responsiveness returning phone calls is huge," Howland said. "If you have trouble just connecting, look out. That's not going to be a good sign."

A good agent will often get back to you even sooner than 30 minutes, Holder said, adding that agents should respond in less than five minutes as often as possible.

Once you get an agent's ear, start asking questions. There's a helpful checklist of questions on Freddie Mac's (FMCC) website, ranging from how long the person has been in the business to how familiar the agent is with the neighborhood you'd like to live in.

If you're a seller, ask how many homes he or she has sold in the past year and ask the average price of those homes. If you're a buyer, ask how many buyers the agent is working with. Make sure you understand how long the agent's contract with you will be valid.

You might also inquire if the agent has expertise in a particular type of property, such as foreclosures. If the agent is a member of the National Association of Realtors, he or she may have certifications in a specific area.

Many agents, but not all, become members of NAR, making them a "Realtor." There are about 2.9 million licensed real-estate professionals in the country, and 1.85 million are active, according to NAR, citing figures from the Association of Real Estate License Law Officials. In June, NAR membership was 1.02 million.

NAR members must adhere to a code of ethics, and the organization also has a powerful lobbying voice, advocating for those in the industry.

The number of agents nationwide has dropped considerably in the housing-market downturn. In 2006, NAR had about 1.36 million members.

The shrinking pool of agents may be to the consumer's advantage: "The ones that are still out and active tend to be the better ones," Howland said.

  Assess The Office Staff
While your interactions often will be with the real-estate agent, it's also a good idea to check out the agent's office support.

Considering the documents that move around at the end of the transaction, including faxes to the office, "it's not just the agent that you're working with," Howland said. Good communication with the brokerage's office staff is critical in making sure a deal runs smoothly.

"The office as well is an area where some of the [companies] have scaled back," in efforts to cut resources during the tough economy, he added.

Overall, the J.D. Power survey found both buyer and sellers were most satisfied with the Re/Max brand. Coldwell Banker and Better Homes & Gardens also ranked high on the home-buyer side, while Prudential and Century 21 performed well among sellers.

(Amy Hoak is a writer for MarketWatch. She can be reached at 415-439-6400 or via email at AskNewswires@dowjones.com)

Sioux Falls Ranks 3rd Best in the U.S.

This Article from Men's Health (June 2011) ranks 100 of America's cities and their debts.

Sioux Falls ranked #3 behind only Lincoln, NE and Madison, WI of cities that are in the black.

This article starts with the worst cities but look at the last part of the article where it rates the 10 Best Cities in the black.

Do you remember how your business was during the summer of 2006? My guess is that you were much busier than you are today. Some people say the reason that we are not as busy right now is because our economy is not doing very well. There will always be tight budgets and areas of the country that do better than other in regards to unemployment ect. What matters is our local economy which is doing much better than most of the country.

Feel free to share the following information the next time someone says the reason they don’t want to purchase a home right now is because of “The Economy”.

July 2006:

Stock Market: 11,090 points

Average 30 year mortgage rate: 6.5%

House prices were the highest they have ever been

March 2009:

Stock Market: 6,626 points

Average 30 year mortgage rate: 4.75%

House prices were lower than 3 year prior due to low demand

February 1, 2011

Stock Market: 12,040 points

Average 30 year mortgage rate: 4.5% to 4.75%

House prices are still low and affordable

What do you think will happen over time?

Will mortgage rates go up? Yes.

Will house prices increase? Yes.

If someone is thinking about buying a home and the only thing stopping them is that they heard the timing is wrong because of economic factors please feel free to correct them.

Brian Spaans

Mortgage Loan Officer

First Bank & Trust

ph. 605-782-8080

cell. 605-351-7454

fax. 605-332-1379

Here are the current statistics for the Sioux Falls MLS. The first 6 pages are on just the Sioux Falls city market. The last page is our entire coverage in the MLS market service area (MSA).

We have mixed news here for you. The closed sales show a steady increase from 2009 to 2011. The days on market however has increase as well. The median sales price has increased from 2009 but is down from 2010.  The percent of original list price received looks to be at a new low level. The next piece shows the inventory of homes is lower than previous years by 6.2%, that is good! The month’s supply of inventory is showing some improvement as well. I like the summary at the top of the MSA, Listings are down, closed sales are up but the median price is down slightly as well. As always these numbers really need to be evaluated for you by your agent. They understand the current market much better than these numbers will accurately reflect.

This first page reflects the sales that have closed since the first of the year.  Look how the inventory changes normally on the bottom of the page.

This page will tell you how long a house was on the market from first listed to when an offer is accepted. This only reflects sold property’s

Median sales price is the middle of the market for sold house. Equal number of houses sold above this price as the number below.

Percent of original list price received is dividing the sales price by the original list price. This does not account for sellers paying concessions for the buyers. Look how that has declined over the years on the bottom of the page.

Inventory of Homes for sale is the total number of active Listings at the end of the month

 Months supply of Inventory is the number of active Listings available compared to the average monthly pending home sales. Understand that this month’s reflects only one month of activity

 As stated above this is a report on all of the MLS coverage area, that includes all towns that we currently service in a 4 county region.

We are seeing renewed interest in selling homes. Home prices probably have bottomed out & we look for them to start rising again soon. Put that together with the fact that Home Mortgage Rates are starting to increase, Now may be the best time there has been in several years to consider puttting your house on the market. Along with Price, Location & terms, Condition is very critical in the top 4 things to look at in marketing your house. We have become experts in helping people to set the staging on their house so that the home shows its best possible condition. We have helped people for over 25 years in showing a house in its best possible light. We know what colors are selling houses in terms of wall colors or carpet colors. We know what it takes to get the buyers to look at the house & not the furnishings in the house. We would love to help you get your house to show its best so you will get the best possible value, in the shortest possible time with the least amount of inconvenience to you.  We are going to give you some help with staging your home in the winter by giving you a link to our National Association of Realtors online magazine articel on staging your home in the winter months. Take a look & see if you can learn some ideas that would help you or you could pass on to someone that might benefit from it. Call us for your free staging interview at 605.336.9600 or email us at http://www.realtor.org/rmohome_and_design/articles/2010/1011_home_wintercurbappeal

Interest Rates are rising!

The real estate news today is that mortgage interest rates have gone up a little bit so the 30 year is no longer in the 3's. It appears that if you were waiting for the bottom of rates you might have missed it. The really great news is today's rates in the low 4's for a 30 year and the high 3's for a 15 year is a fantastic rate. Rates are not going much lower, if at all. Home prices have not gone up except slightly in the low price ranges. This is the market you have been waiting for. I am telling my family that now is the time to do what you can so I am letting you know the same thing. Do Not Wait Any More!

We have been blessed again with another wonderful fall weekend. Were you one of those out getting your first bird? What football game did you enjoy? Good times were had by many!

Sioux Falls was honored to be named one of 10 Great Neighborhoods in the US!! Wow that is really an honor!! This is even more significant when you look at the other 10 that were on this year’s list as well. Also included was the Frank Lloyd Wright Historic District in Oak Park Illinois. We have both been there & really appreciated the wonderful uniqueness that Frank Lloyd Wright put into his architecture.

To quote the article “Rising nearly 100 feet above the adjacent downtown, the Cathedral Historic District neighborhood offers panoramic views of downtown Sioux Falls and the Big Sioux River valley. A page out of time, setting the Cathedral District apart is its late-1800s historic integrity. Home to some of Sioux Fall’s largest and most ornate houses, the Cathedral neighborhood was where the city's most prominent and powerful citizens displayed their prosperity, confidence, and sophistication by building palatial Victorian- and post-Victorian-era houses.”

For the full article & to see what other cities were recognized go to http://www.planning.org/greatplaces/neighborhoods/2010 The Sioux Falls article is on the bottom of the article. We are especially pleased to let you know that we have one of the historical homes listed. It is right across the street from the house that is pictures in this article. Take a quick peek or look at our virtual tour for more detail. The house is right on the bottom of this post!