November 6, 2007

Current listing inventory - 229 active listings in Owatonna as of today. Average days on the market has risen slightly to 161 days. The number of pending listings has dropped to 33 houses. Average days on the is up to 117 days. This drop in Pending listings was expected as we reached the end of October but would like to see that number rebound a little bit faster. There have been 349 properties Closed properties since 01-01-07, with an average days on market time of 113 days. We are again seeing the gap grow between the days on market of the Active vs Closed listings, Pricing a home realistically is paramount

A few more tips this week for home sellers:

• Remove a bulky piece or two of furniture, the room will appear larger
• Pack up all of the of season clothes and shoes from your closets and store them in the basement or garage (or better yet rent a offsite storage facility)
• With the winter season upon us, make sure to keep the thermostat set at 70 or above, you want the house to be cozy when buyers walk in (now is not the time to try & save a few $$$ on heat)
• Offer rewards to your children for keeping their things picked up
• Make sure to leave All Lights on for all showings

We'll try to include a few additional tips with each of the next several posts. You can always call or e-mail us any real estate question you might have. 507-390-2121 or info@BartleyGroup.com

Interest Rates climbed a bit yesterday to 6.125% on November 6, 2007.

Check out our Market Absorption Chart is available. It shows the market activity by price range. This allows you to see which price ranges are selling more quickly than others. For example, instead of pricing your home at $305,000, where there is a 12.8 month supply of homes it would be better to price it at $299,999 where there is only a 4.3 month supply of homes to be sold.