Owatonna, MN Real Estate Market Conditions, March 17, 2008

Interest Rates have remained stable and are at 5.875% for a 30 year fixed on Monday March 17, 2008. Rates were fairly stable last week with very few increases & decreases. The FED cut the discount rate .25% overnight and is expected to cut rates tomorrow the 18th of March, we will have to wait and see what that will do to the mortgage market. The expected cut is .50% to .75%

Current real estate listing inventory - 212 active listings in Owatonna as of today. The active listing count has dropped back down since the end of last week.

The number of pending listings is stable at 32 homes.

There have been 37 properties Closed so far in 2008. Just slight activity since last week but that that should begin to climb as we approach the end of the month.

There comparison charts continue to have interesting statistics . The Active Listing Chart shows 101 properties have has price changes and the averaging $15,245 or 8.17% . Active Comparison Chart - Pending Comparison Chart - Closed Comparison Chart .

Our main web site http://bartleygroup.com/ continues to show record numbers of visitors. we believe it is indicative of the changes we are seeing in the market.

One interesting item brought up at a recent training meeting was the idea that a large number of buyers are waiting until the current market hits bottom to jump in a purchase a home. The problem with that idea is that none of us really knows when the bottom will be reached and once we do reach bottom and the market swings around sellers will no longer have as much incentive to negotiate sale prices. The savvy buyers are seeing opportunities in the current market and are jumping in now when there is still negotiation room in prices. It was an interesting class & idea.

Please continue to give us feedback via comments here, by phone 507-390-2121 or email us, mailto:info@BartleyGroup.com

Owatonna, MN Real Estate Market Conditions, March 14, 2008

Interest Rates have fallen slightly this week to 5.875% for a 30 year fixed on March 14, 2008. Rates were volatile last week with several decreases & increases. The FED is expected to cut rates on the 18th of March, we will have to wait and see what that will do to the mortgage market.

Current real estate listing inventory - 215 active listings in Owatonna as of today. The active listing count has climbed a bit this week. It is something we will keep an eye on.

The number of pending listings is at 32 houses.

There have been 36 properties Closed so far in 2008. Just slight activity this week but that that should begin to climb as we approach the end of the month. The fact that we continue to see the closed property count climb slowly and not have the pending count drop is very good. We continue to see homes receiving offers.

There are a few statistics that are noteworthy in the comparison charts. The average closed properties are showing that over 60% of the properties that went to closing had a price change and that price change was 10.12% and almost $16,000. 50% of the current pending listings have had price changes. Take a look at these charts they are interesting reading. Active Comparison Chart - Pending Comparison Chart - Closed Comparison Chart . Let us know your thoughts.

Our main web site http://bartleygroup.com/ set a record again in February for the most number of unique visitors and the most number of visits since the inception of the site. The March website visitor count is off to a fantastic start already with over 50% of the number of unique visitors we had in February already in the first 14 days of March.

Please continue to give us feedback via comments here, by phone 507-390-2121 or email us, mailto:info@BartleyGroup.com

Owatonna, MN Real Estate Market Conditions, March 10, 2008

Interest Rates have stayed stable so far this week at 6.125% for a 30 year fixed on March 10, 2008. Rates were volatile last week with several decreases & increases. There are a large number of qualified buyers out there. They just are waiting to see what is going to happen. The FED is expected to cut rates on the 18th of March, we will have to wait and see what that will do to the mortgage market.

Current real estate listing inventory - 212 active listings in Owatonna as of today. The active listing count has remained stable. We have seen a number of homes come on the market and several are now pending, however the listing count has not climbed significantly yet. We would still love to see it drop below 200.

The number of pending listings remained at 31 houses.

There have been 33 properties Closed so far in 2008. Not a lot of closing activity since last week but that was to be expected because it is the beginning of the month.

The fact that we continue to see the Closed property count climb slowly and not have the pending count drop is very good. We continue to see homes receiving offers.

The comparison charts have generated several comments from viewers. There have been a few that liked them and a few that do not. Active Comparison Chart - Pending Comparison Chart - Closed Comparison Chart . Let us know your thoughts.

Our main web site http://bartleygroup.com/ set a record again in February for the most number of unique visitors and the most number of visits since the inception of the site. The March website visitor count is off to a fantastic start already with over 35% of the number of unique visitors we had in February already in the first 10 days of March.

Please continue to give us feedback via comments here, by phone 507-390-2121 or email us, mailto:info@BartleyGroup.com

Owatonna, MN Real Estate Market Conditions, March 7, 2008

Interest Rates rose this week to 6.125% for a 30 year fixed on March 7, 2008. Rates have been volatile this week. There are a large number of qualified buyers out there. They just are waiting to see what is going to happen. The FED is expected to cut rates on the 18th of March, we will have to wait and see what that will do to the mortage market.

Current real estate listing inventory - 212 active listings in Owatonna as of today. The active listing count has risen slightly. The fact that the active listing count has not climbed drastically is a good thing for home sellers. As we have posted in the past, 175-180 listings would be a fairly balanced market in Owatonna. We currently are still in a buyers market but not as severely as June-July 2007. There are still a wonderful deals out there for buyers to jump on.

The number of pending listings climbed slightly to 31 houses. This continues to be a good sign as the pending count climbs.

There have been 31 properties Closed so far in 2008. Not a lot of closing activity this week but that was to be expected as it is the first week of the month.

We started posting several new reports here last week and will continue with those. They are comparison charts for the active, pending & sold listings. Please take a look and let us know what you think of these. Active Comparison Chart - Pending Comparison Chart - Closed Comparison Chart . We are already getting good feedback on the new charts.

Our main web site http://bartleygroup.com/ set a record again in February for the most number of unique visitors and the most number of visits since the inception of the site. March website visitors is off to a fantastic start already with over 35% of the number of unique visitors we had in February already in the first 7 days of March.

Please continue to give us feedback via comments here, by phone 507-390-2121 or email us, mailto:info@BartleyGroup.com

March 3, 2008

Interest Rates fell last week to 5.50% for a 30 year fixed on February 29, 2008. But are up again the morning to 5.625%. Lenders, quite frankly are not helping the market right now. There are a large number of qualified buyers out there. We have heard through the grapevine that one major lender is going to be buying down the rate slightly on home purchase loans. That is very good news.

There are several good signs about the real estate market here in Owatonna.

Current real estate listing inventory - 209 active listings in Owatonna as of today. The active listing count has drpped slightly. The fact that the active listing count has not climbed is a good thing for home sellers. As we have posted in the past, 175-180 lostings would be a fairly balanced market in Owatonna. We currently are still in a buyers market but not as severly as June-July 2007. There are still a wonderful deals out there for buyers to jump on. We are including links to two of those properties here.
455 Fairview,Owatonna $119,900 , 1340 Autumn Dr, Owatonna, MN

The number of pending listings remained stable at 26 houses. This is also a good sign as we continue to see the pending count stay stable and not fall.

There have been 30 properties Closed so far in 2008. We continue to see the closed listing count rise slowly. That is very good.

We started posting several new reports here last week and will continue with those. They are comparison charts for the active, pending & sold listings. Please take a look and let us know what you think of these. Active Comparison Chart - Pending Comparison Chart - Closed Comparison Chart . We are already getting good feedback on the new charts.

Our main web site http://bartleygroup.com/ set a record again in February for the most number of unique visitors and the most number of visits since the inception of the site. We are hoping that is an indication of the increased interest in the Owatonna Real Estate market. Even this past weekend was very good and weekends are usually the slowest time of the week for our websites. We will continue to watch and report.

Please continue to give us feedback via comments here, by phone 507-390-2121 or email us, mailto:info@BartleyGroup.com