February 18, 2008

Interest Rates rose to 5.875% for a 30 year fixed on February 18, 2008. Mortgage rates have been somewhat strange over the last 20 days. They are up a bit right now.

Current listing inventory - 212 active listings in Owatonna as of today. We have seen quite a few showings through the month of January but showings have tepered off the last week. Right now buyers seem to be confused about interest rates and are just sitting back waiting for rates to come down and stabilize a bit. The FED has dropped the wholesale rate several times, however many lenders are keeping mortgage rates high trying to recoup some of their sub-prime losses. In addition many secondary investors are asking for a higher returns for the same reason.
The number of pending listings remained rose slightly to 23 houses. There were 22 properties Closed so far in 2008.

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

February 11, 2008

Interest Rates fell to 5.5% for a 30 year fixed on February 11, 2008. Mortgage rates have been somewhat strage over the last 14 days or so the took a big drop on the 22nd of January for about 3-4 hours and then bounced back up again. The continue to move around between 5.375% & 5.625% every couple of days.

Current listing inventory - 207 active listings in Owatonna as of today. As we speculated last week many of the expired listings came back on the market and brought the count back up. We are continuing to see strong market activity with the number of showing requests that have been scheduled. In addition our website set a record last month for the most number of visitors since we launched the site 6 years ago. Those are the positive signs that we are looking for.The number of pending listings remained stable at 19 houses. There were 22 properties Closed so far in 2008.

We would like to thank all of you who have e-mailed us or comments on our blog. We are working on bringing a different type of format to the documents that we post here. The new MLS system that we went to several weeks ago has much more capability for us to provide additional information, however we need to learn how to present that information to our visitors. This week we are using a different format and we will continue to experiment as we move ahead. Please continue to give us feedbackvia comments here, by phone 507-390-2121 or email us, mailto:info@BartleyGroup.com

Real Estate Professionalism - As We See It!!

This post is going to change direction slightly from the normal market conditions the we usually post here.

Several weeks ago members of the Southeast Minnesota Association of REALTORS (SEMAR)(of which Brian is on the Board of Directors) moved to a new Multiple Listing Service (MLS) software system. This move was long overdue and was a giant leap in technology. It has give some awesome capabilities to local REALTORS, however like any change it has presented its challenges as well. Many of you have read our previous posts and some have even commented or e-mailed us on the changes in the reports that we post here regularly. We continue to invest time and energy into learing this system so that we may provide our clients with the very best service available.

This MLS software system change has led to a number of members generating e-mails to each other, sometimes with system tips and sometimes with system complaints. One such recent e-mail got us all to thinking and talking and is what has prompted this post. A member was complaining that she was required to take a day off from her FULL TIME JOB to attend training on the new system, which was only offered during the day.

Now is where this post may offend some readers. In our group Real Estate is OUR FULL TIME JOB!!! That's the way it is. We don't pretend to be real estate professionals, we ARE real estate professionals. We eat, breathe & sleep real estate (just ask our family members). Real Estate is our one and only job.

When we select a doctor, dentist, attorney, accountant, auto mechanic, financial planner or carperter for our own personal use we look for someone that is a full time professional in their respective field. We look for those that are dedicated, trained and experienced. Questions that we ask ourselves when selecting a professional are: Is this person current in their profession? Do they work full time in their chosen field? Have they expanded their training beyond the required minimums? How much experience do they have? Frankly these are the same questions that consumers should be asking when they are in the process of selecting a Real Estate professional to assist them buying or selling a home. Do you really want a part time auto mechanic fixing the brakes on your car, or a part time carpenter building your new home, or a part time doctor delivering your new baby? Your home is most likely the most expensive investment you will ever make in your lifetime, so why trust it to sometime that is part time?

Members of our group are all full time Real Estate professionals. We have all attend training above and beyond what is required as a minimum by the state of Minnesota are are proud of it. All of those funny little initials that are after out names mean we have received additional education and have been awarded the respective designation for that training.

Susan has received the ABR, CRS, GRI, SRES and Broker Associate designations and is working on the e-PRO designation

Brian has received the GRI, SRES, Broker Associate designations and is working on the CRS & on the e-PRO designations.

Todd is working on the GRI designation.

We take our professionalism, experience & training very seriously.

What do those letters & designations mean?

The ABR: The Accredited Buyer Representative (ABR®) designation is the benchmark of excellence in buyer representation. This coveted designation is awarded to real estate practitioners by the Real Estate BUYER'S AGENT Council (REBAC) of the National Association of REALTORS® who meet the specified educational and practical experience criteria.

The CRS: Certified Residential Specialist, Realtors who receive the CRS Designation have completed advanced courses and have demonstrated professional expertise in the field of residential real estate. Fewer than 38,000 Realtors nationwide have earned the credential.

The e-PRO: An e-PRO is a REALTOR® who has successfully completed the e-PRO training program for real estate professionals. Endorsed by the National Association of REALTORS®, the e-PRO course teaches professionals the nuts and bolts of working with real estate on-line: Web sites, e-mail, on-line tools, and most of all, what today's consumer really wants.

The GRI: Stands for Graduate REALTOR® Institute, is a nationally recognized professional real estate designation. GRI is recognized nationwide as the standard for real estate professionalism and knowledge

The SRES Seniors Real Estate Specialists® are REALTORS® qualified to address the needs of home buyers age 50-plus. By earning the SRES® designation, your REALTOR® has demonstrated necessary knowledge and expertise to counsel clients age 50-plus through major financial and lifestyle transitions involved in relocating, refinancing, or selling the family home.

Please post your comments, e-mail us with comments info@BartleyGroup, or give us a call (507) 390-2121

Client Testimonials

The quotes below are what a few of our recent clients had to say about our service.

"Susan did an amazing job keeping us informed, guiding us w/good vendors & fiinancial institutions as well. I would recommed her to anyone. We were thrilled with her customer service." Aaron & Michelle

"The prosecc of buying our first home was very satisfying. Todd Berglund was very helpful explaining all of the items and closing procedures..." Jessica & Steve

"Susan, Brian & Todd went "Above & Beyond" in their efforts to sell our home. We would recommend The Bartley Group to any of our friends or acquaintances that are looking for help in their real estate transactions." Tony & Diane

"Susan & Brian were excellent, always giving us encouraging words, especially during the closing process." Bev & Jim

February 4, 2008

Interest Rates rose to 5.5% for a 30 year fixed on February 4, 2008. The Fed dropped interest rates .5% at a meeting last week. This has not actually resulted in mortgage rates falling yet but it has sparked a tremenous amount of consumer interest.

Current listing inventory - 195 active listings in Owatonna as of today, that is the lowest the count has been since January of 2007. However it is primarily due to a large number of listings expiring last week (many of them ours)and they will be coming back on the market. The number of pending listings remained stable at 17 houses. There were 19 properties Closed so far in 2008.

The 2007 year end market absorption chart is available and has quite a bit of interesting data.

Give us a call, 507-390-2121 or email us, mailto:info@BartleyGroup.com