You may have noticed that I missed last week’s Two On Tuesday post. I was on my annual pheasant hunting trip to South Dakota with my dad and my father-in-law so I intentionally didn’t post my “2″ last week.  That doesn’t mean I am posting 4 this week, I simply wanted to throw my very legitimate excuse out there.  Without further adieu:

1. HARP - Have you heard of the recently extended HARP program? HARP stands for the Home Affordable Refinance Program which was created for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2009.

If you currently have a mortgage that you would like to refinance to a lower interest rate but are not able to because your home is now worth less than what your mortgage balance is, this may be the program you have been looking for.  There are some criteria that must be met to qualify so if you have questions on the program, do not hesitate to call or email me for more information. I will be happy to help you determine if you qualify to refinance and save money under this program.

2. Bell Ringers Wanted - “We wish you a Merry Christmas, We wish you a Merry Christmas…”  That is right, I am looking for some singers to join us in ringing the bell for two hours on December 9th in Shakopee for the Salvation Army.  Okay, I will take anyone, you don’t have to be able to sing.  You just have to be able to put up with the rest of us singing!

Last year, the National Association of Realtors rolled out the Realtor Ring Day program.  I was too late to sign up last year but as soon as I saw the announcement that we were doing it again this year, I jumped all over the opportunity.  Newman’s Neighborhood signed up for the 5-7pm time slot at the Cub Foods in Shakopee on December 9th.

Jessi and I and the kids plan on ringing the bell and may even do a little singing that evening. We are looking for some help and ask that you consider joining us!  I will even provide the Caribou coffee and hot chocolate if you come out and spend some time with us giving back to the community for an extremely good cause.

If you would like to join us, search for “Newman’s Neighborhood” on Facebook and post your commitment to join us on our wall.  While you are there, don’t forget to “like” us!

Hope to see you all for some caroling on the 9th of December!

1. Time Change & Smoke Detectors – By now I am guessing you have all been reminded via promotional materials from a handful of businesses, sales people, or your church that this weekend we will lose an hour of daylight in the early evening starting on Sunday. So how do I give a time change reminder some sort of housing/real estate spin?  How about with a smoke detector battery reminder?  At minimum you should replace your smoke detector batteries once each year so why not do it at the same time you are running around changing all of your clocks.  So keep your family safe, go out and by some 9 volts and test those smoke detectors.  Have a great weekend and if you are reading this you officially can no longer use an inaccurate clock as your excuse for not attending church this weekend!

2. Minnesota Housing Outlook – I had the privilege of attending a Broker Management Real Estate conference last week featuring the chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, Dr. Lawrence Yun.  Dr. Yun‘s presentation was extremely beneficial and shed a lot of light on what is ahead for us in the local and national real estate market.  I thought I would share a few of the slides that Dr. Yun presented along with a short recap of some of the positives.  Click the photo of the slide below to view the graphs and charts that correspond with my thoughts below.

Out of all of the Midwest states, Minnesota has more people moving in from the surrounding states than all others. This bodes well for our future housing market. As you can see by the first chart that we are at sales unit levels similar to those we saw back in 2000-2001.  Prices have not yet stabilized in the Twin Cities but buyers are back in the market!

So when will prices stabalize? That is a great question that is extremely hard to answer however, according to Dr. Yun, there is definitely light at the end of the tunnel. Many of us in the real estate industry gave up on predicting the bottom of the price fallout after being proven wrong a handful of times. There is however some solid statistical data that we can lean on that points to potential pricing positives.

While there is the potential for short sales and foreclosures to be a factor in our market for the next couple of years, it appears we could be heading toward a housing shortage possibly within that same time period.  Minnesota new construction permits are currently at a 40 year low. As you can see from the chart, Minnesota has added less than 10,000 new homes each year for the last few years. Before that there was consistently well over 20,000 homes built each year starting back in 1983. That together with the fact that we are selling the same amount of homes as we did back when there were 50 million less people, we may be headed for some pent up demand which should naturally lead to some price improvements.

Jobs and economic growth are more positives to watch. The U.S. has seen a modest recovery with 1.3 million jobs being added in the last 12 months. Minnesota is following that trend and has started a recovery of its own.

I included one last slide from Dr. Yun’s presentation and it has to do with mortgage defaults. I have heard concern from buyers about the foreclosure problems and how they “do not want to be a foreclosure statistic.” Have no fear,a great majority of the foreclosure problems have stemmed from mortgages that were given between 2006-2008. Very few homes that were purchased before 2006 and in 2009 to the present have fallen into foreclosure status. This is of course a testament to the loose lending policies that were running rampant during the housing boom.

Still need some reassurance that now is the time to buy? With interest rates at all time lows, great prices, and a solid inventory, there is absolutely no reason to wait! In addition, the “smart money” has begun to leave the stock market and now is even leaving the gold market for a destination known as real property.

Thank you Dr. Yun for some fantastic information and a great presentation!

1. Digitwirl – I am quite certain that I do not fall within the demographics Digitwirl is shooting for but I sure enjoy seeing Carley’s videos each week. So this week’s #1 might be more of a confession.  Yes, I regularly check out Digitwirl. If you know me at all, I love technology, gadgets, and trying to incorporate any new system or tool into my life or the lives of the people around me!  I don’t have time to come up with all of my own ideas so it is always helpful to enlist the help of professionals.  So without further adieu, I have attached one of Digitwirl’s latest video clips featuring one of my favorite topics: Going Paperless!  To follow Digitwirl’s weekly updates visit them at digitwirl.com or follow them on Twitter @digitwirl.

2. Recovering Market? – Are we in a recovering market? This article believes we might be seeing a “modest glimmer of hope.”  I have been tracking local market stats for quite some time and I have definitely seen a trend toward positive news over the course of the entire summer and fall.  Transactions on a weekly basis in the Twin Cities have almost been double each week when compared to the same week the year before.  Don’t take my word for it, check this Star Tribune article out.

1. Blood Mobile - Halloween isn’t the only blood sucking end of October event!  My office in Excelsior at 19400 Highway 7 will be holding a blood mobile on October 26th between 1:30-4:30pm.

If you are willing to join us to donate the gift of life, you can sign up by clicking the following link:  http://www.mbc.org/searchdrives

You will need to enter sponsor code 1242 and hit submit. You will then click on the October 26th, 2011 link on that page.  You simply need to enter your email address and birth date and select a time slot.  The process only takes a few minutes.

2. Investment Properties – Have you ever been intrigued by investing in real estate but didn’t quite know where to start? Well, if you have ever considered owning a rental property, now just may be the time.  With one of the best rental markets that we have seen in recent years, low prices, and even lower interest rates, there may never be a better time to invest in real estate.

Think I might be a little biased? Check out this article I recently found from CNN Money.

If you are interested in investing, give me a call.  I would love to consult with you on your possible new venture.  I have rental property investment calculators that I can run on specific properties that show you your estimated return on investment.

Don’t forget, there may be an opportunity to roll IRA money into a self directed IRA allowing you to use those funds to invest in real estate. If you have questions on that I would also be happy to point you to a highly recommended accountant and financial planner who could help you with that as well.

This all sounds great you might say! Except for the toilets and the fact that I would be a “landlord.’  No worries, I have access to some top notch rental management companies  who can help you find a tenant and take care of everything for you including the toilets.

Bottom line is that if you have ever considered owning a rental property, it is definitely worth exploring your options. Have a great week and I will look forward to hearing from you and to answer questions.