10 Day Closing Guarantee

That’s right! We will guarantee your loan closes in just 10 days!

(see disclaimer below for additional information)

Please click the link below to search for homes today!

http://minneapolismnhomes.com

Call us today to get pre-approved!

952-548-8253

Disclaimer: If we cannot close your loan within 10 days, we will fully reimburse you for the cost of your appraisal! “The 10 Day Closing Guarantee” starts on the day and time your loan is submitted.  We must have an acceptable appraisal and all required documents from you to submit your loan.  After your loan approval is received, we must receive any additional items that are needed from you within 24 hours to honor this guarantee.  This guarantee is pending acceptable appraisal, credit, income, down payment and final approval by the underwriter.  The 10 day guarantee period does exclude holidays and Sundays.

• Read More »

A combination of many factors caused Forbes.com to name the following three suburbs of Minneapolis MN homes on their “Top Suburbs to Live Well” list.  Each of the Top Suburbs also paid its way to the quality lifestyle enjoyed by residents.  Property values and income levels rank in the top ten percent, too.

Measured by separate criteria, Lake Elmo MN real estate was honored by business Week in 2009 as the Best Affordable Suburb.  It is located 30 minutes east of Minneapolis.  The town of 7,556 retains a rural, small-town flavor.  Median income is $93,961 and median home price is $361,000.

Forbes’s list includes the top three suburbs of any size for each of the 15 metropolitan areas measured.  In the Greater Minneapolis real estate market, the following three won high honors:

Minnetonka real estate:  Located on Lake Minnetonka, west of Minneapolis proper, Minnetonka is home to over 50,000 residents who love culture, recreation, and the nice things of life.  Lake Minnetonka homes also include picturesque lakefront second homes.

Wayzata real estate:  Wayzata homes are also on Lake Minnetonka, but are on the northeast side closest to the Twin Cities.  Wayzata reflects its beginnings as a resort community, with its vacation homes on the lake, beaches, boat slips and marina and small shopping districts.

Edina real estate:  Edina is a wealthy suburb of over 50,000 residents located to the southwest of Minneapolis.  It is known for top-flight schools, convenience, beautiful neighborhoods, great shopping and diverse employment, vibrant recreation, and cultural charm.

Forbes.com created a list of USA suburbs with the best standard of living.  Researchers built their model from data acquired from NeighborhoodScout.com, a real estate research company in Rhode Island.  NeighborhoodScout.com looks at five main categories of information for assessment: school quality, crime rates, income levels, education levels, and homeownership rates.

Researchers contend that graduation rates, per-pupil spending, and student/teacher ratio are important measures of school quality.  Important for quality lifestyle, safe streets and parks are only attainable when the rate of violent and property crime is low.

Income levels beget better amenities such as restaurants and shops, entertainment, cultural experiences (parklands and recreation facilities, lectures, art galleries, and music venues).  Neighborhood stability is also affected by income levels as well as homeownership rates.  Communities with mortgage holders tend to help maintain and improve services, fix problems, and generally invest in the communities.

For information about homes, investment properties, and mortgages in the Twin Cities, call the MinneapolisMNHomes.com Team at 952-548-8253.

• Read More »

Low-end distressed Minneapolis real estate moves pretty slowly.  Not so with upscale Minneapolis MN homes in foreclosure, pre-foreclosure, REO, or short sale markets.  The great buys on luxury homes get snatched up right away.

That is why a homebuyer in the luxury market should get pre-qualified and be ready to submit an offer to beat the competition for the best, most beautiful luxury homes in the Twin Cities.  And there is plenty of competition for Minnetonka lake homes and waterfront properties around Lake Nokomis because fewer upscale Minneapolis homeowners default.

If you are one of the Minneapolis homebuyers fortunate enough to be searching for deals in the high-end Minneapolis MN real estate market, contact us at www.MinneapolisMNhomes.com.

Our experienced Minneapolis Minnesota real estate and mortgage team will provide knowledge and resources, such as prices for similar properties in the non-foreclosure market or in similar neighborhoods.  We are able to use our databases to turn up homes not yet posted on the Minneapolis MLS.  Some are bank-owned properties, others are in pre-foreclosure.  We also know of a few that could be sought out as short sales.

How do luxury homeowners get into financial duress?  Five years ago, many made decisions based on the growing real estate sector.  Lenders went right along with them.  For example, one builder constructed a spec home that did not sell.  He then refinanced his personal luxury home with a 5-year ARM due in 2011.  The balloon payment required was $325,000, all at once.  Hard to deliver when he had to change occupations now has a drastically reduced income.

Back in the day, a percentage of luxury homebuyers, like average homebuyers, reported more income than they could substantiate.  By now, many of them are experiencing lower household incomes.

Although it is possible to save a substantial amount of money investing in distressed properties, prices are not slashed.  They may be reduced 20 to 25 percent, however.  A buyer may be able to purchase a $1 million home for $750,000 to $800,000 in the distressed market.  Additional savings can be had with lower interest rates on jumbo loans, offering many families the opportunity to move up or to buy luxury vacation homes on a scenic Minneapolis lake.

When the great prices show up, experienced investors lurch.  Therefore, buyers are best off working with a real estate agent experienced in foreclosures and short sales and researching properties.  It is also important to fully inspect any distressed property, including possibilities of bugs, mold, and radon and to get estimates for repairs.

For information about homes, investment properties, and mortgages in the Twin Cities, call the MinneapolisMNHomes.com Team at 952-548-8253.

• Read More »

Are you searching for Minneapolis homes for sale on the lake?  If you want more home loan money with lower interest, move quickly.  Any changes by the federal government as it attempts to reduce its footprint in the housing industry will affect the Minneapolis real estate market.  Jumbo loans with low government interest rates, those needed for many homes in Minneapolis and her suburbs, are most likely shrinking by fall 2011.

Some Minnesota homebuyers benefitted from a temporary federal policy allowing mortgages up to $729,750 to receive government backing and low interest rates.  Come October 1, that limit may reset to $625,500, reducing conforming loan limits for quite a number of Minneapolis home loans.  The government, however, plans to continue assisting credit-worthy, low- and moderate-income families who would like to buy Minneapolis MN homes or find affordable rentals.

On February 11, 2011, the federal government published its White Paper, “Reforming America’s Housing Finance Market: A Report to Congress.”  The report is a collaboration of White House, Department of Treasury, and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.  The federal agencies attempted to recommend workable solutions to the nation’s financial dilemma, especially in housing.

Government agencies finally got the idea that they should not be so involved in financing housing.  According to their report, the Administration plans to work with the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) to develop a pathway that reduces the role, and eventually winds down, the Federal National Mortgage Associations (Fannie Mae) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac).  Although long overdue, solutions will not happen overnight.

However, it took quite a wake-up call.  Fannie and Freddie are at the heart of the housing system.  According to an article February 4, 2011 by Zachary A. Goldfarb and Brady Dennis, Washington Post Staff Writers, many experts blame Fannie and Freddie for causing the financial crisis that hit the nation in 2008.  Since September 2008, the government seizure and rescue of these two firms have cost taxpayers more than $130 Billion.

The report also addresses intentions to improve underwriting standards, strengthen consumer protection, increase transparency for investors, and fix other basic flaws in the mortgage market.  In order to bring private capital back into the mortgage market and reduce taxpayer risk, it recommends that the FHFA slowly begin to implement changes including higher guarantee fee pricing and down payment requirements.

For information about homes, investment properties, mortgages in the Twin Cities, call the MinneapolisMNHomes.com Team at 952-548-8253.

• Read More »

Many mortgage lenders are helpful to struggling Minneapolis homeowners.  Others are not so fast to assist.

Two years ago, the President of the United States announced a Home Owners Affordability and Stability Plan.  The $75 Billion legislation included Loan Modification and Refinancing programs to help struggling borrowers.  Some Minneapolis MN lake home owners worked with the government and their lenders to take advantage of this program.  It is restricted to primary homes with less than $729,750 owning on the principal.  The Loan Modification program expires at the end of December 2012.

Designed to help owners of USA real estate, and Minneapolis and St. Paul MN homes to refinance homes that lost substantial value, the Refinance part of the program has all but expired in 2011.  Homeowners may ask their lenders if any remaining conditions may apply to their situations.

Unemployment causes 60 percent of foreclosures and joblessness still looms over the economy.  Although the government offered substantial funding for distressed and unemployed Minneapolis MN homeowners in the past couple of years, foreclosure rates continue to climb.  Prime borrower foreclosure rates grew fastest in states with high unemployment, including Minnesota, California and Nevada.

Some homeowners are complaining about the impersonal nature of bank loans.  For example, one federal program offers the unemployed homeowner six months of house payments.  To qualify, the homeowner must be receiving unemployment benefits, a restricted income, and may not have ever refinanced their homes or taken out a second mortgage.  Lenders can participate or choose not to participate.

At sfgate.com, Kathleen Pender gave an example of one eligible couple.  The borrowers’ monthly house payment is $3,180, due to Bank of America.  However, the bank will only accept a single, full payment from the Unemployment Mortgage Assistance program and will not accept the additional $180 from the borrower.  It appears that the lender would rather foreclose on the home than deal with processing payments from two different sources!

Mortgage Match.com recently surveyed homebuyers about their experiences purchasing homes.  On February 8, 2011, Nick Timiraos of The Wall Street Journal Newspaper discussed the new survey.  A third of the respondents claimed that the hardest part of the home-buying process was trying to understand the mortgage process.  Nearly 23 percent of those surveyed said that they attributed the challenging mortgage process to changing documentation requirements.  Homebuyers expressed confusion over mortgage applications—to the extent that the stress outweighed even the anxiety of loan approval or negotiating home purchase prices.  Therefore, we can probably assume that homebuyers would like lenders to stick to reliable, routine requirements.

We all know that bankers are increasingly frustrated with the number of defaulting borrowers as well as with government mandates and regulations imposed upon their businesses.  Most have clamped down considerably on the extension of credit.  That may be helpful to some.

For reliable information about real estate and helpful mortgage solutions, contact MinneapolisMNhomes.com at 952-548-8253.

• Read More »

When relocating to Minneapolis real estate, businesses discover a healthy group of colleagues who are interested in preserving the natural beauty and air quality.  Residents of Minneapolis homes and all of Minnesota simultaneously seek to build and sustain a robust economy.

Minneapolis MN homeowners and business owners from around the Twin Cities and Minnesota are invited to attend or exhibit at the 3rd Annual Greening Your Business Conference to be held at the Marriott City Center on April 14, 2011.  Hosted by the Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce in partnership with the U.S. Green Building Council – Minnesota chapter, the Business-to-Business (B-2-B) event drew a thousand participants in 2010.  Participation may reach 1300 this year at the increasingly popular sustainability conference.

The Greening Your Business Conference provides companies with the strategies and necessary resources to get in step with the “green” market.  Participants will gain critical knowledge, learning about the latest green trends and demands to reduce environmental impact—all while developing important relationships.

Keynote speakers include chief environmental officers from some of the greenest companies in the nation.  Executives with hands-on experience in energy savings, waste reducing strategies, and market tactics lead the workshops.

Schedule of Events

12:30 – 1:00 p.m.    Registration
1:00 – 1:20 p.m.    Welcome: The State of Minnesota’s Green Economy
1:30 – 2:30 p.m.    Breakout Sessions on Best Practices in Greening Your Businesses:
Finance/Operations, Human Resources/Management, or Marketing/Social Media
1:30 – 2:30 p.m.    Special Session Part 1: Energy Management
2:40 – 3:40 p.m.    Breakout Sessions on Hot Topics, Cool Topics:
Transportation, Recycling, or Footprint
2:40 – 3:40 p.m.    Special Session Part 2: Energy Efficiency

Sponsors and exhibitors benefit from the opportunity to reach over 900 decision makers who are interested in sustainability.  Sponsors also receive publicity from media partners and access to a private VIP reception.

The scope of the 2011 event is expanded.  In addition to workshops and keynote speakers, the conference hosts an awards ceremony, cocktail reception, and expo.  The awards ceremony celebrates outstanding “green’ efforts of businesses in the region.  The hosts are accepting nominations Leadership in Sustainability awards: Best in Green Market Development, Best Green Campaign, Best Green Workplace, and Excellence in Green Business.

For information on homes and investment properties in the Twin Cities, call our real estate team from MinneapolisMNHomes.com at 952-548-8253.

• Read More »