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VIBE recently hosted Brett Leschinsky, a Senior Loan Officer with CrossCountry Mortgage, to learn how divorce affects real estate transactions. We wanted to find out how different lenders treat divorce situations, discover if child support can be counted as qualifying income and get tips for divorcing sellers and agents. Read on for all that information and more.

Question: Do all lenders treat a divorce situation the same?

Answer: No! This is a great question. Many lenders have overlays on Fannie/Freddie guidelines when it comes to divorce, especially banks. Mortgage companies don’t tend to have these overlays. An example of an overlay is Fannie may allow a divorcing client to purchase a house before the divorce is final, but banks overlay that…

New Year, New VIBE  |  By Lianna Cotant

A space to gather.

A place to build relationships.

A lounge designed with events in mind.

Plus, beer on tap, shuffleboard, snacks and lots of cozy nooks to catch up on work. 

When I joined the VIBE team last fall, I heard rumors about the new office space, how “cool” it would be: all the amenities, the thoughtfulness put into the details, not to mention the location in the Blair Arcade. I wasn’t sure if the new space would truly live up to the hype.

I should not have doubted.

Stepping into the warm offices, filled with natural light, I love grabbing a spot in a booth where I can work and chat as agents come and go. The space is the physical embodiment of the tenants that guide VIBE:…

Welcome to the first official recap of the fall season here in the Twin Cities!

Seems like there's so much news going around about the housing market lately. Economic factors like inflation, interest rates, student loan debt and more are sparking questions about where the market is at and where it might be heading. Here in our recap, we rely on the most recent data to help us stay on top of what we're going through, so let's dig into last month's numbers. We don't usually start with the Average Days on Market (DOM), but it was one of September's most notable metrics. In just the span of one month, the average DOM grew by a full business week (5 days), which is its largest climb all year by far. It now sits at 19 days, which is just shy of…

Whether you love market data or you really don't care for it, there's no denying that it is at least valuable as you approach making one of the biggest financial decisions of your life. If you love it, that's great because you're one of us! For the group that leans towards the latter, don't worry - we've got your back. Our eyes are glued to these numbers stronger than a 90's kid in front of the TV during morning cartoons. This is particularly important in today's market, as we're starting to see some big swings in a different direction than we've had all year. Months long trends reversing, yearly highs, etc...Is this a temporary shift? Is this the new norm? Let's dig into the numbers and see if we can't find out. Let's start with the…

By now chances are you have seen a plethora of news articles painting a doom and gloom picture of the housing market. Terms like “bubble” and “crash” are plastered on every headline with comments about recessions and high interest rates. 

We are here to shed some light on the changing market, and why a good REALTOR® matters now more than ever. 

First, let us say the past few years we have been in an extremely unbalanced market. It’s been unhealthy and highly inflated, and to top it off, interest rates stayed historically low.

In the Twin Cities, we are seeing the market cool off slightly. But, it’s not all doom and gloom as one may think! We really needed some relief in the market, which appears to be shifting back to pre-pandemic conditions when…

You know, we have been doing the market recap every month for over two years now. You'd think that after a while it would start to feel monotonous, but for me, every month is like having a new ride to try at Valley Fair, and you just never know what you're going to get until you strap in. And yes, I am one of the people that stands in the long line at the front of the rollercoaster seeking that little extra bit of thrill.

Whatever publication you get your news from, there's about a 100% chance you've stumbled upon a few articles related to the economy and whether it's affecting the housing market. Well, we won't be solving that entire mystery today, but the good news is that tracking real estate data is something we do quite well. So, let's break it…

Rinse and Repeat...but with a twist?

At first glance, May of '22 is looking like a repeat of last year, with many of the numbers coming in very similar to last spring. However, there are a few signs that we may be shifting gears a bit in this ever changing Twin Cities real estate market. Read on for a breakdown of each category, and our thoughts on where things might be headed.

Let's start by looking at the Average Sale Price, which landed at just under $436k ($435,944 to be exact). Once again, this is officially the highest we have ever seen on record, and was the fourth month of continuous growth. The Median Price also grew to its highest level, landing at $375k. These two metrics are the most different of any from last year due to prices rising…

Think of your home’s exterior like the cover of a book (yes, cheesy we know!), but the exterior and its condition set the stage for what’s inside the home. Whether you’re interested in selling this year, or just want to make some improvements for your own enjoyment, boosting your home’s curb appeal is often an easy and generally inexpensive way to make your home look nicer and perhaps even add some value!

Love your lawn

Yours doesn’t have to be putting green ready, just make sure it’s getting proper water, trimming, and care! If you have some bald or thin spots, take some time this year to give those areas some TLC, you’d be surprised how much of an impact a lush green lawn makes!

 

Add in some fresh landscaping

Landscaping is such a…

Here at VIBE, we pride ourselves in doing everything we can to ensure you have the best experience possible with your real estate purchases, and take it from us, who you choose to finance that purchase can make a HUGE difference.

Here are the most important insights (from a Realtor’s® perspective) about choosing a good lender, and why it really matters.

1. )  Sometimes our recommendations to work with a professional can feel like we’re pushing you in a certain direction. But as Realtors®, we are fiduciaries, which means we must operate with your best interests in mind. So when an agent recommends a few different lenders to you, chances are, they are coming pre-vetted by their personal interactions and experiences with them! 

Trust us,…

 

It just sort of feels like everything's a bit extreme right now, doesn't it? Well, the Twin Cities real estate market is certainly no different. And though things have seemed a bit imbalanced since the beginning of COVID-19, the paragraphs below describe some of the most extreme numbers we've ever seen when it comes to monthly market stats, over two years since the pandemic started. Let's take a look.

We're going to have to get this elephant out of the room right away, because this elephant never skipped breakfast there's nowhere to stand while it's in here. That elephant would be the Average Home Sale Price for the month of April, which came in at a whopping $430k! That is almost a $23k jump just from last month, and is roughly $16k higher than…