What You Need To Know

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The St. Cloud housing market is picking up.  Craig Ehrlichman from Premier Real Estate Services joined me on WJON to break down what sellers and buyers can expect.  He says activity varies throughout the area but at Premier he says they've been as busy as they've been in the last 18 months.  Ehrlichman believes there has been some pent up demand to change residences.

Inventory Levels

Ehrlichman says inventory levels have been low for quite awhile which is why new builds are taking place more often in communities like Sartell, Sauk Rapids, St. Cloud, St. Joe and St. Augusta.  He says year to date new listings are up 10%, a seller can expect their home to be on the market for approximately 50-60 days.  Ehrlichman says  sellers are getting, on average, 97% of their asking price. Ehrlichman says home values are seeing a general appreciation at around 3-5%.  He believes home ownership is still important for family's generational wealth.

Ehrlichman says a cash offer is for a unique buyer who doesn't want to do maintenance, and needs to move quickly.  He says sellers are often times receiving 70-80% of their home market value.  Ehrlichman indicates cash offers are something that some real estate groups offer to buyers that it makes sense for.

Lake homes continue to be popular in Minnesota.  Ehrlichman says lake property tends to hold or increase value.  He says this time of year lake property becomes move highly sought after.

Ways to improve the value of your home include the following; trim your bushes, cut your grass, make sure your sidewalks are neat and repair any siding issues.  Ehrlichman is also a believer in seal coating your asphalt driveway.

Unique Promotion

Ehrlichman calls himself the realtor ref.  He's worked as an official in the Minnesota State High School League for 16-17 years.  Ehrlichman has a fence banner at Sartell's Orthopedic Field at Sartell Muskie and Sartell Stone Ponies amateur baseball games.  He says if someone hits the sign in the game, pizza from House of Pizza can be won.

If you'd like to listen to my conversation with Craig, click below.

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