Noel Johnson's Blog Posts

Perfect Parks and Picnic Spots in St. Cloud for Sunny Summer DaysDiscover the best family-friendly parks and picnic spots in St. Cloud. From splash pads to scenic gardens, here’s where to

As summer winds down and the first day of school looms closer, families everywhere are gearing up for the annual back-to-school season. Transitioning from the lazy days of summer to the structured

Turning your home into the star of an open house requires more than a simple tidying up; it demands a strategic, thoughtful approach that makes every visitor envision their future in its rooms. As

In today's fast-paced world, the allure of smart home technology offers more than just the convenience of the latest gadgets—it represents a fundamental shift in how we experience and interact

Nestled in the heart of Minnesota, St. Cloud emerges as a sanctuary for coffee aficionados, boasting an eclectic array of coffee shops each offering a unique blend of ambiance, flavor, and community

Whether you’re a first-time buyer or a seasoned veteran, the homebuying process can elicit a range of feelings, from excitement and anticipation to frustration and confusion.This can sometimes

Living in a high-rental and high-mortgage area is challenging, especially with a tight budget. However, with clever planning and financial strategies, it’s possible to manage your budget and

Although conventional wisdom is that selling your home in colder months is not a good idea, it’s simply not true. There are several advantages to selling during winter—and many effective

Finding your dream home is an exciting and significant life milestone.One of the most crucial aspects of this journey is knowing the right questions to ask, which will empower you with the

Top 5 Storage Hacks for Your GarageIf you’re looking to organize and store items in your garage, then you need to have a plan. The last thing you want is to not have enough room to park your

Helping Your Kids Be EntrepreneursBeing an entrepreneur has many benefits that are worthwhile skills to teach children. Being your own boss can give you control over your future, as well as provide

Purchasing your first home is exciting. It provides you the opportunity and freedom to individualize it in a way that reflects your personality and lifestyle, and it can also create a strong sense

Everything You Need to Know Before Flipping a HouseFlipping a house is an enticing venture, offering the allure of significant profits and the opportunity to transform a property into a lucrative

As a homeowner or renter, you may look at the real estate market—which is notoriously difficult to predict, even for top analysts—and decide it’s better to leave figuring it out to

Looking for something to do this weekend?Here is a list of great events happening throughout Central MNSauk Rapids Downtown Jingle & MingleDecember 9th - 9:30 am -10:00 pm - 195 River Ave S,

Selling Your Home? 8 Ways to Upgrade for a Quicker SaleSelling your home can be stressful, time-consuming, and expensive. If your home hasn’t been recently renovated, you’ll need to

 A home inspection can be a vital part of the homebuying process as it gives buyers an honest look at a property’s condition.However, it can also be a valuable tool for home sellers. Use

Do I Really Need to Put 20 Percent Down?Though 20 percent has traditionally been the ideal amount to put as a down payment, the notion that you must do so to qualify for a home loan is simply not

To Renovate or Not to Renovate: Pros and Cons of Updating Your Rental PropertyWhether you’re a real estate investor or you just have a property you rent out to others, at some point, you&rsquo

The concept of rent-to-own is familiar to many people, as this financial arrangement became quite popular after the 2008 market crash.If you’re interested in becoming a homeowner but you lack

If you’re handy around the house, the thought of tackling a variety of home improvement projects with your own two hands might have crossed your mind a time or two.But before you dig into a

Are you are thinking about selling?Step #1 - Reach out to one of our agents for a Comparative Market Analysis.Step #2 - Prepare Your Home- We have a free video to help you prapare your home for the

How to Save for Your RetirementHaving a student loan payment each month as a college graduate leaves little room in the budget to contribute to a retirement savings account.College grads without

Over the weekend yahoo!finance offered an interview that gave St. Cloud real estate optimists some of the most positive opinions they’ve heard in a while. The source was an onscreen interview

 Last week was a slow one for U.S. real estate developments—no surprise toward the end of August. Still, all was not quiet: Zombies were back in the news. Although there were no local

 If you follow the Wall Street Journal’s “Luxury Home” features you are familiar with the properties in U.S. metropolises that sell for more than $100 million. Although the

 An article in last Wednesday’s U.S. News headlined a thought-provoking question: is an ARM a Good Idea in 2023? Now that mortgage rates are significantly higher than they were even only

 It’s no secret that throughout most of the country, the continuing shortfall of homes for sale—the U.S. inventory—has continued to strengthen real estate values in 2023. With

 If your idea of a gripping beachside summer read includes plots that revolve around real estate statistics, last week brought you a candidate. Was it the kind of megahit that would get you

“If you’re thinking about buying or selling a house right now, you’re not alone.”That was the opening declaration in last Tuesday’s essay from the New York Times best

 “Do as I say, not as I do!” is the famous line sometimes imputed to parents, but always meant to indicate that the speaker either a) is honest (and willing to admit making plenty

 “If  mortgage rates weren’t enough,” began last week’s CNBC.com commentary, “it was even harder to qualify for a mortgage in July…” That dour

 For past generations, the magic summoned up by the phrase “Million-Dollar!” would be hard to exaggerate—so the idea of St. Cloud million-dollar homes would have represented

 They are commonly called “presale” inspections, but a more precise name would substitute “pre-listing.” Ordering St. Cloud pre-listing inspections represent solid

 Owners of St. Cloud properties with guesthouses may have investigated enrolling in Airbnb but might have worried that merely signing up would fail to bring vacationers flocking to their door.

As soon as St. Cloud homeowners query the web for anything that has to do with home improvements, they quickly learn that the home improvement industry is quick to notice. They’ll do their

 One major way to enhance the curb appeal of any St. Cloud house is to freshen it with a new coat of paint in an attractive color scheme that adds life and beauty. However, when the weather

 There’s no doubt that high mortgage rates are discouraging St. Cloud home buyers—which made last Monday’s Wall Street Journal piece about a “more popular option”

 We may not think about it often, but as the median age of the country’s population creeps steadily higher, it has many effects on the daily lives of all of us—regardless of age. It

 St. Cloud homeowners have ample reason to expect to attract bids that reflect the recent run-up in U.S. real estate prices, but that alone shouldn’t lull them into complacency as they

 Last Thursday, under the headline “The Housing Recession is Over…,” St. Cloud real estate observers found a MarketWatch report laden with positive indicators. All of them

If you have ever tuned into “Today’s Homeowner,” you’ll be familiar with Danny Lipford, the friendly, drawling host of one of TV’s longest-running home improvement.

 For St. Cloud parents who have yet to experience the wonders of Disneyland or Disney World, despite the expense and the line waits, there’s a good chance you will come to agree with the

 If there’s one question about St. Cloud residential real estate that is posed more often than others it’s the one that’s hardest to answer: “What do you think? Are

The stairs in your house can be a safety hazard, especially if you have a young child, an elderly relative, or a family member with limited mobility. Basement stairs can be particularly dangerous

Your property’s appearance makes an immediate impression on guests and potential buyers. It also influences the way that you feel about your home and yourself. If your house’s exterior

During the school year, your family probably follows a familiar routine. When school is over and your kids are home all day, your normal routine can go out the window. While it’s fine to give

At least at the beginning, St. Cloud real estate doesn’t automatically find its way into many retirement plans because hands-on investments aren’t among the simplest ways to invest. For

The exclusive story topping Thursday’s Weekly Real Estate News really shouldn’t have come as much of a surprise to St. Cloud listing watchers who have kept up with 2023’s real

It’s always a good idea for local homeowners who are in the planning stages for some serious property updating to check into some of the new St. Cloud home design trends that have recently

 Late last week, NAR’s VP of Demographics and Behavioral Insights Jessica Lautz weighed in with her view of the importance (and lack thereof) of mortgage rate fluctuations. The title of

 At first blush, one of those time-wasting web emails that get shared by the millions seems to be entirely time-wasting. But upon somber reflection, the email about The World’s Ugliest

 Among life’s problems most people wish they could have is a challenge faced by sellers of St. Cloud’s luxury properties: the task of developing an asking price that attracts the

 The good feeling you might have gotten after reading the lead story in last Thursday’s yahoo!finance was a lot like hearing welcome news at the doctor’s. If he tells you you&rsquo

 It seems as if it’s taking more resolve and skill than ever just to go about the tasks of daily living without getting financial institutions involved one way or another. Among other

 It does seem that around this time of year St. Cloud’s weather gets a proportionately larger share of attention from the news media. This would stand to reason when it breaks records or

 If you’ve been checking into the St. Cloud listings from time to time, you might be puzzled by the number of experts who refer to a ‘housing market downturn’ or ‘real

 Last week’s Weekly Real Estate News brought new insight into a trend that has been developing for some time. As patterns of domestic migration become more apparent, it looks as if age

 This year’s calendar dictates that St. Cloud’s Father’s Day arrives a bit earlier than usual (the third Sunday in June hits this week). That makes the contrast with Mother

 CNN’s Business web pages published an analysis that would interest the St. Cloud real estate watchers who track the national press’s interpretation of the latest housing activity

 As U.S. middle-income households find it harder to find or afford suitable properties, denizens of the ultra-high-end of the income scale are, as usual, facing different issues. From the West

The web has long since upended the public library as the principal dispensary of the latest research on publicly accessible information—so much so that the libraries themselves rate their

For many St. Cloud residents, the choice of their next St. Cloud home is between existing homes and new ones. For those whose initial house-hunting forays produce little more than sticker shock,

St. Cloud’s Memorial Day capped a weekend that had all the expected Mem Day activities—including the feeling that summer is close at hand. Actual summer may not arrive in St. Cloud until

Last week, reporters for Long Island’s Newsday reported an Oyster Bay real estate item that attracted national attention due to its sellers’ identity. Singer/songwriting legend Billy

The advantage that is tapped into when an owner decides to engage the services of a professional St. Cloud staging firm has been demonstrated time and again, so you’d think that most sellers

  Even for homeowners who moved into a new St. Cloud house as recently as a few years ago, the pace of technological advance is such that it’s easy to lose track of many fledgling

St. Cloud real estate observers got a welcome end-of-the-week boost from Friday afternoon’s USA Today housing market report. Although its headline included a question mark (“Housing

With St. Cloud housing activity up and down, one impactful facet remains: there still aren’t enough properties to choose from. To many, this fact is a downer: a drag on home sales totals, an

At last week came the long-awaited official pronouncement of the end of the Covid-19 pandemic. In addition to interfering with almost every aspect of U.S. economic activity, it had played havoc with

In today’s age of controversy and challenge, it’s a relief to be able to report that the institution of St. Cloud’s Mother’s Day remains for the most part above the fray.

One clear obstacle to selling your St. Cloud home has been the recent history of growing mortgage interest rates. Back when rates were touching historic lows, even St. Cloud homeowners who’d

Buying a home in St. Cloud is the longstanding goal for a good number of determined future homeowners—but for many who have delayed making a commitment to dive into the homebuying process, the

Getting a bead on how this spring’s housing market is faring can be less than reliable if the conclusion is based on national summaries. Last week offered a good example.Take USA Today’s

The sudden introduction of “chatbots” and the data-based Artificial Intelligence they now offer the world has many unexplored applications, including residential real estate. One could

Although May Day springtime festivals aren’t nearly as prominent as they once were, for many St. Cloud residents, the first day of May is still a sentimental marker for the time of year when

The American Dream may have been pronounced all but extinct from some quarters of late, but at least one piece of information makes its impending demise questionable. It’s an unchallenged fact

No matter how many (or few) properties are viewable on the St. Cloud listings at any time, homeowners are well advised to make sure that their property stands out from the crowd. One sure way to

If you're among the many who have puzzled over when it’s the ‘right time’ to buy a home in St. Cloud, you’ve probably found the answer to be elusive and volatile. Monday;

Every once in a while it’s useful for the adults who bear responsibility for such matters to renew their sense of how the current housing market has been faring. After all, when the average

As the week came to a close last Friday, the duly-respected public pollsters at Rasmussen Reports issued their most recent homeowner sentiment sampling—one that confirmed what many St. Cloud

Homes in St. Cloud are more than just places to hang your hat—for most of us, they are also cornerstone investments. As such, they deserve the level of attention that goes with safeguarding

The internet’s influence on every facet of daily life is so pronounced that it’s hard to even imagine what would happen if it were to suddenly disappear—making it all the more

Given the warmer weather, longer days, and blossoming flowers, it’s easy to see why this time of year brings out earnest buyers, including those serious about buying a home in St. Cloud.

In even the best of markets, selling a home in St. Cloud can be a complicated process (“why are there so many inspections?!”)—but this is especially true in a changing market. 

For both existing and new homes, last week revealed some preliminary indications that an uptick in activity was underway. The hints worth musing over arrived in the National Association of Realtors

At the beginning of last week, a threatening pall covered a considerable portion of media financial coverage, with round-the-clock reporting resembling a horserace between Possible Disaster #1 (a

As the daylight hours grow longer and the weather warms up, whether you’re selling or staying put, homeowners in St. Cloud should start thinking about spring preventative maintenance. Regular

Today’s youthful adults can be expected to be fully occupied with meeting the demands of today’s challenging economic environment. Much has been written about the difficulty first-time

Monday marks the vernal equinox—the astronomical marker that denotes when the Earth’s axis is tilted neither toward nor away from the Sun. More relevant for area real estate matters, it

Unsettling developments in the banking industry had been front-and-center in the national press for all of last week, so the headline in Realtor News was definitely effective clickbait. For any St.

The demise of the precious hour of sleep at 2 AM on Sunday may seem like a wrenching loss, but there is at least one group for whom it provided a slight (very slight) benefit. That is, in addition

Most people know the answer to a question like, “Will home sales suffer if mortgage rates go up?” The answer is, “DUH! Of course—it’s sure to cut down on sales.”

Here’s a new real estate riddle:In any St. Cloud house sale, what is the least expensive element that can also be the costliest? There are many possible answers to the first part of the

With mortgage rates on the rise, there’s no getting around it: St. Cloud housing demand is certainly on the decline…or so is widely assumed. The term “housing demand” doesn

When those who deal in area real estate study St. Cloud home design trends, they usually point to the ebb and flow of interior décor choices—like the recent ascension of mixed textural

When a real estate novice makes an initial foray into the world of buying their first St. Cloud house, the first task is pinpointing how much they can afford. First-time buyers are especially prone

 If the owners of St. Cloud luxury homes have enjoyed watching their property’s value growth of late, they have nothing on what Forbes Global Properties reports for the luxury segment of

When a reliable real estate monitor like HousingWire.com proclaims a turn toward “more normal market conditions,” you’d think that simplifies the task of determining rational

This month, Money magazine offered advice for house hunters eager to get a jump on “the most active homebuying season of the year.” The busy season may still be weeks away, but it&rsquo

Ask just about any St. Cloud kid if they’d like to have a swimming pool in the backyard and you know what the answer will be. St. Cloud swimming pools are neighborhood plusses when the weather

Much of the media spent last week exploring the topic of Artificial Intelligence—with mixed opinions about whether it will turn out to be a boon or a curse to Mankind. Much of the discussion

The St. Cloud real estate lexicon rarely expands to include new terms—but as in so many other areas, exceptions were made during the COVID-19 pandemic. One of them was the recognition of ;

Even though the St. Cloud housing market doesn’t precisely echo wider national moves, a connection between the two is only natural. There’s a psychological tendency to respect what

St. Cloud weather doesn’t always behave as we’d like, so it’s one of those enduring givens that inclement conditions are possible when you are getting ready for an open house or

At the tail end of the workweek, CNBC added its voice to the pack of observers who have decided that residential real estate is now less likely to suffer a sustained downdraft. Shortly after noon on

Remember glass bricks? You seldom see them in newly constructed St. Cloud residential settings, but in past eras, their unique properties made them popular with architects and interior designers.

When the Forbes’ Advisor site posts a question in its top editorial slot, most St. Cloud readers assume it will wind up being rhetorical. If an answer follows, it’s likely to be couched

A short article got Marketwatch.com’s month’s commentaries off to a fast start on February 1. It centered on a pair of numbers, and “What 2 Mortgage Numbers Say About Home Buying

Homeowners who plan to put their properties up for sale this year are discounting much of the pessimism that has percolated through the nation’s press in past months—possibly because

Over the weekend, St. Cloud weather forecasters who liven up their reports with gripping developments from around the nation warned of an imminent deep freeze headed into the Northeast, which had

This month’s article from the Home Buying Institute, “How to Make Housing Hunting Less Stressful” begins with, “Let’s face it. The house hunting process can be a

In addition to the mostly glum news about the likelihood of a downturn in the nation’s economy, you’ve probably also heard a blanket pronouncement for residential real estate that&rsquo

Another week has gone by with more than a few dour pronouncements about “the real estate market” as a whole—so future St. Cloud buyers and sellers were offered a pleasant break

It may sound like “fizz,” but the experience for most St. Cloud FSBO (pronounced “FIZZ-bow”) home sellers is seldom a champagne kind of experience. The idea may be to sell

 Last week’s yahoo!news.com provided some market reporting that could signal a warming reception for those in the hunt for St. Cloud homes for sale. Writer Gabriella Cruz-Martinez

It’s a living arrangement that’s familiar to many in St. Cloud who attended a boarding school or college away from their hometown—who left the comfortable family nest to&

Monitoring the progress of St. Cloud property values is serious business, but in any given week it seldom inspires eye-catching feature writing. Last week was a quiet one in that regard, so searches

It’s a situation faced by many St. Cloud homeowners on the cusp of getting ready to sell. You’ve developed cooking skills customized for your run-of-the-mill kitchen for years, managing

Among the most Googled question as the new year begins are variations on “Will the housing market crash?” It’s a sensible query, but only for anyone who believes that Google can

Last Wednesday, Fortune.com introduced Mia Taylor’s 1,850-word discussion of a question that many of today’s homebuyers may be pondering: “When is an adjustable-rate mortgage a

“BiggerPockets” is an often-entertaining podcast whose commentators’ unpretentious approach makes for easy listening. When they do occasionally venture into the uncertain realm of

Last Saturday, while media attention was largely fixed on preparations for a pleasantly warm-weather New Year’s eve in Times Square and predictions about the year to come, it was also the

More than a few St. Cloud residents see the first days of January as annual invitations to invent (in the lexicon of self-help gurus) “a new you.” A concerted effort to follow through on

St. Cloud H.O.A.s (Homeowner Associations) have plenty to recommend them. One of their purposes is to protect members’ property values by enforcing minimum standards. St. Cloud HOAs are

Some effective listing descriptions almost write themselves. This can happen when the property itself is unique in ways that elicit uniform reactions from visitors. “It’s so much bigger

Here’s hoping that your 2023 St. Cloud New Year brings health, happiness, and prosperity your way—as well as renewed confidence that fewer headlines will have us doing double-takes.

When people think about selling their house, their first mental image of the likely buyer is someone like themselves—a person or family who often calls on a mortgage lender to help with the

It’s hard not to sympathize with the plight of journalists—particularly copywriters who struggle daily with unremitting deadlines, shrinking staff sizes, advertising cutbacks, etc. Last

Once its asking price indicates a listing qualifies as one of St. Cloud’s luxury properties, the market profile changes considerably—especially in today’s environment. Since the

Of all the changes that technology has brought to how St. Cloud real estate transactions are conducted, one of the advances that many thought would literally transform almost everything arrived with

December marks the start of the real estate prediction season—and last week, Forbes published an early entry. Forbes is the century-old business magazine that tracks investment and financial

Creating the language that makes St. Cloud listings sparkle is a skill that advances over time, but for even the most practiced, it’s at its best when it achieves a judicious mix of creativity

Buying the right St. Cloud house—one that not only appeals to our innate preferences but that will serve to satisfy all the practical living requirements that the future holds—is a

The national press has fallen into the habit of treating almost every piece of news dealing with U.S. real estate as an all-too-predictable blow to the economy. Last week provided a welcome break in

When you are in the early stages of readying your home for sale, it feels good to dig in to address a few preliminary items. You might feel an early sense of accomplishment by changing some window

 “Bargain” is a word that can get your attention­—particularly right after you’ve just paid off a round of the latest utility bills. But it’s useful to

One St. Cloud Thanksgiving is the appropriate number of turkey days. Two Thanksgivings would not only result in needless overexposure to your most irritating relative—it would also be a

The folks in the northern states (and even down into Kentucky) who have sugar maple trees on their properties have the old-fashioned option of supplementing their incomes by tapping into the sap.

Around this time every year, crazy weather conditions wreak havoc on various parts of the North American continent. St. Cloud neighborhoods don’t have to be threatened directly to have local

Few things are more frustrating than the plight of a would-be St. Cloud home buyer who can easily afford to buy a listed St. Cloud home—but not right this minute. The delay might be due to a

For St. Cloud readers who happened across this month’s curbed.com, the news revealed by its top headline would certainly have kept them reading. “We’re Getting Closer to a Martian

November began with a noteworthy barrage of news and opinion on the real estate front. First out of the gate on November 1 came yahoo!finance’s Dani Romero with a singular take on “Why

"If not in stock and bond markets, where are affluent consumers currently parking their wealth?" was a question addressed last Tuesday in the pages of fastcompany.com. The folks at Fast Company

With last Sunday’s termination of St. Cloud’s annual Daylight Saving Time displacement came USAToday’s broadside against the whole DST campaign: “Is daylight saving time

“Why are house prices so high?” was the question posed in last month’s KSL.com headline; “Blame remote work, not ‘speculative bubble,’ Fed study says.” That

It’s comforting to note that experienced St. Cloud real estate agents aren’t terribly surprised at what for less seasoned pros might be dismaying headlines. They may be off-putting, but

Last week provided a hodgepodge of national real estate news and conjecture, but if local readers had hoped it would provide a clean-cut picture of what to expect from the St. Cloud real estate in

First-time homebuyers who have put their searches on hold are undoubtedly pleased to hear that increasing numbers of U.S. homes are going up for sale—an encouraging sign that could bring some

The public relations folks at PRNewswire recently summarized the collected wisdom of a panel of housing experts in a recent press release that made for interesting reading—especially for today

As we wade into the fall, area homeowners who are putting their properties on the market will be able to cash in on what is known as the “Autumn Advantage”—one of the principal

The past week brought a broad range of properties debuting on the luxury home market. For local owners of St. Cloud luxury homes, two examples demonstrate that sellers are confident that buyers are

Veteran St. Cloud homebuyers won’t need to spend much time reading the following—they’re already familiar with the stack of documents that accompany a closing. At closing, they had

Passenger's 'Let Her Go" is a song that only caught on years after it was first recorded— ultimately becoming a #1 hit in 22 nations. St. Cloud FM and satellite stations are still playing it:

Local homeowners who had developed an agreeable habit of checking online for their home’s latest St. Cloud home equity estimates are doing so less often lately. For years, as St. Cloud home

The St. Cloud real estate listings are updated around the clock, providing everybody entrée into the St. Cloud properties currently on the market or under contract. That makes the St. Cloud

It's a stubborn fact that St. Cloud open houses (and even agent-chaperoned showings) are somewhat at the mercy of the elements. When the weather turns nasty, it's hard for prospective buyers to

What a difference a year makes—at least where St. Cloud home loans are concerned. For what seems like forever, the recommendations of experts, man-in-the-street consensus, and plain old common

If more St. Cloud homeowners think of Labor Day as signifying the end of summer than as the beginning of fall, that could be due to the tyranny of school calendars. Even after the last school-age

St. Cloud home security issues—and family safety as a whole—are always high priorities named by future homeowners. A recent Mortgage Professionals Association survey found safety and

Although you’d think that when a celebrated Yale economics professor is queried about home prices, he’d trot over to the whiteboard and start scribbling equations. If the prof in

Traditionally, the asking prices that headed St. Cloud listings represented the seller’s idea of theirproperty’s reasonable value—an acceptable amount that a buyer would )

St. Cloud utility bills are headed upward—with nobody expecting them to head in any otherdirection. Last week, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that their Energy Index increased 32.9%

As the week ended, anyone who switched on a TV or radio or checked in on one of the financialwebsites was greeted with a term that hadn’t been seen before: “housing recession.”.

As a rule, those who have St. Cloud homes for sale generally welcome real estate headlines thatinclude words like “soars” and “surge.” On the other hand, words like &ldquo

Every once in a while, it’s interesting to check in on the progress of St. Cloud’s real estatedoppelganger, the real estate metaverse, to see if it is becoming more popular (hence,).

By the end of last week, St. Cloud real estate observers were finding confirmation from across thenation of what the NAR’s chief economist had just told Forbes. July data reflected buyers who

As economic conditions force many prospective home buyers to remain renters, it’s “welcomenews for owners of single-family rental homes,” according to the Wall Street Journal.

It's been a while since we've read headlines like CNBC's "Home sellers are lowering their pricesat the fastest clip since 2019." Seller's market conditions have made "bidding wars" a more&

For anyone who owns (or plans to own) St. Cloud real estate, last week's Federal Reserve interestrate hike came as no surprise. Even the unusual size of the raise was expected. At 75 basis points

If you’ve never heard anything about houses made of mushrooms, it’s understandable if your firstmental image is of something like a cute, top-hatted cartoon elf posing proudly in front

For everyone responsible for handling their St. Cloud household expenses, the steady barrage ofinflation examples is changing long-standing buying patterns. Their own latest experiences at the

For St. Cloud home sellers and buyers puzzling over whether now is the right time to enter the localmarket, last week’s helping of national residential real estate news was difficult to

For generations of Americans, owning their own family home has been the single most defining element of The American Dream. For obvious commercial reasons, the National Association of Realtors®

 Throughout the sustained run-up in home prices, there’s been sporadic speculation that a reversal must be imminent—possibly driven by a natural urge to assume that too much good

House hunters who hope to land St. Cloud ‘move-in ready’ homes are usually those with limited Do-It-Yourself experience—or who would rather not take on the time and expense of

This month has brought news of buyers backing out of pending sales contracts at a record rate—which could also have many would-be buyers asking themselves if buying in St. Cloud right now is

Mortgage rates in St. Cloud may feel sky high at the moment, but historically speaking, they’re not actually all that high. Anyone whose memory stretches back to the notorious 18%

One of the top questions I hear from prospective clients concerns timing: “When is the best time of year to sell my house?” While there are homes for sale in St. Cloud year ‘round,

 Last week it was hard for St. Cloud Real Estate Section readers who subscribe to The New York Times not to at least crack a smile. That august periodical’s captains abandoned their

For scads of St. Cloud residents, 2022 will mark the first true summer vacation season in a long time. The U.S. Travel Association tells us that domestic leisure travel spending has already

It may have seemed as if the springtime rise in the rates St. Cloud home loan originators were quoting was overdue for a pause, and that's what local applicants found last week. The rate dips weren

When the experts make a point of advising that you remove the family photos as part of preparing your house for sale, they don’t mean to criticize your family. Even if Aunt Agatha’s

When selecting light fixtures for your bathroom, you need to be sure that critical areas are well lit. You also have to choose fixtures that complement the rest of the room’s décor and

Local residents who follow St. Cloud’s real estate fortunes can opt to track realtor.com’s observations for one view of what’s coming down the pike. Although the site is licensed

“Rich Dad Poor Dad” was a smash self-help hit book a few years back, selling more than 32 million copies. One of its major premises is that the odds for accelerating wealth creation are

It’s a phrase that would-be home buyers had been hearing ever since seller’s market conditions had begun. But when “Submit your best and final bid” was recently advised by

Gardens can be real value boosters.Although most surveys estimate that landscape improvements are among the most cost-effective improvements homeowners can tackle, it’s a statement that

Residential real estate’s high end—including St. Cloud’s luxury home market—was the subject of a thought-provoking assessment that appeared at week’s end. It was

Summer finally becomes a reality on Tuesday—as opposed to Memorial Day weekend, which eager beavers in the media like to pretend was the kickoff to summer. Realists don’t agree&mdash

For those who keep a close watch on the outlook for St. Cloud real estate, finding the upside amidst last week’s raft of less-than-cheery economic news was a tall order. Let’s face it:

In St. Cloud, Father’s Day is theoretically supposed to be as important as Mother’s Day, but the reality can differ significantly. Even historically, the June celebration has always

Residential St. Cloud real estate doesn’t necessarily move in tandem with its cousin, commercial real estate. When times are good, they may both benefit from the favorable zeitgeist, but they

Last Monday marked the appearance of one of those research findings that headline writers love to exploit. They know that, like most readers, St. Cloud homeowners skim through the real estate

A break-in can happen anywhere, even in a neighborhood that seems safe. If your home’s current locks are damaged or worn from years of use, a member of your family lost a key and you’re

Advice on the subject of home maintenance was recently the topic of a Realtor.com® checklist. Aimed at soon-to-be sellers, the six items were all noteworthy: washing the windows, servicing the

“You May Want to Invest in Real Estate While You Still Can” was Yahoo!finance’s doubletake-inducing lead article last Friday—although would-be St. Cloud real estate investors

Earlier this month, Utah’s Deseret News did a stellar job of capturing the seemingly contradictory jumble of signals emanating from the nation’s housing market. At first, K. McKellar

CNBC.com’s producers know how to get your attention—it’s ‘what they do.’ Last week, they found an angle certain to snag readers for an otherwise ho-hum technical

Realtor® Magazine says that history shows that this is the week when “Homeowners looking for the greatest price premiums may find the best opportunities.” That would certainly be

Last week’s Friday the 13th passed without any notably unlucky local happenings. In fact, where St. Cloud real estate was concerned, it produced a couple of auspicious reports:· 

The direction of St. Cloud home loan interest rates has been spurring concern among this spring’s house hunters. Last week the trend continued as U.S. rates spawned headlines dotted with

In today’s jargon, any inventive shortcut for coping with modern life is being called a “hack”—and it needn’t have anything to do with computers. There are now ironing

St. Cloud garages serve many purposes beyond simply housing automobiles—in fact, it’s safe to guess that few exist that don’t also serve as the irreplaceable storage areas for a

For homeowners preparing to add their own properties to the St. Cloud listings, data from the most recent U.S. activity was heartening—although it might not have seemed so given the way it was

The cable channels have been streaming a lot of time travel movies lately—particularly some great ones about romances that span centuries. But there’s little romance if a home-buying

It’s no wonder that many area homeowners think of their St. Cloud home’s recent equity gains as out-of-the-blue windfalls—but not totally “real.” They have a point:

Second only to Forbes.com, MarketWatch is the most often-visited financial and business news site—pulling in more than 38 million unique readers a year. That beats out more prominent names

Nearly everyone in St. Cloud used to welcome the fourth Thursday in April as “Take Your Daughter to Work Day.” Since its inception in 1993, it’s an observance that was

Marketers who study such things promote the idea of an "8-second test." At least that was what was being written about in 2015 when studies were said to have demonstrated that "buyers make their

The tax benefits that St. Cloud homeowners experience come into sharp focus on days like Monday. The nominal Tax Day—April 15—fell on Friday of last week, so St. Cloud taxpayers who had

Kudos to the editors at Forbes for this month’s thoughtful offering—a checklist that can clarify the advisability of buying St. Cloud homes “in this hot real estate market.”

 It’s a tempting scenario: having accumulated a considerable amount of cash, you find your St. Cloud dream house, agree that the asking price is within reason—and prepare to sit

 St. Cloud Adjustable-Rate Mortgages are one way for homebuyers to structure their purchase with lower monthly payments—at least at the beginning. St. Cloud five- or ten-year ARMs allow

Our St. Cloud real estate market’s surges of activity are next to impossible to forecast with any degree of precision. Since intervening events can negate even the most well-grounded

The remodeling industry has been battling supply chain disruptions for more than a year now—yet if last week’s release of the National Association of the Remodeling Industry’s 2022

No one needs to remind St. Cloud homeowners of the impact inflation is having. Anyone who shops for groceries is fully aware of its effect, as are many grumbling gas station patrons. You would

For the local homeowners with St. Cloud homes for sale, last week’s real estate news was filled with encouraging details. Headlines like “Home-Price Growth Accelerated in January”

When it comes to your own St. Cloud real estate holdings, so long as a sense of proportion is retained, keeping up with fashion writers’ latest opinions is usually a harmless pursuit. So it

When you see a “For Sale By Owner” sign, it tends to communicate an emphasis on the owner rather than the home behind it. That’s probably not what the seller would hope for, but it

As a practical matter, being able to identify with pinpoint accuracy the single week that market conditions suggest will be the optimal time to list your St. Cloud home isn’t really possible.

This spring, the marketplace for first-time homebuyers is similar to last year’s, only (as the saying goes) ‘more so.’ Earlier in the month, CNBC broadcast a number of statistics

 House-hunters preparing for the upcoming busy season have gotten used to a steady stream of U.S. real estate coverage bound to foster at least some apprehension—especially about the

Making the decision to adopt a dog is an exciting moment for you and your family, but it’s also a big responsibility. That’s why getting the entire family involved and planning ahead is

 The reasons commentators dispense so much advice to first-time homebuyers are clear: the process of finding and buying a house means making a huge financial commitment in an industry rife with

 If ever there were a time to organize your St. Cloud spring cleaning, Sunday was it. The March equinox happened at about a half-hour before noon EST: the official start for St. Cloud’s

 Given all the publicity given to supply chain disruptions, energy prices going bonkers, interest rates heading either slightly or not-so-slightly uphill, etc.—with all this going on;

 Some people don't immediately see the strong link between St. Patrick's Day and St. Cloud Realtors®—but that's probably because they haven't given it enough thought. In fact, whether

Homeowners who choose to live where the climate is mild have always been able to enjoy more of the year outdoors. As a result, you’d think the value they place on their property’s yard

 By bedtime on Saturday night, everyone in St. Cloud will have been amply warned to set their clocks ahead an hour. That’s a good idea because, if we don’t get ahead of the game,

It’s common for homeowners planning a renovation project to have a long wish list. You may love the look of a friend’s home or may want to recreate a room that you saw in a magazine or

 For both sellers and the house-hunters they wish to attract, St. Cloud mortgage interest rates have played a key role in enabling attractive real estate propositions. It is, however, an

A trampoline can be fun for kids, but it can also be dangerous. If you’re thinking about getting a trampoline, check with your insurance company first to find out if it would be covered and if

When you drive past a house that has one of those “sale pending” or “under contract” signs out front, you may have wondered how often a sale goes awry—and why. A great

How to find and buy your first home is one subject that high schools decline to teach. An online canvass of theories why this is so yields two main lines of thought. The first is that it is one

The rationale behind U.S. housing’s rising prices has been nothing if not consistent. The tale has been all about the supply/demand imbalance—a textbook example that makes perfect sense

“Stress” and “stress avoidance” are pop psychology topics that have gotten a lot of attention lately, much of it deserved. If you ask anyone about how “moving day;

Last week, the national real estate news was not likely to provide much guidance for local buyers or sellers. The “story” was simply too convoluted. On Friday, the “LATEST NEWS

Real estate experts agree that home staging can push your listing to the top of a buyer’s mind. Many buyers have difficulty envisioning the layout options of a space without existing.

We all know that greenery can do wonders for a space. From creating a fresh and calming atmosphere to purifying the air, a few lush plants can be the perfect final touch for any space and any decor

The title of the online video tour that posted earlier this month is “Touring the MOST EXPENSIVE HOUSE in the United States.” The house in question has been profiled before, but not like

It doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue: this new real estate “first” reported on by the Wall Street Journal last Tuesday. It was the kind of ‘break-through’ that

"Budget better, shop smarter!" might be unassailable advice for shoppers of all stripes, but at the outset of 2022, St. Cloud house-hunting readers of USA Today's Real Estate pages could have used a

For the local residents who succeeded in finalizing their St. Cloud home loan or refi back in January 2021, the figures verify that they now hold the title of Mortgage Frugality Champs. Their

We all know that greenery can do wonders for a space. From creating a fresh and calming atmosphere to purifying the air, a few lush plants can be the perfect final touch for any space and any decor

Last Friday, it seemed as if key elements of the mainstream media had been overcome by a strange siege of optimism. It was as if they had all been seized by bands of self-serving Realtors®. One

As real estate’s peak selling season nears, one element that characterizes the strength of the U.S. housing market is the one that CNN Business highlighted last Thursday. For a growing number

It didn’t take long for home decor industry pundits to sift through recent house sales data to announce evidence of the latest trend shifts. Relying on the insights from a nationwide cross

When you purchase a home, one of the first tasks you need to take on is finding the right homeowner’s insurance. Though this can be an overwhelming and time consuming experience, it is

If you are at a juncture in life and career that has you beginning to think in earnest about eventually buying a home, it’s natural to begin checking out the St. Cloud listings from time to

St. Cloud parents who raise their children the right way make a point of discouraging cheating. They view fair play as more than just an ethical or moral concern. It’s also a civilizing

The speculation about the direction St. Cloud home loan interest rates will soon be taking finally pretty much disappeared last week, given the Fed’s declaration about their intentions. Would

It's been like a slow-burning fuse, but last week it seemed to surface in headline bursts all over the place: a large portion of the American public has just about had it with Covid-19. Those

Usually, paranoia is a mental disorder—a subject more suitable for psychiatrists than for Realtors®. But that depends on its being entirely divorced from reality. When the subject is your

If your kitchen is looking outdated or unattractive, you may think that you have to remodel it. That’s a project that can easily cost tens of thousands of dollars. Some simple and relatively

As CNBC.com put it earlier this month, the acknowledged wisdom remains: “real estate is known as a hedge against inflation.” That word “hedge”—at least as it applies to

When you’re planning to put your home on the market, you have to look at it through the eyes of potential buyers. Things that don’t bother you, or things that used to bother you, but you

Whenever another celebrity appears on St. Cloud TV screens to offer their two cents' worth about the value of reverse mortgages, young people can be forgiven if they tune out the message. After all,

We are fast approaching the onset of U.S. real estate’s peak activity—the traditional “busy season.” One tipoff that St. Cloud’s busy season is a genuine phenomenon can

As of today, the homes that appear in the St. Cloud listings all depict real places. Would-be buyers can be certain that they will be able to visit, walk around inside, and (if purchased) live in

Coming from CNBC, it looked to be worth reading: the promise of getting an unqualified, definitive answer to "Which is more affordable— owning or renting?" Getting a straight answer seemed

Predictions by real estate experts make interesting reading, but reality on the ground here in St. Cloud dictates that even the most expert experts lack a key ingredient that would make their

St. Cloud real estate activity may not echo U.S. results month-by-month, but since national media reports impact how individual St. Cloud buyers and sellers gauge their own prospects, they are worth

As 2021 drew to a close, St. Cloud real estate observers sensed a growing expectation in the media that a number of factors were increasingly likely to restrain St. Cloud homebuying activity. Across

St. Cloud homeowners will not be surprised to hear that the U.S. rate of inflation will impact some of their 2022 income tax calculations—the basic income tax tables among them. The Labor

When it comes to what an individual homeowner can expect when they add their own property to the St. Cloud listings, the most reliable predictive clues come from the comps: how the local market has

Leave it to the news media to uncover the latest threat to St. Cloud house-hunters’ peace of mind. Last week, the guilty party was the Associated Press, whose contribution seemed timed to

When local homeowners put up their St. Cloud homes for sale in 2021, they did so buoyed by a national market Google characterized as “exploding like fireworks.” Buyers who might

For the St. Cloud homeowners who were treated to a share in the past year’s record rise in the book value of their St. Cloud homes’ equity, it was at least one saving grace in a year

You can never be too young to learn the true value of saving. For children, however, the concept of money is much different than reality. But that doesn’t mean you can’t teach them how

Last week, St. Cloud residents couldn’t escape the new word, “Omicron”—the latest permutation of the COVID-19 virus. The Greek alphabet doesn’t usually work its way

 The New York Times recently published an article under a headline that sounded like a do-it-yourselfers’ instruction manual. But instead of a hobbyist’s step-by-step for making

 It's not even a joke—more like a wry observation. It’s heard after someone complains about how a turn of good fortune has created an onslaught of new worries. The retort is

 For the trend-spotters whose job it is to keep on top of the U.S. real estate market, it’s been a rough couple of years. The big miss for most came with the pandemic, which threw all the

 One puzzle for homeowners deciding whether now is the time to put their St. Cloud homes up for sale is whether rising mortgage rates will measurably slow the response. It’s far from

   It’s a life-altering milestone if ever there was one: the decision to move away from the family home. There have always been a variety of reasons why retirees and near

 All across the country, the run of extremely low mortgage interest rates has provided a welcome counterbalance to the steady rise in real estate prices. Last week, cnet.com reported the U.S.

St. Cloud residents are well-steeped in the origins of the traditional Thanksgiving holiday. The Pilgrims escaped religious persecution, survived the perilous voyage on the Mayflower, met and

 Lately, the “gold bugs” are in full swarm—or whatever you call it when bugs are buzzing around the media, making a racket. Not the insect kind—the other ones: the

 If you are considering selling your own St. Cloud home, one natural question you might be curious about is what specific features are currently boosting selling prices the most? A query to

 Helping to determine an astute asking price for any St. Cloud home is among St. Cloud Realtors’® most valuable services—getting that one right will shape the rest of the entire

 Once your St. Cloud moving date has been determined, tackling the logistics of the upcoming move can cause even the most energetic among us to put off even thinking about getting started. As

With Sunday’s abandonment of St. Cloud’s Daylight Saving Time, the groggy hour that was impounded back in the spring has been returned to its rightful owners: us. A few years ago, a poll

 It’s easy to see why so many first-time homebuyers put off even checking into the listings when buying that first St. Cloud home seems nothing better than a distant future possibility.

 A couple of years back, CPA and author Stacy Johnson published a sort of personal confessional under the attention-getting title, “Should I Sell My House While Prices are High?”

 The question about whether it’s going to be a good idea to list your St. Cloud home in winter has been up for debate forever. The defining research on the subject never quite yields a

If you ask people what they call it when everyone seems to get the same impulse to open the house to get everything freshened up, it’s a fair bet that most of them will say, “spring

If you have ever taken out one of those St. Cloud adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs), you may have come across the term “LIBOR.” It’s short for London Interbank Offered Rate —

The often-quoted first principle of the physicians’ Hippocratic Oath, “first, do no harm,” constitutes a ‘safety first’ message meant to curb over-enthusiastic docs

It’s probably fair to say that when a typical St. Cloud resident hears some of the more strikingly novel details about what urban life will be like in the future, he or she is likely to take

It wasn't too long ago that we revisited the famous list that cites the more than 230 critical actions that Realtors® may be called upon to perform for their clients. That fabled list continues

House-flipping has become a staple in the realm of reality TV entertainment—and why not? One of the deep pleasures of that actual St. Cloud house-flippers experience is the feeling of

Last week, Fortune Magazine’s headline may have seemed overblown, but it did its job of capturing the attention of any St. Cloud readers who happened to come across it:“There’s a

St. Cloud homeowners who've been thinking ahead about the long-term prospects for trimming their energy bills eventually have to come up with some decisions. Given the reams of information about

For readers tuned in to developments affecting St. Cloud real estate, the month began with an Associated Press dispatch announcing federal plans to increase the stock of 2,000,000 “affordable

At this point, nearly everyone is well aware of how intense the local real estate market has been of late. Low inventory, bargain-basement mortgage rates, and a raft of pandemic-spawned changes in

There’s no denying that how people search for real estate has changed over the last 18 months or so—accelerating trends that had already been developing for a while. As you consider

 The news from around the nation gave St. Cloud real estate followers good reason to doubt a tendency in the national media. For most of the month, much of the reportage had seemed to project

 When most people first set out to buy or sell a home in St. Cloud, one way to get started is to seek the best St. Cloud Realtor® to assist from the get-go. That’s not a universal

St. Cloud homeowners who made it through this spring’s ant-breakout period undisturbed may now be experiencing a recurring midsummer irritant: the August ant escalation. Why some colonies

The National Association of Home Builders has been at it for decades: systematically conducting some of the most precise public opinion sampling that describes U.S. attitudes toward home purchases,

Last week could have been misleading for busy St. Cloud real estate investors who were too rushed. If they were pressed for time, skimmed headlines or only the first paragraph or two of reports and

When it comes to identifying the most popular group in our area, topping the list has to be hardware store employees—at least for the St. Cloud homeowners wandering the aisles of a local

The latest national polling of real estate professionals yields a convincing picture of a market that's stubbornly remaining in the sellers' corner. If so, this August's home hunters shouldn't be

As St. Cloud residents strive to resume life and career in anything like their pre-pandemic forms, one phrase that used to appear a lot less frequently keeps popping up: “the new normal.&rdquo

It’s one of those regrettable facts of life that Murphy’s Law and many a St. Cloud Moving Day have a lot in common. In case you’ve forgotten, the Law is stated as, “Anything

A (slightly tongue-in-cheek) Multiple choice quiz: Select the BEST REASON WHY you should be sure to hire an experienced St. Cloud Realtor®:1.      The best reason is

Like most of the rest of the news, midsummer real estate reporting usually draws little attention. It’s what journalists call the ‘silly season,’ when unimportant or just plain

For a large number of prospective homebuyers, the feasibility of the transaction depends on the terms being offered by the home loan originators. Once you delve into the range of possible home loan

For those who are on the fence about whether this summer is the right time to sell your St. Cloud home, last week’s Realtor.com website provided some video guidance. Their video brief noted

The decision to go ahead and list your St. Cloud house is often governed by personal and professional developments, but when the timing isn’t dictated by individual circumstances, the

For many younger local residents, any sense of urgency about buying their first St. Cloud home has probably been shelved for a while now. The pandemic necessitated putting many a long-range plan on

For many St. Cloud residents, “The American Dream” is often loosely thought of as synonymous with homeownership, even though a number of other attributes probably deserve equal

The latest Consumer Price Index registered a 12-month rise of just 5.0%. For many St. Cloud homeowners, that percentage is hard to square with the prices that keep ringing up at local gas stations.

Down through the ages, land ownership has been synonymous with permanence, stability, and substance. Buying a piece of property also carried a measure of “belonging” since owners are

With U.S. home prices at record levels, it’s reasonable to speculate about the future of St. Cloud real estate—particularly whether it’s such a good idea to buy right now. Most

St. Cloud’s Independence Day falls on Sunday this year—but you can be sure that many St. Cloud residents will want to also take advantage of Monday’s federal extension of the

When you read that for the second month in a row, U.S. properties are, on average, being sold in 17 days, St. Cloud readers would assume that the housing market is blazing ahead, full steam.It looks

For a lot of families that are well-positioned to start serious house-hunting this summer, one question may give them pause: are St. Cloud home prices just too high to be reasonable? The answer

 This spring, St. Cloud readers have grown accustomed to hyperbolic descriptions of what’s been going on in the nation’s housing market. In parts of the country, words like &lsquo

If you are a prospective seller or buyer of St. Cloud real estate, last week’s news from Washington seemed to be just what you’d hope for: the Federal Reserve’s announced intention

It’s a saying that doesn’t make much literal sense, but everyone in St. Cloud knows what it means:“The more things change, the more they remain the same.”Literal or not, the

Regardless of folks’ wider views on climate change, there is universal agreement when it comes to one change in St. Cloud’s climate: it’s going to get hotter. It’s one

Friday’s Bloomberg Wealth interview with “The World’s Most Successful Real Estate Investor” shed light on one notable insider’s current thinking—views that should

St. Cloud dog lovers (some think of them as ‘owners’—but, depending on how protective the breed, it’s not entirely clear who owns whom) would likely place St. Cloud high on

300 14th Avenue East, Sartell, MN 56377Approximately 3,000 - 4,200 sq. ft. available for lease consisting of three large rooms and an open floor area. There is also access to a loading dock with a'

Open HouseSaturday10:00-12:00111 Willow Creek DriveWaite Park, MNWelcome home to this beautiful one owner patio home in the desired Willow Creek neighborhood. The home features a spacious 2 bedroom

You can rightly say that St. Cloud home bargains are still out there—but not without an asterisk. For local house-hunters who’ve been warned about a shortage of homes for sale, that

Like all fashion trends, St. Cloud home décor styles come and go—something that can prove troublesome when it comes time to sell your home. Dealing with the master bath’s

St. Cloud real estate wisdom tends to agree with verities from other realms. When you consider the size of real estate transactions in general, it’s logical that it would be hard to keep any

Open House Saturday12:00-1:30720 N Park Place , Saint Cloud, MN 56301Conveniently located close to parks, trails, restaurants, entertainment and shopping in St. Cloud, this custom built beautiful

There are reasons why St. Cloud real estate investments (and real estate investments as a whole) are often considered to be in a class of their own.Bankrate.com, for instance, doesn’t even

Inflation has been on a lot of peoples’ minds lately, including St. Cloud homeowners who have been considering whether now is the time to list their St. Cloud homes. In what has been

Back in March, real estate site apartmenttherapy.com urged homeowners to do some soul-searching before signing up for a new backyard deck. Although their “5 Questions” were said to be

Local homeowners with St. Cloud homes for sale may be tradition-bound when it comes to how they plan on being paid (that is, with money)—but not every homeowner is equally old-fashioned. As

By the end of Friday, St. Cloud real estate watchers who hadn’t been paying close attention might have headed into the weekend thinking that home prices weren’t rising as quickly as

Just Listed!8660 1st Ave NERice, MN$619,900This beautiful custom built home is situated on a wooded lot overlooking a pond in Oak Hill Estates! The first thing you notice when you walk in door is

You can’t fault a young St. Cloud homebuyer for questioning the need to hire a Realtor® to help buy their first house. After all, they don’t need to recruit an automobile-buying

Open HouseSaturday April 23rd11:00-12:30338 Waite Ave SouthWaite Park, MN Well cared for patio home right on the Angushire Golf Course. This home is centrally located with an open living room,

Last week was an authentic record-breaker for the stock market. The Dow, S&P, and Nasdaq all set record highs; the number of new unemployment benefit applicants swooned, and industrial

St. Cloud homeowners who’ve been finishing up cleaning the house may think they are, as the British say, “done and done” with 2021’s spring cleaning chores—but self

Coming Soon!8660 1st Avenue NE, Rice, MN 56367This bautiful custom built home is situated on a wooded lot overlooking a pond in Oak Hill Estates! The first thing you notice when you walk in door is

Last week we learned that The Weeknd just sold his 3-acre Hidden Hills estate to Madonna for $19.3 million. Chart-topping singers do tend to pass mansions back and forth, although their songs seldom

 Today's house hunters have at their command a wealth of information by which to compare the homes currently available on the St. Cloud listings—numbers that enable the kind of apple-to

 The College of Business at Florida Atlantic University has long offered a calculation that seeks to answer a question that’s key to both St. Cloud renters and the real estate investors

 Last week we learned that U.S. housing price increases continued their uninterrupted climb. But at the same time, accounts also included a few rays of sunshine for financially pressed

Sunday11:00-12:00131 Norman Avenue N , Foley, MN 56329Stunning 2-story home built with charm and character. Gorgeous front porch with a gas fireplace welcomes you and your guests. The open and

Saturday11:00-12:30 107 6th Avenue NW , Rice, MN 56367Showing Agent: Stella SchollProviding a superior level of informed, professional real estate services to buyers and sellers throughout

Realtor® Magazine’s editors have frequently described the financial hurdles facing first-time buyers in today’s market. Even so, despite rising home prices and stalled inventories, a

Restaurant For Sale!4921 320th Street, Cushing, MN 56443$800,000Established bar/restaurant on beautiful Lake Alexander.The only restaurant on lake, remodeled bar area in 2019.Total seating of 160.+

If you are preparing to add your own home to the St. Cloud listings, if you’ve been thinking about using the garage as a clutter depository, you might want to review some relevant words that

Don’t rouse the IRS or pay more taxes than necessary — know the score to avoid common tax mistakes.Note: In light of COVID-19 crisis, the IRS has extended the income tax

Personal matters may be most important in deciding when and whether it’s time to sell your St. Cloud home, but at least one real estate industry designation may also factor into that all

Open House Events – Saturday April 3rd, 2021*****************************Open Saturday April 3rd11:00-12:302525 15th Street NorthSt. Cloud, MN55+ community! Here's an opportunity to have a

They never fail to surface once real estate activity shifts into high gear: the St. Cloud home loan scam operators. They seem perpetually ready to pounce on unwary would-be home buyers—notably

Here’s the scoop on what’s tax deductible when buying a house.Note: In light of COVID-19 crisis, the IRS has extended the income tax payment and filing deadline for

Forbes—the publishing company which self-defines its main topics of interest as “finance, industry, investing, and marketing”—must be doing something right. Its original

For those who have never bought or sold a home during St. Cloud real estate’s busy season, coming up with metaphors isn’t easy.Ø  It’s not like end-of-model-year auto

For most tax deductions, you need to keep receipts and documents for at least 3 years.Note: In light of COVID-19 crisis, the IRS has extended the income tax payment and filing deadline;

About the last thing house-hunters need is additional time pressure—but there are reasons why this spring’s future homeowners may imagine they can hear a faint tick tick tick as they

Details can be tricky. Double-check yourself with these tax rules affecting homeowners.Note: In light of COVID-19 crisis, the IRS has extended the income tax payment and filing deadline

Last week, the Wall Street Journal addressed a topic that’s been on the back burner for some time: the likelihood (or not) that the steady rise in housing prices might be a precursor of a

Note: In light of COVID-19 crisis, the IRS has extended the income tax payment and filing deadline for individual and business returns from April 15, 2021, until May 17, 2021. This

1518 Peach Drive NESauk Rapids, MN 56379$229,000Providing a superior level of informed, professional real estate services to buyers and sellers throughout Central Minnesota. We have agents

1518 Peach Drive NESauk Rapids, MN 56379$229,000Providing a superior level of informed, professional real estate services to buyers and sellers throughout Central Minnesota. We have agents

If you are a homeowner who’s planning on selling your St. Cloud house, this year’s spring cleaning efforts can merit some extra attention. For most of us, the past year meant a lot more

1108 Braodway Ave. SouthSauk Rapids, MN               Providing a superior level of informed, professional real estate services to buyers and sellers

Saturday March 20th, 202110:00-12:0034108 Polk Street NECambridge, MNWelcome to your new happy place This tucked away brick rambler sits on over 4.5 wooded acres just a mile outside of town. The

The calendar-printing business won’t admit it, but now that everyone knows how to google “today’s date” (or even just call out any calendar questions in Alexa’s

Lately, most stories dealing with residential real estate have headlined one of two leading subjects: either the scarcity of homes for sale or the recent appreciation in home values. For local,

1620 Prairie View Lane NE Sauk Rapids, MN $399,000This beautiful two-story features 5 bedrooms and 4 baths with the hard-to-find 4 beds plus a loft on the same level. The home has plenty of

The passage of the massive American Rescue Plan Act last week gave those who plot the ebb and flow of St. Cloud housing activity much to ponder. Even without the Act, most observers already expected

229 Davenport CourtSartell, MNSaturday 10:00-12:001.6 acres in Sartell on cul-de-sac with private wooded lot on Davenport Lake. This 4 bed 2 bath home has a walk out patio lower level

Jamestown residents have the week to prepare for Sunday’s sleep-hijacking event—the middle-of-the-night adjustment that’s required to initiate Jamestown’s Daylight Savings

By Anica OaksMaking the choice to purchase a new home is a major decision for anyone. Once you’ve settled on the idea that you do want to buy a home, there are many more options you’ll

Last week’s Economic Report from MarketWatch was pretty close to the editorial equivalent of a helpless shrug. On the newly reopened topic of future inflation—a subject bound to have a

Freddie Mac’s slogan is “We make home possible”—a claim that is literally true for more than a few St. Cloud homeowners. Freddie (the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp.) has

Providing a superior level of informed, professional real estate services to buyers and sellers throughout Central Minnesota. We have agents specializing in residential, commercial, multifamily, new

Your home is in the perfect location, came at the perfect price, with the perfect lot. (Yay southern exposure!)But the home itself? Perfect isn’t the adjective you’d use. But you knew

It’s been a worrisome stretch of time, no doubt about it.One worry that hasn’t troubled St. Cloud homeowners was what could follow a nationwide surge in foreclosures. This is a once

Land for Sale!X County Rd 75St. Cloud, MN 56301$1,199,000Ready when you are. Unlimited potential, currently zoned ag and leased for farming. But so much opportunity, adjacent to housing development,

The rationale behind St. Cloud’s “peak season” for home sales may be open to question, but the fact of its existence has been firmly established for decades. Across the U.S., come

New Listing!213 27th Avenue NorthSt. Cloud, MN 56303$174,900Wonderful rambler in North St. Cloud with new kitchen granite counter-tops, 3 main floor bedrooms, main floor full bath with Jacuzzi,

For quite a while, many St. Cloud listings have favored the phrases "open concept" and "open-plan living"—contemporary phrases evoking spacious-feeling architecture only a true agoraphobic

Providing a superior level of informed, professional real estate services to buyers and sellers throughout Central Minnesota. We have agents specializing in residential, commercial, multifamily, new

Last Thursday, NASA plunked a one-ton, car-sized vehicle down on Mars—complete with a pet drone aboard. On Friday, St. Cloud screens showed the first high-definition pictures of the Martian

1113 Oak Pond DriveSartell, MN 56377$399,900 This stunning 4-bed, 4-bath custom built rambler home is situated on a large lot overlooking a beautiful nature filled pond! Top quality high-end

“For Sale by Owner” (FSBO) enthusiasts certainly hoped that the ascendancy of the Internet would be just what the doctor ordered to catapult their endeavors—and why not? Once St.

1500 20th Avenue SouthSartell, MN 56377$440,000Welcome to Daybreak! This 3 bedroom, 3 bath slab on grade 2 story leaves little to be desired. The main floor boasts in-floor heat along with a large

Most of this year’s St. Cloud homebuyers fall into one of the major categories described in the most recent NAR statistical homebuyer survey. The National Association of Realtors® makes it

One of the most stubborn disparities in American life is the gender gap in the rewards women and men receive in their day-to-day working lives. The pay gap may be partially explained by career

$147,500Been looking for a spot to move your business to? Check this building out, the awning on the front of the building is not that old and has hardly been used. There is potential for another

One of the most reliable bellwethers for real estate prospects has long been the direction of consumer moods—a times are getting better/times are getting worse polarity. In that department,.

New Listing1008 Bridgeport DriveSartell, MN 56377$242,000Spectacular floor plan featuring a fantastic kitchen layout with stainless steal appliances, bay window seat, hardwood floors & raised

As St. Cloud gears up for the traditional peak selling season, the internet is again teeming with facts and figures about selling your home—when is the best time to list, when to close, etc.

7423 Riverbend CourtSauk Rapids, MN 56379Providing a superior level of informed, professional real estate services to buyers and sellers throughout Central Minnesota. We have agents specializing in

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“A home inspection is one of the last hurdles that buyers and sellers have to get through before the sale of the property is complete.”After that definitive declaration, the moving.com

7877 Industrial Road, Culver, MN 55779$1,190,000Operating gravel business with over 8000sf building, heavy equipment with operating fixtures. 3 phase electric, 2 wells, located along Highway 7

Homeowner Associations simply don’t make for spine-tingling backdrops.Again this year, there are no HOA-themed musicals planned for off-Broadway debuts, and nary an HOA-themed mystery series

If last week’s Realtor® Magazine commentary is accurate, the timing for St. Cloud’s peak homebuying season looks as if it is apt to return to traditional seasonal patterns&mdash

Just Sold!320 Dakota Ave S.Montrose, MN 55363Beautiful, updated home featuring a kitchen accented with granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, birch cabinets, and recessed lighting. Newly

Open 11:00- 12:006315 Kenwood RoadSt. Cloud, MN 563030$207,9004 bedroom, 2 bathroom custom built split level home on a .46 acre lot! Home features an open layout, vaulted ceilings and new windows

Providing a superior level of informed, professional real estate services to buyers and sellers throughout Central Minnesota. We have agents specializing in residential, commercial, multifamily, new

It’s a confusing time, but lenders are putting remedies, like forbearance, in place to help homeowners.Mortgage lenders, and the federal agencies that regulate lenders, are putting coronavirus

In a post published last week, a panel examined some common real estate misconceptions. Seven Forbes Real Estate Council members sought to correct misinformation they say they encounter most

Desirable 4 bedroom rambler on a large corner lot. Open floor plan allows for great space to entertain. There is an abundance of storage throughout the home. You choose, relax by the fireplace, or

Most local folks will be reminded that Tuesday is St. Cloud’s Groundhog Day via the media circus surrounding Punxsutawney Phil’s televised prognostication. Few, if any, will question how

Providing a superior level of informed, professional real estate services to buyers and sellers throughout Central Minnesota. We have agents specializing in residential, commercial, multifamily, new

We keep reading about the widespread shortfall in U.S. home listings—usually credited for the steady rise in prices. For the typical St. Cloud homeowner inclined to sell anyway, you’d

4921 320th StreetCushing, MN 56443$800,000Established bar/restaurant on beautiful Lake Alexander.The only restaurant on lake, remodeled bar area in 2019.Total seating of 160. 50+ outdoor patio/tiki

You can bet that just about every one of the St. Cloud homes currently for sale is owned by someone whose wish is for a rapid sale to a buyer who will be delighted that their offer was accepted. For

New Listing!155 2nd Street SWRice, MN$250,000Providing a superior level of informed, professional real estate services to buyers and sellers throughout Central Minnesota. We have agents specializing