It's been 14 years since I entered the real estate business. Fourteen years that have flown by. My first forays into real estate were through the zero down seminars that most REALTORS® scoff at. Prices were low when I started the business. It was a perfect time to be a rehabber. The journey into rehabbing (buying distressed properties and fixing the homes up for resale at a profit) taught me much. It was harder than I thought (Of course the TV guys made it sound VERY easy.) and eventually the sales side captured my interest.
Old timers in the business warned me that real estate goes in cycles, usually around 15 years. Also, they cautioned, real estate is not an island unto itself. It impacts other aspects of the economy and other aspects of the economy impact it. Now that 14 years have passed, it seems the wiser and older agents were right. Prices went up, and prices have come down.
Never did I expect to once again see homes listed for under $50,000 like we had in the mid-1990's. Recent client searches have been producing some pretty good homes for less than $200,000. Would it be possible to buy something for under $100,000? The MLS produced an answer. Tonight there were 335 homes listed in St. Paul for $100,000 or less. Of that 335 homes, 61 were $50,000 or less.
The cheapest St. Paul home was $13,500! Granted, many of the homes under $50,000 are category 2 vacant buildings which means they need an entire code compliance to bring them back to livable condition. Thousands of dollars are needed for a code compliance project, so those homes may not be good options for normal real estate shoppers.
Based on my search tonight, it may be that affordability is returning to the St. Paul real estate market. Below are the number of active St. Paul listings in each price break:
There are lots of housing choices for St. Paul buyers in the lower price ranges. There are lots of choices for investors who want a rehab project. If you've been toying with buying a home, now might be the time!
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