Kevin Walsh with Keller Williams Classic Realty Northwest is our guest to talk about the Maple Grove Real Estate Market
Here’s the Show:
Introduction
Jacob Derauf here with Maple Grove Radio, and today I have on Kevin Walsh with Keller Williams Classic Realty Northwest to talk about the Maple Grove housing market and just share what he does. Kevin, thanks for being on with us today. Thanks for the opportunity. I appreciate it.
About Kevin
OK, so first things first. Kind of just tell us a little bit about you and kind of your ties to the Maple Grove area. Yes, sir. Well, thanks. I've lived in the Maple Grove area for a couple of years now, but my wife and I have been coming to this area for a good 30 years. My wife is from around these parts, but she moved away a long time ago and moved to Arizona, where I'm from originally, and that's where we met. But she wanted to come back to the area to be near her mother, her father and her sister and sister's family. So we moved here a couple of years ago. So we've got family all in the area. One mile this way, one mile that way. A few folks just south of forty seven in Plymouth. But close enough, right. Family is what brought us to the area. And as a as a returning or as a newcomer to Minnesota, we looked long and hard around lots of suburbs. We looked at 40 homes. We decided Maple Grove was the place for us.
What makes you different from other agents?
OK, so one of the things just to share with us here is kind of why and how are you different from some of the other agents that are out there? Good question. One part of the Keller Williams Classic Realty Northwest, the Maple Grove office. And first of all, I'd say there's a lot of really good, really talented people at that office maybe I'll just talk about maybe some of the things that I bring to the table. I'm a retired banker. I've been in banking for thirty three years, most of that with JP Morgan Chase and Citizen's Financial Group. And and a good part of my background was in real estate. And so when I retired from banking about three years ago, it's a little too early for me to sit on a park bench somewhere to find a thing that would suit me in retirement, if you will. I've been a whole lot busier than I planned. My background in real estate just seemed like a really good fit. And maybe one more thing I'd add is my wife and I had moved around the country. We bought or sold homes now 11 times in different states and different circumstances, urban, suburban city living, single-family home, condo. And we've had some really good real estate experiences with our agent and in some cases not so good. Well, I've got a little bit of a passion maybe to bring a whole lot of value to the real estate transaction. Oh, yeah, that makes sense to be in there and kind of putting yourself, in back, to how you felt in that time is definitely a huge part of that experience.
Why Real Estate?
So kind of like how did & why did you decide to get into the business then? Yeah, sure. Well, I think i mentioned that my son was thinking, dad I think you'd be a really good Realtor and so I thought, alright, I'll, I'll do that. And so far it's really been quite an interesting experience. Again, having the background in real estate lending and having a corporate background, knowing kind of what it's like, especially with relocation folks. I myself have relocated with my company two or three times in my career. You know, it's kind of been there, done that. And it's a stressful situation with the relocation. And having someone that knows the ins and outs is definitely huge on that. For sure. For for sure. It's tough being a transferee. And so there's quite a few of those in the Maple Grove area with Boston scientific other major corporations in the area.
The State of the Maple Grove Real Estate Market
So one of the big things right now is just talk a little bit about the Maple Grove area, real estate market, and just kind of fill our listeners in on kind of what's going on here. Yeah, sure. Well, being a banker, I can't help but start with the numbers. There's always a lot of emotion with buying and selling the home, and there's plenty of room for that in a transaction, of course. But if you just look at the numbers and I might have sent you a couple of things, Jacob, that you could pop up on the screen. But statistically, for as long as the MLS data goes back, we have not seen the type of market conditions we're currently seeing. So we have to worry about the heart of it. Look at the data. And I think what you're showing now is the the number of homes for sale in the graphic picture tells a thousand words in the 16 years of this chart covers. Just statistically, you cannot dispute there have never been fewer homes for sale in the two zip codes that make up the Maple Grove area right now is one hundred and seventy seven homes across these two major zip codes in all of Maple Grove. And there's, what, seventy five eighty thousand residents in Maple Grove very small inventory. And of course, that's what's driving this seller's market that everybody is hearing about. And the other one real quick, that's really driving. The dominant feel in the market right now is the average home price the blue line represents. If you're in zip code 55311 one where I happen to live, red line is 55369. So there's some differences between those two zip codes. See here a significant increase in the average price of a home in these two zip codes. So back to anyone who's taken any kind of business courses. Supply and demand, the basics of economics. You have a an inventory that's been taking a very, very significant dive. You're then going to see an increase in home buying. So that's really good for sellers, right.
What to do as a Buyer?
And so what are the things when you're representing a buyer that you kind of advise in this market currently? That's really a good question, because there's so much talk of it being a seller's market. And it's exciting to be a seller right now. And you put this data together with a really good sales plan and you're probably in pretty good shape as a seller. But on the on the flip side of that, you have some buyers who are very frustrated right now, uncommon at all. You know, this Jacob, I'm sure it's not uncommon at all for homes to be selling with multiple offers for every person who gets a new home. There might be four or five other people who bid on that home and unfortunately didn't get it. So it could be a frustrating time to buy right now. So my advice to buyers would be be prepared. I mean, that's right. Now, I could be more specific if you wanted me to, about what exactly you'd be prepared for, but maybe I'll hit a couple of them real quickly. Makes it a really solid preapproval letter from your lender that's really critical. Sellers can be very choosy right now. And so and they're reading those. They'll want to know that they're accepting an offer from the person who's perhaps in the strongest position from a mortgage perspective going into the transaction. So a really strong letter probably goes without saying, take care of any kind of credit issues, et cetera, et cetera. Long before you get to this point, do your homework and have your your realtor do your homework. Understand the area in which you're wanting to buy what recent homes have sold for. You likely need to be prepared to pay a little bit more than asking. You need to be prepared to move quickly. And so there's a lot of things that one could do to successfully be a buyer in this market. Don't despair. It's possible.
How are you conducting business with COVID-19
OK, that sounds good. Thank you for getting those little pointers in there. That's very helpful for people that are looking to buy right now. So one of the big things we have kind of people on to talk about right now is kind of like how are you conducting business during COVID? Yeah, that's a really good question. A lot of people ask that because, of course, you know, selling your home involves having oftentimes people come in and looking for a home means you're going in and out of other people's homes. And so one of the things that I've tried to bring to my clients is I have a YouTube channel and maybe it might just pop that up real quick, because your question is the seventh topic in a series of seven videos that I posted not that long ago. You can see at number seven right there, covid considerations. And we come back to the other seven, Jacob, if you'd like, but specifically, as it relates to covid, the National Association of Realtors and the Minneapolis area of Realtors both have very specific guidelines for realtors to follow as it relates to showing homes, whether you're whether you're the owner of it or looking at somebody else's home. So there are clear guidelines around mask wearing and hand sanitizer and social distancing while in the home. So there's plenty of protections are really well thought out plan too detailed to go into here. But then also there's some very new and interesting ways to sell homes these days that some people haven't thought of. And maybe it's a blind flash of the obvious to some of the younger folks that are out there. But, you know, there's 3-D imagery now where a firm can come in your home and use a camera, see through the walls and create this really lifelike imagery of your home and share with other people long before they get there. And so this can be a very good selling strategy to help people fall in love with your home long before they ever show up. That's one of the things that we've noticed with a lot of businesses and a lot of people is getting really innovative about ways to work around covid. This is the environment. It's and these are the ways you can get around it to make you have those type of experiences like you are in the home even when you can't be in the home yet. Maybe you get to do a showing a little bit later, but you can't go and enter one hundred homes. Really good tools and digital staging is becoming very popular now too Jacob, where you can take pictures of an empty home and really with the magic of technology, you can make that home look a number of different ways, which really helps potential buyers understand the possibilities of your home. Oh, my gosh. This room could be a it could look like an office. It could look like a playroom. It can look like a home theater. There are ways that an agent and a client can work together to really showcase their home. Again, we're talking about COVID here long before someone ever steps into it. And what that also does is perhaps that minimizes maybe the number of people who are just lookie loos to perhaps increase the odds of someone who is coming to your home, has real intent on purchasing your home because they've seen it, quote unquote, even before they got there.
How to get in contact with Kevin and get more information
So if someone's looking to check out some of these videos in your Spring Sellers series, where can they find that then? Yeah, thanks, Jacob. It's my YouTube channel. Easy to find. Everyone knows YouTube Kevin Walsh Realtor. And of course, like any other good agent, other forms of social media like Instagram and Facebook. But you'll find these seven videos, they're all about three minutes apiece. Watched all these videos you're talking about. Twenty one minutes in total, not designed to answer every last question about selling a home, but if you kind of the major points of consideration as you think about it. OK, so someone is looking to buy or sell their home. How can they get in contact with you? Oh, thanks, Jacob. My cell phone is probably the best way to reach me. areaCode 614-581-0435. I think it's on the screen. 614-581-0435. I live in Maple Grove. Obviously, that's probably a prerequisite for being on your show there, not far from Lawndale and Bass Lake. So I know the area really well. I'm happy to talk to anyone who'd like to learn more about this. OK, and where are you located then as well? Well, my office Keller Williams Classic Realty NW is right at 694 and Northwest Boulevard, just south of the Maple Grove shopping area. The Trader Joe's, the Costco right there. And that's where our office is located. OK, is there anything else you wanted to share with our audience before we go? No, candidly, I can't think of anything. Maple Grove is a really good market for buyers or sellers. There's a lot of things named maple around here. I found there's maple wood, maple grove, maple plain, lots of maple things. Really good reason. And also on my YouTube channel, you'll find out just a little fun comparison of Maple Grove versus Maplewood. So you kind of a NW Suburb vs a northeast suburb and kind of the real estate comparisons between the two. OK, all right. Well, thank you very much for being on the show today and sharing your insights on the local real estate market. My pleasure. Thank you, Jacob. All right. Thank you.
