News

I hope everyone is healthy.  I know most of you are adjusting to working from home, home schooling your kids, not able to work, furloughed or laid off.  Sorry.  I never in my life would have thought that we would live through a pandemic.

I received some questions as to why real estate agents are considered essential workers so I thought I would give my thoughts on it.  The reason we are still out there working is because housing is a need for people: leases end, job relocations happen, loved ones pass away, divorce happens.   Like I have said in my previous emails, I am here for the need.

Currently in our area we are down about 50% on listings, new pending sales; people are staying in their current homes if they don’t have to move.  This is good.

Housing values are still stable and in most cases, rising. I do not see that changing.  The truth is that we are still short on inventory in the area; we need more housing.

As some of you might know I have served on many non-profit boards over the years, mostly dealing with housing and over the last year I have been serving as a Commissioner for the Duluth HRA.   In that capacity I was appointed to the Mayor’s Housing Task Force where we were to come up with ideas on how to tackle the housing shortage in the area and give recommendations  to the Mayor and City Council.  As a Realtor I already knew we were short on housing. But we were presented with the studies of how many housing units we were currently short and how many we will need each year moving forward to keep up with demand and honestly it is daunting to even wrap my mind around. We have a lull in real estate transactions right now, but our area continues to have a need for more housing now and into the future.

So, I am including a few links below one being the article about the housing task force.  I encourage you to follow me on Facebook or Twitter I will be sharing updates on housing issues, local businesses, and I hope to get you to laugh from time to time(recently my home officing suggestions).

Stay well, Lynn.