Home sales continue to be strong with our median sales price continuing to trend higher. Buyer demand is also still strong, despite higher interest rates. In our experience, Buyers are much pickier now than they were the last couple years mostly due to those interest rates.

According to the 2023 City of Alexandria Housing Study, we are still short both owned and rented housing units.

Reach out to discuss further if you'd like!

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We love Alexandria and all that the Central Minnesota Lakes Area has to offer! With everyone on our team owning lake property, we understand the love of the water and the recreation that it brings! Our team serves clients in both purchasing and selling lake property and every client has a different story or reason for owning lake property. We have gathered several benefits that lake property can bring if you're on the fence about "jumping in"! 

owning a lake home can offer a variety of benefits:

1. Relaxation and tranquility: A lake home provides a peaceful retreat away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life, allowing you to unwind and enjoy the natural beauty of the surroundings.

2. Recreational activities: Living on a lake gives you easy…

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It is spring time (almost summer) and we often think of spring cleaning and opening up our seasonal cabins again! It's an exciting time, but also can be labor intensive. Whether you do your regular home maintenance in the spring time or fall, there are really great benefits of maintaining those home systems! The last tip below may be our favorite!

5 benefits of Regular home maintenance services:


1. Increased property value: Keeping up with maintenance can help preserve the condition of your home, ultimately increasing its value. Who doesn't love that. Also, less updating and work to get your home ready to sell when that time is right.
2. Preventing costly repairs: Regular maintenance can catch small issues before they become major problems,…

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The May Meetup is a week from today! May 22nd - 6pm We're going to be discussing some of the RE investment horror stories that we have and how we have overcome and learned from those experiences! Come for the laughs, the lessons and share some of your stories as well!!

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This blog post is being written in May of 2024. Hopefully this issue will start to lessen or go away in the future, but we wanted to bring the issue of squatters to the community as it seems to be a growing issue in Douglas County among rental property. We want property owners and agents to be aware.

What is squatting?

"Squatters" are people that have trespassed and moved into a home or onto a vacant property with the intention of making it their own. Oftentimes they intentionally damage the property. The property owner then returns to find that squatters are illegally inhabiting the property and have paid no compensation in return. This is a criminal act in the state of Minnesota.

Squatters in Douglas County

There have been a couple recent…

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Mother's Day is this weekend.. hopefully you didn't forget! Happy Mother's Day from our team at CRS! We hope you all have a very special and relaxing day.

Here are a few ideas of how to show appreciation for your mom this Sunday!

1. Write a heartfelt letter or card expressing your love and gratitude.
2. Cook her favorite meal or treat her to a special meal at her favorite restaurant.
3. Plan a day of pampering, such as a spa day or a relaxing at-home spa experience.
4. Give her a thoughtful gift that reflects her interests or hobbies.
5. Spend quality time together doing activities she enjoys.
6. Help out with household chores or tasks to give her a break.
7. Create a photo album or scrapbook of special memories together.
8. Organize a family gathering or…

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This coming Wednesday, April 24th, at 6pm we will have our in-house industry expert and agent, Aaron Conn, leading our Meetup! One of the things we repeatedly get asked is how to analyze deals so he will be discussing the different ways to complete an analysis and then going to run through a few deals! This will be audience lead so bring your questions and any deals you'd like to run through! Join us - 3rd floor conference room of Creative Touch Boutique building!504 Broadway St, Alexandria This is a free, community event so invite others you think could benefit from this event! See you next week!

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Great report from last month! Sellers love to see that our median sales price is holding strong - up 25.1% over March of 2023 at $285,000 for the region. Our inventory is up to 3.3 months meaning if no more homes came on the market after today it would take 3.3 months to run out of inventory. 5-6 months is a healthy economy where we have approximately the same number of buyers and sellers.

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Homeowners' Associations (HOAs) are organizations typically found in planned unit developments (PUDs), condominiums, and some neighborhoods that enforce rules and regulations for the homes within their jurisdiction. Homeowners who belong to an HOA are most often required to pay regular fees, which are used to maintain common areas, amenities, and services within the community.

HOAs often have a set of bylaws and covenants that outline the rules and regulations that homeowners must follow. These rules can cover a wide range of topics, such as architectural guidelines, landscaping requirements, noise restrictions, and pet policies. Violating these rules can result in fines or other penalties imposed by the HOA.

In addition to enforcing rules, HOAs also…

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It’s a popular question -  are final walk-through’s really necessary before closing on your new home? Oftentimes, those final moments before signing on the home are rushed with moving, stopping at the bank to get that cashier’s check, or last minute errands. We really try to encourage Buyers to be as prepared as possible and leave ample time for that final walk-through. If buyers are coming in from out of town, we encourage them to either leave early enough to give us time to fully inspect the home or stay in the town of the property the night before. We know, we know, it is a stressful time.

Final walk-throughs are highly recommended by our team before closing on a property. Once that deed is signed and recorded, the property is yours. There is no…

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