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VISIT US ONLINE @ DSNEWS.COM IN THE NEWS Minnesota rank: 39 90+ Day Foreclosure Unemployment Delinquency Rate RateRate march 2012 1.62%1.98% 5.8% year ago 1.97%2.21% 6.6% percent point change -17.5%-10.8%-12.1% Top County PINE COUNTY 90+ Day Delinquency Rate Foreclosure Rate march 2012 2.52%3.79% year ago 3.15%3.81% percent point change -20.0%-0.4% Top Core-Based Statistical Area MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL-BLOOMINGTON, MN-WI 90+ Day Foreclosure Delinquency Rate Rate march 2012 1.66%2.03% year ago 2.06%2.37% percent point change -19.4%-14.5% note: The 90+ Day delinquecy rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans that are 90plus days delinquent. The foreclosure rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans currently in foreclosure. State rank is based on the March 2012 foreclosure rate. All figures are rounded to the nearest decimal. The unemployment rate reflects preliminary March 2012 figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. All other data courtesy of Lender Processing Services. Minnesota www.MinnesotaREO.com Garth Johnson Michael C Olsen Jeff Detloff Claude Worrell Craig Murphy 952.844.1511 651.209.8444 952.829.2938 612.374.1628 763.433.9133 STAT INSIGHT 53% Decline in Minnesota's housing inventory in April. Source: Minnesota Association of Realtors NFHA Files Complaint Against U.S. Bank for Discrimination The National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) filed a federal housing discrimination complaint against U.S. Bank in late April following an investigation of the bank's properties. NFHA stated that the investigation of 177 foreclosed properties owned by U.S. Bank showed that REO properties in African-American and Latino neighborhoods were not as well maintained and marketed as bank-owned properties in white neighborhoods. The investigation evaluated REO properties in seven metropolitan areas—Atlanta, Chicago, Baltimore, Dayton, Miami/Fort Lauderdale, Oakland/Richmond/Concord, and Washington, D.C. "Our findings underscore the obvious: properties that are poorly maintained not only lose value but have a higher likelihood of selling to an investor, rather than to a family," said Shanna L. Smith, NFHA president and CEO. "U.S. Bank is making it harder for the market to come back in communities of color." NFHA and four member organizations—the Miami Valley Fair Housing Center, Housing Opportunities Project for Excellence, Metro Fair Housing Services, and HOPE Fair Housing Center—evaluated the REO properties for 39 types of maintenance or marketing deficiencies, including overgrown lawns, no "for sale" signs, and trash on the property. In Dayton, it was found that 94 percent of all U.S. Bank properties in communities of color were missing a for sale sign and about three-fourths in Atlanta , Baltimore, KNOW THIS The Twin Cities was named one of the strongest multifamily markets in the country by Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services. and Washington, D.C., had "substantial" amounts of trash. NFHA also filed a discrimination complaint against Wells Fargo in April. The Fair Housing Act makes it illegal to discriminate based on race and applies to housing activities including maintenance, appraisal, listing, marketing, and selling of homes. Three Twin Cities RE/MAX Brokerages Rank Among Top 50 in Nation RE/MAX North Central announced last month that three of its Twin Cities RE/ MAX brokerages have ranked in the top 50 most productive real estate offices in the United States, according to the industryrecognized 2012 REAL Trends 500 Survey. RE/MAX Specialists, headquartered in White Bear Lake with four offices ranked 33rd, RE/MAX Results, headquartered in Eden Prairie with 24 offices, ranked 37th, and RE/MAX Advantage Plus in Savage with nine offices, ranked 38th. "This is a significant achievement for RE/ MAX North Central, and for the associates at each of these brokerages," said David Linger, regional director RE/MAX North Central. "It shows how dedicated our agents are to helping Twin Cities homebuyers and sellers, and reinforces the importance of working with experienced and well-trained agents when buying and selling a home." The REAL Trends 500 Survey is an annual research report that identifies the country's largest and most successful residential firms as ranked by closed transaction sides and separately by closed sales volume, and measures how well a brokerage and its agents perform in a local market by the number of families they assist. Thousands of real estate brokerages participate but only the top performers are chosen. Of the 50 brokerages on the list, 44 were RE/ MAX offices from around the nation. STAT INSIGHT 39.9% Percentage of Minneapolis-St. Paul homeowners with mortgages in negative equity as of the end of the first quarter of 2012. Source: Zillow 99