Yeah, it’s a couple days old, but it’s still holds up well over time, same as 1986′s Aliens (Game Over, Man, Game OVER!!!)

Photographed at the Alliant Ampitheater this morning…

With the early spring this year, we’ll likely seeing the annual fish fly invasion sooner than usual. There was a light dusting of fishflies here next to the Mississippi River today. Typically, we wouldn’t see the crunchy pests until sometime in June.  The rest of the fish fly invaison will soon be here…be afraid, be very afraid.

Here’s a two-minute video from Michigan that describes what a nuisance and also what a delicacy fish flies are (or can be)…

I’m quickly cathcing up to the stylistic film quality of the Tony Scott’s (Top Gun) and Stanley Kubrick’s (Full Metal Jacket) of this world…

Here’s the inaugural Monday Morning Quarterback, my weekly run-down of activity in the Dubuque real estate market as posted in the Dubuque MLS….

Last week FHFA.gov published their quarterly House Price Index (HPI) report and Dubuque stands strong above the relative ruins of the national real estate market.  Once again, Dubuque gains value while the national house price scene takes another tumble backwards.  As reported by FHFA.gov…

The HPI, calculated using home sales price information from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac-acquired mortgages, was 0.1 percent lower on a seasonally adjusted basis in the fourth quarter than in the third quarter. On an unadjusted basis, prices fell 1.1 percent during the quarter. Over the past year, seasonally adjusted prices fell 2.4 percent from the fourth quarter of 2010 to the fourth quarter of 2011.

Full FHFA.gov Q4 2011 Report here…

Meanwhile in Dubuque, things are almost the exact opposite.  Dubuque’s HPI gained 1.92 percent over the previous year.  Although, Dubuque’s price index only gained 0.17 percent in the fourth quarter itself, the previous three-quarters of gains carried the day and sent Dubuque once again near the top in US community rankings.  Of the 306 major-market communities that FHFA monitors, Dubuque ranks as the 4th best performing market in the USA.  Over the last year only 10 percent of all communities that FHFA ranked either gained or maintained price values - the other 90 percent of markets fell down.

Here’s a quick chart of selected communities across the US and you can see where Dubuque fits among the rankings…

Dubuque’s awesome performance here isn’t actually anything new, especially over the last couple of years. Over the last 10 quarters (2 1/2 years!) Dubuque has only ranked outside of the top 30 (of 300+) only once, and actually ranked #4 or higher in five of those last ten quarters.  One quarter of good performance alone does not reveal a good-to-great real estate market.  However, Dubuque’s out of this world performance, over the long haul, is something to be remarked upon!

I created video home tour of 2116 Cheyenne Way in Dubuque (Asbury) the other day.  It’s a great home with four bedrooms, three baths, a two-car garage, and a VERY NICE home theater  which includes the projection and audio equipment in the sale of the home.  The home was built in 2007 by Kennedy Construction here in Dubuque with 2,700 sq. ft of living space and includes Cal-Cote walls, Anderson windows, Dubuque Floor Show tiled and carpeted flooring.

Have a look see…

More MLS listing details for 2116 Cheyenne Way can be found here… MLS Flyer Feb 24 2116 Cheyenne Way.

I was privileged to be interviewed yesterday by Becca Habegger from KWWL to comment on the state of the real estate market in Dubuque and for Iowa overall (see yesterday’s post for my 2011 round-up of sales figures for Dubuque’s real estate market) .  There’s nice two-minute video that aired several times on the KWWL’s news shows since then and I thought I’d post it here for keeping it archived. 

Compliments also to Mel Graves of Brissey Realty for his included participation in Becca’s report.  Mel’s one of the really good guys in the business, in fact when I started in real estate waaaaayyy back in 2004, Mel was an office mate of mine.  To the video…

There’s a more elaborate article posted on KWWL’s website (click here) that digs further than the two-minute video can.  Some highlights…

• DUBUQUE (KWWL) – The Iowa Association of Realtors is reporting a glimmer of positive news in its annual 2011 Housing Trends Report, out this month.  It says home sales were up statewide in December, for the fifth consecutive month, and steady throughout 2011.
• Rob Cook is a realtor for Ruhl and Ruhl in Dubuque, a real estate blogger and self-proclaimed “numbers guy.”  He pulled statistics from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), showing Dubuque is number two in the nation when it comes to high rates of house appreciation. Those numbers show the average home in Dubuque appreciated 2.46 percent in one year, through Sept. 2011, and 8.06 percent over the course of five years. Bismark, N.D., by the way, took top marks, with a 15.99 percent five-year average appreciation.
• Mel Graves is a realtor with Brissey in Dubuque and secretary and treasurer of the Dubuque Board of Realtors.  He pointed out 2011 was the first year without any tax credit incentives for home buyers, “so this is a pure year, this is just market-driven,” he said.  Graves said he has noticed a slight increase in consumer confidence.
• Regardless of state or national housing market numbers, however, Cook suggests buyers and sellers look at their own particular market.  “They need to be fully aware of what’s going on in their market and not pay attention so much to the national news, you know, as far as, you know, both real estate thing and the economy overall,” Cook said. “It’s a factor, but, you know, it’s kind of like what they say with the realtor ads, you know, ‘All real estate is local.’”

I said completely too many “you know’s” in that last quote…must…not…you know…..

Now that we can put the wraps on the 2011 Dubuque real estate market, it’s time to see just how well we’ve done.  While national headlines torment us with tales of real estate woe and unemployment, I’m here to let you know that Dubuque is not doing all too bad.

Just like with NFL quarterbacks, they say consistency is the key to victory – consistently GOOD performances win the game.  In Dubuque, we’re now three years into a good, yes consistent, real estate market.  With Dubuque unemployment hovering around the 5.0% mark, most folks in town have a fair to good job and can own a home…

In an uncanny coincidence, sales of homes in the Dubuque area have pretty much matched the performance of the previous two years, selling 787 total homes in 2011 vs. selling 785 in 2010 and again 787 in 2009.  We’re talking here about the total number of residential home sales in the three Dubuque zip codes of 52001, 52002, & 52003.  To the first chart…

And…the average sales prices of those three years have been pretty steady as well.  The average Dubuque home sales price in 2011 was $158,055, following averages of $155,255 and $154,869 in 2010 & 2009, respectively.  As a side note – average sales price does not directly reflect overall average home values – that is a post for another day (maybe tomorrow!).  Here are a few graphs I cooked up (pun intended!)…

And finally, let’s take at a quick look at a break down of how individual price ranges have performed over the last few years…

I wouldn’t say there’s anything really profound in the break down of sales per price range over the last few years.  It’s simply interesting to see how the various price ranges performed year after year…

From US News and Kimberly Castro …You might think you’re the Tim Tebow of home buying, but still you should know Kim’s 10 Rookie Home Buyer Mistakes to Avoid.

I can’t say I disagree with any of the 10 tips, though, I especially favor tips  #6 & #7 (of course I would!)…and can’t emphasize enough the importance of #8 (hiring an inspector).

From New York by The Real Deal Online, a complicatated and cautionary tale for agents and consumers about the issue of dual agency.

Yep, I’ve been involved in a number of “dual agency” transactions – it’s a very fine line to walk and all parties have to know who represents who and in what way.  The limits that dual agency places on an agent’s ability to serve an individual client need to be clear.  It can be done, but pitfalls are certain if the agent doesn’t carefully walk that fine line…