Isaac Contreras

10/23/2026

Part 2 of 2
Your mortgage payment may be predictable. Homeownership is not.

The payment gets you into the house, but everything that comes afterward determines whether you can afford to stay there.

A recent national survey found that 63.2% of homeowners feel stressed by the cost of owning their homes. Property taxes have increased nearly 30% nationally since 2019, while homeowners insurance premiums rose 24% between 2021 and 2024.

Here in the Twin Cities, that pressure is not theoretical.

Minneapolis has approved a property-tax levy increase of 11.87%, St. Paul has proposed 6.8%, and all seven metro counties are considering levy increases of at least 7.9%. Those percentages will not translate directly into the same increase on every homeowner’s tax bill, but they tell us which direction ownership costs are moving.

That is why I want buyers looking beyond the mortgage payment. How old are the roof, furnace, air conditioner, and appliances? What will insurance actually cost?

And don’t forget about that diseased tree in the front yard. Either Mother Nature will tell you when it is time to take it down—or the insurance company will.

With all that being said, homeownership can still be one of the strongest ways to build long-term wealth, but only if the house leaves you enough room to live while you own it.

Getting the keys is one goal. Being able to keep them without the house controlling every other financial decision is the bigger one.

10/22/2026

Your preapproval amount is changing as we speak.

10/22/2026

Part 1 of 2:
A $600,000 preapproval is permission—not instructions to spend $600,000.

When a lender is considering lending you $300,000, $400,000, or $600,000, the question is pretty simple: Can you pay the money back—and will they have to chase you to get it?

Your income, debt, credit history, assets, and the house itself all help them answer that question. The preapproval tells you what the lender believes you can repay. It does not tell you what you should spend.

That second decision belongs to you. Take a hard look at what the monthly payment would actually be and what would be left after paying it. Can you still save, travel, handle an emergency, help your family, and enjoy your life? Or will nearly every available dollar be going toward the house?

I like ramen noodles too—just not every night.

The lender’s job is to decide whether the loan is a reasonable risk. Your job is to decide whether the payment fits the life you want to live.

Tomorrow, in Part 2: why the mortgage payment is only part of the real cost of owning a home.

10/14/2026

The housing market being reported today is not necessarily the market you are walking into today.

National headlines say existing-home sales increased 1.5% in September.
That is true—but those closings largely reflect contracts written weeks earlier, when mortgage rates were considerably lower.

Here in the Twin Cities, the more current numbers tell a different story: pending sales fell 21% from a year ago during the week ending October 3, while inventory increased 13.1%.

A closed sale tells us where the market was.
A pending sale gives us a better look at where it may be going.

That difference matters whether you are buying or selling. Sellers cannot build today’s pricing strategy around yesterday’s competition, and buyers should not assume that a national increase in sales means their negotiating room has disappeared. Homes are still selling and prices have not collapsed, but the market has changed quickly enough that old assumptions can become expensive.

A headline can be completely accurate and still arrive too late to guide your next decision.

10/09/2026

You’ve outgrown your house. But you’re staying for the mortgage rate.

Sound familiar?

A lot of Twin Cities homeowners want to move but can’t stomach giving up that low rate.

Before you rule it out, what could your home equity do? Could selling help you pay off debt, fund your next home, and give you more breathing room—even with a higher mortgage rate?

Maybe. But you need to compare the whole monthly budget to find out.

Watch this before you decide to stay, rent, or buy.

What’s keeping you in your current home: you love it—or you love the rate?

10/07/2026

A price reduction is not a pricing strategy.
Most of the time, it is the bill for getting the strategy wrong at the beginning.

September data shows that Twin Cities inventory increased 31.2% from a year ago, the largest increase among the nation’s 50 biggest markets. Nearly 23% of local listings reduced their price, while the median list price fell 4.1%.

That does not mean our housing market is crashing—the Twin Cities median sale price was still up 1.3% in August. It means buyers have more choices, and sellers have less room for wishful pricing.

For anyone trying to sell one home so they can buy the next, starting too high does not protect your equity. It can cost you the attention that matters most during the first weeks on the market, force a later price cut, and weaken your position on the home you want to purchase.

The goal is not to leave money on the table. The goal is to enter the market at a price that makes buyers take the home seriously from day one.

In this market, the first price is not a number you throw out there to see what happens. It sets the direction for everything else that follows.

10/05/2026

Buyers should think about

not just when they can afford to buy,

but how long they’d need to stay before owning makes more financial sense than renting.

-Kara Ng, Senior Economist at Zillow

09/30/2026

And spoiler alert:

they’re not calling for a crash – not even the pessimists.

- Keeping Current Matters

Half the buyers out there are scared home prices are about to crash. The other half are hoping they will.

09/29/2026

Do I rent? Do I buy? Or do I stay put?

How long you plan to stay matters, too. If you need flexibility for the next year or two, renting may be the right move.

There’s no honest blanket answer to “rent or buy” right now. For homeowners, the better question may be:

What can my equity do for me, and will the next move improve my overall financial picture?

09/28/2026

Twin Cities homeowners, the market has shifted. This doesn't mean it's a bad time to sell, but buyers now have more choices. Simply listing your home is an outdated strategy. If selling this fall is on your radar, let's create a strategic launch plan. Give me a call.