On the front page of the New York Times Thursday, Eden Prairie-based agent Joe Niece got a big call-out in a top-read story about the shifting housing market. Here's the headline and a link to the story: "After Years of False Hopes, Signs of a Turn in Housing." And here's the first mention: "Niece, a real estate agent in the Minneapolis suburb of Eden Prairie, said he recently concluded a streak of 13 consecutive bidding wars over homes that his clients wanted to buy. Each sold above the asking price. 'I just had a home that wasn't supposed to go on the market for two weeks sold before it even went on the market,' Mr. Niece said. 'It's definitely a lot different than what we saw' during the last few summers."
His phone hasn't stopped ringing, nor have the emails stopped hitting his in-box. He's received "bazillions" of calls and notes about the story, including several readers who challenge the premise of the story, which notes that although previous impovements in the market have been short-lived, the positive indicators in the market suggest more momentum than during the past few years. He said that about a quarter of the responses say that the market really hasn't turned a corner. Niece, who heads the Joe Niece Team for ReMax Results, recognizes that the market isn't improving across the board. He speculates that the reporter found him online because of a recent post titled "Minnesota: Land of Multiple Offers."
It's note the first time Niece has been featured in the national press. In 2008 he was featured in an ABC Nightline story about unsold homes that get relisted. That time, too, the reporter found him online.
"It's been quite overwhelming," he said.
