Minneapolis St Paul Luxury Real Estate Blog
For a real estate agent, seeing what is new on the market each day can be quite exciting. You just never know what is going up for sale! Here is a list of the most recent homes above $500,000 to hit the St. Paul market. If you are looking in the St. Paul area for [...]
The luxury home market in the Twin Cities has taken quite a beating the last couple of years. Home values have plummeted, putting what were once million dollar homes into lower price ranges. For some home owners who bought 2005-2008, the news has been less than welcome, even devastating. Foreclosure was inevitable for a few, other have been able to refinance. But one thing I have learned from speaking to luxury home owners, they are taking it all in stride and working with the cards they have been dealt.
Currently the inventory of luxury homes has been dwindling across the Metro, good news for home sellers. Less inventory means less choices for buyers, and gives sellers a better chance of selling their home. In Spring 2010, there were about 680 available homes for sale. Two years later, that number is down to around 615. As is typical for real estate in Minnesota, home inventory increases over the summer months, topping out in August and September. It will be interesting to see how the summer progresses and if the overall inventory remains low.
When it comes to how long a luxury home takes to sell in the Twin Cities, real estate agents turn to Days on the Market data. With Spring comes buyers. After waiting through the winter, they come out from the shadows and pluck down money for luxury homes. For reasons you can imagine here in Minnesota, it typically takes longer to sell in the winter. Starting this Spring 2012, the days it takes a luxury home to sell hovers around 170 days. While this may not sound like good news, when you compare it to Spring 2010 which hovered around 235 days, our current real estate market it doing quite well. I am pretty sure home owners would like 2012 market trends over two years ago!
If you are thinking of selling and would like a free micro analysis of your home in today’s market, please contact me!
(Data is comprised from top 10 most expensive zip codes in Minneapolis, St. Paul, Lake Minnetonka, and surrounding Twin Cities Metro areas, using homes priced above $500,000)
I went down to Nerstrand State Park last week to see what was blooming and found the Marsh Marigolds in full bloom.
In case you missed it, the Pillsbury Mansion “Southways” was quietly put back on the market in October 2011 for $24 Million, a far cry from its previous listing price a few years back of $54 Million. Located at 1400 Bracketts Point Road in Orono the home sits on some of the best real estate on Lake Minnetonka.
Showing properties
1 - 1 of 1.
See more city of Orono real estate.
(all data current as of
5/22/2012)
Listing information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Read full disclaimer.
Contrary to what most might think, many real estate agents aren’t desperate for listings. Yes, there are those out there that will take a listing because they really need it, no matter how overpriced the home will be, but I am not one of those agents.
Recently I turned down an expensive home simply because the home owner and I could not agree on a price. He saw it as a million dollar home, but I knew it was not worth anywhere near his dream number. I did my research, showing him what similar homes in the area had sold for. I even went so far as to take him out into the local marketplace and show him active listings, comparing those million dollar homes to his, hoping the information would sink in that his home in no way compared to those high-end homes. But alas, he still felt his unluxurious home was superior to them. We parted ways that day with a handshake, and I wished him all the best in the sale of his home.
He seemed surprised that I was turning down the listing. ”Wouldn’t you like this home to be showcased on your website?”, he asked. I would have liked to have plainly said “Yes, but only if it is priced correctly”, but I was nicer than that. Here are some reasons why I don’t take overpriced listings:
Getting back to my recent experience. Another agent ended up taking the listing, which doesn’t surprise me. What does surprise me is the listing price, which is extremely overpriced. Not only will the home never sell at that price, I can’t imagine how the agent justifies wasting everyone’s time. At least I can sit back knowing that I made the right decision in walking away. Let that listing be someone else’s headache. I won’t take part in overpriced listings.
Over the years, home trends come and go. What was once ultra cool is now outdated. Remember those lovely 70′s orange countertops, or avocado green appliances? Most buyers today would shiver at the sight of them, but a simple kitchen remodel could be a home owners saving grace to successfully selling their home and having the buyers jumping for joy. While renovations can help your home sell faster, don’t expect to get much of that money back.
Each year Remodeling magazine comes out with a Cost vs. Value Report which highlights remodeling projects across the nation and by region, comparing their cost to the value retained upon sale of the home. The Twin Cities is one such region which gets its own specific report. Lucky us!
According to the Minneapolis report for upscale homes, the project topping the charts for greatest % of return is siding replacement with fiber-cement board. The next two top projects are garage door replacement and window replacement (vinyl). In contrast, the top projects for mid-range homes are minor kitchen renovations, front door replacement, and the addition of a deck.
It’s interesting that the areas of the home always thought to be the best renovation projects are not the chart toppers. Kitchen renovations get only 57% of their original cost for high-end homes, and one of the lowest bangs for your buck is a master suite addition. Of course home owners want to “live” in their homes and therefore will always do projects that makes their lives simplier, or more luxurious, not necessarily concentrating on if the project will be a good return on their investment.
If you are planning on a future remodel, and want to get an idea on the resale value of your efforts, take a look at the report. If you want to renovate your home for yourself, then does it really matter what the return on investment it? After all, replacing that roof might only get you 39% of your money back, but I am pretty sure having a dry home would trump any desire to recoup your costs.
In Minneapolis, the most expensive single family homes are situated around the beautiful area known as the Chain of Lakes just southwest of downtown. Lake of the Isles and Lowry Hill, settled by some of the wealthiest in the city, are home to many of the grandest properties in all the Twin Cities. Currently the most expensive home comes in at $6.5 Million!
Showing properties
1 - 5 of 5.
See more city of Minneapolis real estate.
(all data current as of
5/22/2012)
Listing information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Read full disclaimer.
So this post isn’t about real estate in general, but it does concern saving my real estate data. See, I use Microsoft Outlook for email and when I started using it a few years back, I assumed that all the emails and data inside Outlook backed up each and every time I backed up my computer to an external hard drive. Boy, was I ever wrong!
By chance one day I read on another blog post that Outlook is not backed up with computer data. So at that time, I had a years worth of emails, attachments, etc, and realized that if my computer crashed, I would lose everything. Being a real estate agent, emails are constantly going back and forth between clients, other agents, and prospects. I organize them into folders and set rules for email addresses for these folders. Saving this data is crutial because it keeps a paper trail of communications. So for instance if a client, or angry agent, tries to say something I know to be false, I simply pull up the proof via my saved emails.
Two years ago I found that Microsoft has an Outlook Backup download for personal files, including calendars and contacts. From this you are able to save the data as a .pst file, which then is saved to your harddrive, or any place you wish to save the data. Once installed, I set it up to save each time I exit Outlook.
Let me tell you, this simple download has saved me TWICE in less than two years. A year ago August, my HP Pavilion laptop had a mother board failure and the laptop was totaled. Thankfully, my hard drive was still intact, and via the .pst file, I was able to retrieve all my Outlook data and import it onto my new laptop. However I soon realized that I had not gone far enough. If my hard drive had failed, then I would have lost that Outlook file. When I bought my new laptop, I also bought a new external hard drive, which saves a second copy of all my data.
Two months ago, my “new” laptop’s cooling fan decided to die on me. I had to send it by mail to a repair shop in Texas, via the exteneded warranty program. Unfortunately, they wiped the hard drive while repairing my computer. Thankfully, I had all my data backed up on the external, and once again, was able to retrieve my Outlook data file.
Lesson learned, twice. Make sure you don’t have to learn the hard way – Back Up Your Outlook!
I have been getting a lot of questions from Minnesota home owners and future buyers about the homestead credit previously available on Minnesota properties. The Minnesota Association of Realtors has recently put forth a helpful explanation about the new Homestead Market Value Exclusion (HMVE) that was created in the 2011 legislative session.
The new HMVE is a recent change to how homestead property taxes are calculated. It replaces the Homestead Market Value Credit (HMVC). Under the old credit system, the credit lowered a homeowner’s property tax burden based on the value of their home. The state then reimbursed local governments for the lost amount of their levy (revenues) due to the credit. However, due to the state’s budget problems, it was rare that local governments were fully reimbursed by the state. Eliminating the credit and creating an exclusion removes the possibility of the state withholding funds and creates more stability for local governments.
The new program excludes a portion of the homeowner’s market value from the property tax calculation. The amount of value excluded is directly proportional to the credit the home received under the old law. The actual tax burden on homesteads could be lesser or greater depending upon the mix of properties in the taxing jurisdiction and the levy decisions made by local governments (for more information on the technical calculations, please see further below).
Description: Under the old credit system, the credit amount would rapidly increase as a home value approached $76,000 with the maximum credit amount of $304. After $76,000 the credit would decrease until it was completely phased out with a home value of over $414,000. The new exclusion mimics this same scale as homes approaching $76,000 would have a rapidly increasing exclusion of value, with a home valued at $76,000 receiving a maximum exclusion of 40% of their home value from property tax calculations. The percentage then decreases and is phased out at homes valued over $414,000.
| Old Law with Credit | New Law with HMVE |
| Market Value (MV) determined by Assessor | Market Value (MV) determined by Assessor |
| N/A | Calculate exclusion (HMVE):MV < $76K: Exclusion = 0.4 x MV
MV $76K – $414K: Exclusion=$30,400 - MV > $414K: Exclusion = $0 |
| N/A | Taxable MV = MV – Exclusion |
| Homes < $500K: MV x .1% = Tax Capacity (TC)Homes > $500K: $5,000 + ((MV – $500K) x 1.25%) = TC | Homes < $500K: Taxable MV x .1% = Tax Capacity (TC)Homes > $500K: $5,000 + ((Taxable MV – $500K) x 1.25%) = TC |
| Gross Tax = TC x total tax rate (county + city + special district rate) | N/A |
| HMVC = MV < $76K: MV x .004MV $76K – $414K: $304 – ((MV – $76K) x .0009)
MV > $414K: $0 |
N/A |
| Net Tax = Gross Tax – HMVC | Net Tax = TC x total tax rate (county + city + special district rate) |
(Referendum taxes are not covered here)
If you haven’t had the chance yet to view the Parade of Homes, then today is your last chance to check out the newest trends in luxury new home construction. I was able to check out a few in my spare time this week, and I have to say that some of the homes are simply stunning. My favorite by far was the “Dream Home” located in Edina.
Not only does it sit on a fantastic lot, the design inside and out is classic. Designed by Charles Cudd De Novo, one of the premier luxury home builders in the Twin Cities, the home boasts 8700 square feet.
From this home and others on the market, here are some of the newest trends found in luxury homes in the Twin Cities:
There are tons of additional features highlighted in the newest luxury homes found in Minneapolis, St. Paul, Edina, and Lake Minnetonka, but if you want a first hand glimpse, take a free day and visit some of the local open houses on weekends throughout the area.
Have you ever been driving around Minnesota and passed a lake who’s name you don’t know and wonder what it is? Well now the Minnesota DNR has created a phone application to help you out.
The LakeFinder contains data for more than 4,500 lakes and rivers throughout Minnesota and the application allows you to get the information on demand with an internet connection or save it to your device for off-line access. Have thousands of lake surveys, depth maps, and vegetation reports, plus water quality and clarity data literally in the palm of your hand. You can even save them as favorites.
Check it out on the DNR website, or visit your phone’s app store.
 |
 |
$2,395,000 -
30 Old Orchard Lane
Tonka Bay
$995,000 -
1410 Cherry Place
Orono
$2,395,000 -
2 Bell Street
Excelsior
$1,895,000 -
27150 Edgewood Road
Shorewood
$979,000 -
4531 Island View Drive
Mound
$1,695,000 -
6435 Virginia Drive
Victoria
$1,489,000 -
18321 Heathcote Lane
Deephaven
$1,250,000 -
669 Minnetonka Highlands Lane
Orono
$950,000 -
3017 Brooks Lane
Minnetonka Beach
$2,000,000 -
1650 Shadywood Road
Orono
$1,099,800 -
211 Manitoba Avenue
Wayzata
$3,250,000 -
2856 Gale Road
Woodland
$2,795,000 -
28036 Woodside Road
Shorewood
$2,500,000 -
3059 Farview Lane
Orono
$1,749,000 -
4202 Heathcote Road
Deephaven
$1,295,000 -
26020 Birch Bluff Road
Shorewood
$1,099,000 -
6485 Tanagers Point
Chanhassen
$1,015,000 -
4695 Old Kent Road Road
Deephaven
$2,299,000 -
16560 Grays Bay Boulevard
Minnetonka
$1,300,000 -
17596 Groveland Place
Minnetonka
$1,395,000 -
1890 Shadywood Road
Orono
$1,950,000 -
3051 Farview Lane
Orono
$1,895,000 -
4746 Manitou Road
Tonka Bay
$3,000,000 -
2100 Shadywood Road
Orono
$2,395,000 -
3995 N Shore Drive
Orono
This IDX solution is (c) Diverse Solutions 2012.
