From the category archives:

Local News for Minneapolis – St Paul

Leave it to the Minnesota State Legislature to come up with some new laws to implement for 2010. Score one for the environment, at the cost of all of us who breathe.

Restrictions placed on plastic bags for yard waste

Most residents in Twin Cities surrounding seven counties who use plastic bags to dispose of yard waste will need to be sure the bags are certified as compostable by the American Society for Testing and Materials.

Leave it to a bunch of politicians to force us to pony up more money for these bags. Maybe they should offer us some type of a tax credit, that being the trend and all currently. But of course the residents of Minneapolis don’t have to participate until 2013. Apparently the city would rather supply residents with plastic yard waste bins instead.

Don’t be surprised when in the next few years the Legislation decides to extend this law to ALL garbage bags. Give’em an inch, they take a yard.

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…at least for me. Over the last few weeks, in conversations with people I meet everyday, I keep getting the question “How is real estate doing?”. I have to tell them that at least for me, real estate has been great this year. No surprise to me, but as soon as I say this, everyone looks at me in disbelief. The next question is always “Really?”.

For full time real estate agents who actually look for constant work, we have been doing well this year, despite what you hear from the media. A serious agent should not be complaining about lack of business…there is plenty out there to be had. My blogs and websites help me greatly in finding clientele, as a lot of my business comes from the Internet and past clients.

There are a lot of deals out there to be had for buyers, and I am finding that more sellers are realistic about the market in their pricing. Short sales and foreclosures have been rampant, but luxury homes priced right have been selling very well. I have no clue of what next year will bring, but for such a “bad” year as this year, I can’t imagine next year being any “worse”.

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If you need some high quality furniture for the room you are redecorating, or you just moved into your brand new home and need some goods to fill the space, then look no further than the International Market Square in Minneapolis.

For three days, November 5-7th, the American Society of Interior Designers is presenting the Annual Designer Sample Sale, where luxury furnishings are being sold at a 50-80% discount. Admission is free and open to the public so make sure to save the date and have fun shopping!

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You would think that in one of the “worst markets” we have seen in a long time that there would be no way a record sale could ever happen in Minneapolis. Well, like I have said numerous times on my blog, the high end market marches to a different drummer.

Back in March, I reported that 2427 E Lake of the Isles Parkway in Minneapolis was on the market with Sky Sotheby’s Realty for a whopping $5.5 Million. Well two days ago it hit the MLS as SOLD, and at a record price of $4.859 Million, making it the highest priced home to ever sell in Minneapolis.

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It’s finally here. The 2009 Fall Parade of Homes Tour begins a week from now, September 11th. One dramatic change to the event is the integration of the Parade of Homes Remodelers Showcase, which will be hosted the first weekend of the tour, September 11-13th. Usually this event is scheduled outside the Home Tour, but I honestly feel this is the best thing to do. I continually miss the Remodelers Showcase because I simply forget about it.

The Parade of Homes

From September 11 – October 4,

The Remodelers Showcase

One weekend only – September 11 – 13

For three days only, visitors will have the chance to walk through 94 remodeling projects and see almost every type of makeover available. Seeing as the kitchen is the most popular project for home owners to redo, there are over 60 to see on the tour this year. Other projects include entire house makeovers, innovative bathroom design, and stylish basement finishes.

The crowing jewels are the two Dream Remodeled Homes, where a $5 entry donation goes directly to the Builders Outreach Foundation:

  • Famous architect Edwin Lundie designed this 1930’s home at 277 Woodlawn Avenue, Saint Paul. Seeing as I specialize in old homes, it will be interesting to see what this whole house renovation, completed by Authentic Construction, looks like, in keeping with the original vision.
  • Located next to the Riley Creek developlment in Eden Prairie, 9820 Sky Lane is another whole house renovation. Originally built in 1991, the new remodel brings the home up to today’s lifestyle and was completed by JMS Custom Homes.

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While the rest of the nation neglects to even look to the northern states for any reason at all, (you would think we lived in Siberia according to some southerners) we here in the north realize we have a good thing going. Not only are we home to some very large Fortune 500 companies and their corporate offices (UnitedHealth Group · Target Corporation · Supervalu · Best Buy · Travelers · 3M · U.S. Bancorp · CHS · General Mills · Medtronic · Xcel Energy · Land O’Lakes · Ameriprise Financial · C. H. Robinson Worldwide · Hormel · Thrivent Financial for Lutherans · The Mosaic Company · Ecolab) we can also boast having great luxury communities to feed those executives high end life style.

In and outside Minneapolis and Saint Paul, you can find numerous options for luxury homes. Many times, luxury homes are also historic, as the cities are well stocked with 70-120 year old grandiose homes. If you don’t believe me, visit my historic home blog where I photograph these homes and their stories. In Saint Paul, the place to go for higher end historic homes is the Summit Hill, Ramsey Hill, Crocus Hill areas. In Minneapolis, you can find most of them surrounding Lake Harriet, Lake Calhoun, and Lake of the Isles.

If you want to look at newer construction luxury homes, just north of Saint Paul is the City of North Oaks, a private community that has large parcels for sale. Yep, you can still find some areas that offer acreage. Some other beautiful areas near Saint Paul with high end homes include Mendota Heights, Sunfish Lake and White Bear Lake.

Of course you can’t get too far away from lake living here in the Twin Cities as there is a lake about every 50 feet. (Just a joke by the way) Every town seems to have their own lake. Needless to say, but the most desirable place to live in the Metro area is on Lake Minnetonka, just a few minutes west of Minneapolis.

Lake Minnetonka is surrounded by small towns which were settled well over a hundred years ago. Most of these have a full range of various architectural styles to please any luxury home buyer. On the eastern shore, towns like Greenwood, Wayzata, Excelsior, and Deephaven are closer to downtown Minneapolis, but if drive time doesn’t bother you, then venture further into the Lake Minnetonka area and look for fine homes on Tonka Bay, Mound, and Minnestrista. Obviously I cannot list every little nook and cranny on the lake as there are dozens of bays for your luxury home pleasure, but please know that currently there are 252 homes for sale in the Lake Minnetonka area priced above $1 Million.

Want new construction? Well, let’s leave it at “the sky’s the limit”…and a post for another day.

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I have a confession.

You all know I love to blog. Heck, my email is my third arm…can’t go ten minutes without checking the computer or looking at the Blackberry to see if anything new has come in. But even with all the technology in the world, I still love to get snail mail delivered to my home everyday.

Today, my mailbox sent my monthly surprise, the Mpls-StPaul magazine, a great resource of what is happening in the Twin Cities. This months issue featured the 2009 Social Datebook. It highlights all the charity events and places to be seen for the upcoming year in and around the Twin Cities.

Maybe this year I’ll check out the Cookie Creations event happening in Rochester this March, where local chefs create dishes using Girl Scout cookies, or maybe I will walk around Lake Calhoun in May to raise money for Cystic Fibrosis. Of course any real estate agent just can’t help but walk through the ASID Showcase Home every year (one of my favorite things to do).

If you need help figuring out your social calendar for the next year, or just want to commit some funds to local charities, then visit the magazines website for a full list of events.

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A few days ago the Builders Association of the Twin Cities released their report for 2008, and no big surprise, the numbers were not great. Permit requests came in at 5397 compared to 8971 in 2007, a 40% drop! If you take a look at the report, the five year report of permitted units is hard to fathom. In 2004, there were 18,591 total permits issued.

Currently I am working with a few buyers who are considering new construction. Some builders are offering some real deals who understand where the market is trending. However, there are other builders out there holding on, keeping their prices high and refusing reality. And of course there are the builders who hung on too tight and are now out of business. The best thing I can tell you is negotiate. If the builder won’t, then move on to someone else.

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Today I spent Mother’s Day (after the celebration) talking a relaxing historic homes tour in Saint Paul. Little did we know that while walking to Summit Avenue, we would come upon an unconventional caravan.

There was a celebration for the 150 years that Minnesota has been on the map at the State Capital building in Saint Paul. The wagon caravan was parading down the street with different types of wagons used when we first became a state, not to mention the various breeds of horses pulling the antique vehicles.

This summer there are numerous events celebrating the last 150 years so make sure to visit some of the historic sites sprinkled across the state.

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Everyday I hear the same old story…the real estate market is tanking, buyers are scared to buy, bla-bla-bla. Even though us real estate agents scream to the roof tops that housing markets are local, the media negativity drowns the truth out.

The only thing we do know is that the number of foreclosures has increased and so the perception is that the Twin Cities real estate market is going down, down, down. Luckily, some savvy people at the Minneapolis Association of Realtors have created a new report that better outlines what is really happening here in Minneapolis.

Some say that statistics don’t line. However, statistics themselves can be a problem if they don’t take special circumstances into account. Case in point, all the stats that come in for the Twin Cities includes data from both foreclosures, short sales, and traditional sellers, saying that median home prices have fallen 10.3% in the last year. If you were to separate the two bank related sales from traditional sales, you would have a very different look for our local real estate market. Home sales NOT related to foreclosures or short sales are actually only down 3.9% from this same time a year ago in 2007.

Yes, foreclosures do effect the market, but sellers not facing foreclosure can now look at real information that shows the future is not as bleak as the media paints it. The same goes for buyers. While the national media might be reporting the sky falling, sellers are not giving away homes as you might like. There are good deals to be had, but if you want a steal, the best bet might be too look at a foreclosure.

You can read more of the report at the link above, which also has a break down of foreclosures by price range and housing type.

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