From the category archives:
The Ramsey Hill Association will be hosting the 2007 tour of Historic Homes in St Paul on Sunday, September 16th. Tour hours are for one day only, from 11 am to 5 pm.
Time to get your walking shoes ready and plan out your weekend because the Fall Parade of Homes is set to start in a couple of weeks. From September 8th – October 7th, homes will be open Thursdays-Sundays from noon – 6 pm.
Minneapolis ranks second for Best Buyer’s Market in the Nation
Forbes recently conducted an analysis of the top Buyers and Sellers markets in the nation. Not surprisingly, Minneapolis and St Paul came in at #2. Our over supply of inventory compared to the lack of homes actually selling puts us ahead of the game for market correction. Click on the video below to here Matt Woolsey of Forbes.com speak about the national housing market.
What do Target, Caribou Coffee, Best Buy, Northwest Airlines, and General Mills all have in common?
They all rank in the top 10 of publicly held companies with headquarters in Minnesota, ranked by revenue courtesy of the Star Tribune. Each year the paper features the Star Tribune 100, ranking the top 100 companies here in Minneapolis and St Paul. They also track these companies overall sales and profits, comparing their performance against the Standard and Poor’s 500.
According to the Tribune, this is the first time in 5 years that our local top 100 has not bested the S & P 500.
Sure, you know what luxury is…it’s that multi-million dollar home on Lake Minnetonka that you and I can only dream about. We think of the 10,000 square foot house with all the gadgets, pool, spa bathrooms, media room, or even a multi-car garage.
Webster’s Dictionary defines luxury as:
The problem I see now a days is the abuse of the term “luxury”. I see townhomes that claim they are luxury (most likely to only draw in renters), but the vinyl floors, cheap cabinets, and low grade carpet say something else. Now look at the flip side of other townhomes and they have granite countertops, tile floors, maple cabinets, bells and whistles, screaming “this is high end”.
Of course, the price of a home and its amenities do not necessarily make it luxury. Just because the home sold for $3 Million, it may not have the inside characteristics of a true luxury home. Land prices have gone up in desirable areas of the Twin Cities, but building a large home on it, or McMansion, will not make your home “luxurious”. This is becoming more true since so many “average” homes have greatly appreciated in the last few years to become expensive. (If your home was worth $400,000 in 2002, but now is valued at $900,000…trust me, your home is most likely NOT considered a luxury home. It’s just expensive.)
Most real estate agents can spot luxury as soon as they walk in the door. It’s the opulence of the place, the details in architecture and woodwork, the design and floor plan, and quite frankly a feeling that is hard to describe. I sell real estate that can fall into different categories: luxury, high-end, or expensive. Each type is marketed in a different manner, as the buyer’s purchasing in those groups have different expectations and goals.
So I guess my main point is this, next time you see the term “luxury” in a real estate advertisement, really read between the lines and see if it truly is. Most times, it is probably only luxury, not LUXURY.
So what do you think Luxury is?
Read what another fellow luxury blogger has to say about this very issue at The Luxury Home Digest.
The Star Tribune has been writing a series the last few months on foreclosures in the Twin Cities. Seems no one is immune as even luxury homes have been hit in the Lakes area. Foreclosures are up 62% this year alone in Hennepin County.
Take a look at the article to see homes currently in foreclosure or those that have recently been auctioned off by a Sheriff’s Sale. The numbers are truly staggering. Some entire streets of homes are in foreclosure, a detriment to the community.
With homes selling like hotcakes in 2003-2006, is it any wonder that some people bought homes that were beyond their limit? It puts the phrase “Live within Your Means” on a brand-new level.
