Real Estate Snippets

RSS Feed Homepage

Articles: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Foreclosures in St. Paul
2008-03-19 03:47:00
After my post from yesterday that spreads encouragement about the St. Paul real estate market, let me throw a little cold water into the mix.  Once again how one views the market depends on whose shoes you are wearing.  My experience the last two weeks in showing houses in the $200,000 to $300,000 range has been an eye opener for my St. Paul buyers.  The stereotype of foreclosed homes is that only homes in the lower price ranges are lost to foreclosure.  In today's market, that is not the case.  Of 25 homes we viewed in that price range, only 4 were occupied.  Eighty-four percent of the homes we viewed were either foreclosed or the sellers had moved on without first selling their St. Paul area home.  That is a high percentage.  The other impression my buyers had was that they can get a much larger home in their price range than they could have 4 years ago.  Since they are moving back from out of state, getting more home for the dollar ...
More About: Foreclosures , St Paul

Real Estate Experience Precedes the Statistics
2008-03-18 03:10:00
My crystal ball is out, but I won't say it's a predictor of the market. It just means I'm going to share my impressions of the market. In the fall of 2005 when the St. Paul real estate market skidded...
More About: Estate , Real Estate , Market trends , Experience , Statistics

Radiolosaur
2008-03-17 02:08:00
Radiolosaur had one of the prettier display areas this summer just outside the Lake Harriet bandshell in Minneapolis. Radiolosaur was created by Mark and Brittany Brown for Minnesota Radiology. The new home for Dr. C. T. Rex Ray is at...

The Real Estate Market
2008-03-17 01:18:00
It's almost a buzz word. At parties, in the office, at school, in the grocery line, the minute someone hears I'm a REALTOR®, the question pops out, "How's the market doing?" It's like asking a plumber if water is hot...
More About: Estate , Real Estate , Real Estate Market , Market , Market trends

Home Ownership Responsibilities
2008-03-17 00:29:00
The picture is definitely not a squirrel. At least it doesn't look like any squirrel I've ever seen. It's tail is like a rat, smooth and hairless, and its snout doesn't even resemble a squirrel. It's a "tree rat" or...
More About: Home , Home Improvement , Responsibilities

Flower Borders
2008-03-13 04:11:00
We've all seen these brilliant red salvia flowers in St. Paul.  Most often they are planted in groups or in several rows creating dramatic borders.  What a surprise to discover some species of the salvia plant are in danger of being outlawed!  The salvia plants in question are purported to be the next marijuana.  Florida and Alabama both have legislators concerned with possible chemical abuse by smoking the salvia plant. Sage is also a member of the salvia family.  What would Thanksgiving dressing be without sage?  Imagine Grandma sneaking down to the local drug dealer so she can spice up her dressing properly. Other articles on salvia can be found in the Cleveland news, the Associated Press, and Google produced pages and pages of information for those really interested in the family of flowers called salvia. Thanks to Carole Cohen of Cleveland Real Estate News for a heads up on this "dangerous" flower!
More About: Flower , Borders

St. Paul Sales February 2008
2008-03-12 05:07:00
This chart is based on information from the REGIONAL MULTIPLE LISTING SERVICE OF MINNESOTA, INC for the period February 1, 2008, through February 29, 2008. Clicking on the chart will enlarge the image so that it is readable. There is...
More About: Sales , Paul , St Paul , February 2008

Relocation Companies and Referral Fees
2008-03-11 05:04:00
Relocation companies and referral fees are a bit of a mystery to me. I don't mind paying a referral fee when the company legitimately calls me and is the first point of contact for a St. Paul home seller or...
More About: Companies , Fees , Referral , Relocation

Baseball Dinosaurs
2008-03-09 06:09:00
Baseball season is fast approaching despite the fact that snow covers the St. Paul landscape.  The Minnesota Twins home opener is March 31.  The Diggin' Dino on the left is Joe Mauerasaurus created in honor of St. Paul's Joe Mauer by Brandon Kuehn and Stacy Azlein for the Minnesota Twins.  Joe, the Dino, is still in front of the Xcel Energy Center awaiting the snowmelt and the official opening of the season. Not to be outdone, the Saint Paul Saints, St. Paul's minor league team, has its season opener on May 8.  Fun Is Goodasaurus spent the summer of 2007 at Midway Stadium on Energy Park Drive west of Snelling Ave.  If you have not been to a Saints game, give it a whirl.  Tailgaters throw great parties in the parking lot, hot dogs come with the works, the fans actually cheer and do the wave.  In a nutshell, the Saints games are like baseball used to be!  You can even take the whole family without spending your retirement check! ...
More About: Baseball , Dinosaurs

Registered Vacant Building
2008-03-07 05:54:00
What do you do when you come home from work to find these signs on your front door? This is your only home and there is a notice to vacate on the door. What do you do? The water was...
More About: Building , Paul , Vacant

Costs in Buying a House
2008-03-06 05:10:00
First time home buyers are often anxious about the cost of buying a home. Not only are they committing to a monthly payment for what seems the rest of their lives, but they also have to fork over a bunch...
More About: House , Buying , Home Buyers , A House , Costs

Two Houses
2008-03-05 03:25:00
Since I deal with houses everyday, It's a good thing that architecture fascinates me. In middle school, there was a class in Greek and Roman architecture which I loved. I spent hours drawing and redrawing the different styles of columns....
More About: Houses

Name Calling?
2008-03-04 06:46:00
People who are older than dirt remember Art Linkletter's show "Kids Say the Darndest Things." Segment after segment of Art's film clips showed kids being their natural selves. Well, I propose that real estate clients say the darndest things. Last...
More About: Home Buyers , Calling

New Form of Marketing
2008-03-03 06:35:00
My St. Paul buyers gave permission to the listing agent to stick this sign in the snowy front yard of their St. Paul house after the closing. It was a nice gesture to let the neighborhood know the home was...
More About: Marketing , Form

St. Paul's Winter Is Almost Over
2008-03-02 06:09:00
That's the tail end of Minnesota's Seasonsasaurus created by Cheryl Pudas for Custom Drywall, Inc. It's not only the tail end of the dino, but St. Paul residents are hoping it's the tail end of this year's winter as well....
More About: Winter

Real Estate Clients
2008-03-01 08:21:00
Sometimes my St. Paul real estate clients don't reveal themselves until after they've purchased a house. It's fascinating to discover the hidden talents behind seemingly normal people who behave themselves quite nicely while shopping for houses from my car. Such...
More About: Estate , Real Estate , Clients , Real

St. Paul and Minneapolis Affordability Index
2008-02-29 04:47:00
I know I listened in my high school economics class because I got an "A". I was there and obviously spewed back the information required of me, but, either I've forgotten a lot, or there was a lot that wasn't...
More About: Market trends , Paul , St Paul , Minneapolis , Index

The Real Estate Market
2008-02-28 06:52:00
Jeff Allen, the Minneapolis Area Association of REALTORS Research Manager, published a 2007 real estate market report for the entire Twin Cities area. Jeff's writing style kept me engaged throughout his statistical analysis. Usually I'm skimming ahead because most statistics...
More About: Estate , Real Estate , Real Estate Market , Market , Market trends

Buyers Inspection
2008-02-27 06:36:00
It was a fun couple of hours. Inspections in vacant houses go more quickly and efficiently so we were out of there promptly after two hours. Today's purchase was a St. Paul house being sold as part of a short...
More About: Home Buyers , Buyers

Bright Greenasaurus
2008-02-24 06:15:00
I found myself staring through green gel gem shamrocks on my kitchen window at the melting snow and longing for the green to start sprouting from my garden. St. Paul will probably get several more cold spells and some snow...
More About: Bright

Knee Jerk Solutions
2008-02-23 06:10:00
Once again I'm watching as policy and rule makers scurry around trying to solve a problem that has existed for a long time, but a tragedy or lawsuit has brought the issue to the forefront. This week the calamity is...
More About: Jerk , Solutions

St. Paul Council Public Hearing
2008-02-22 06:14:00
The murals in the St. Paul City Council chambers were lit during the public hearing. They had been dark during the tour taken last year. It was amazing what a difference the lights made to the intensity of the pictures....
More About: Public , St Paul , Hearing

Get Rid of Those Magnets
2008-02-20 18:20:00
N There are several big bad no-no's in taking listing pictures. They include taking pictures of your own purse which you dropped on the table in order to take the picture; leaving the toilet seat open; magnets on the fridge;...
More About: Magnets

Condemned Houses
2008-02-20 00:38:00
Nooooooo! Not again! Yes, again. Vacant houses are the reality of today's market. Some St. Paul houses are vacant because the owners faced foreclosure and walked away. Some are vacant because the City of St. Paul pulled their occupancy permit...
More About: Houses , Condemned

Spring Is in the Air
2008-02-18 04:09:00
Spring is definitely in the air. It's still cold outside, but the St. Paul snow is melting. How do I know this? Because I just washed my car yesterday and it looks like these cars today! I only drove 40...
More About: Spring

St. Paul Abandoned Properties
2008-02-16 05:31:00
The pictured house obviously has been abandoned and is not in the city. However, with so many people facing foreclosure and no money vested in the properties by the delinquent homeowners (i.e., no down payments), it's becoming more common for...
More About: Paul , St Paul , Properties , Abandoned

Mud on the Face
2008-02-15 06:19:00
There are times when one wants to put a sack over one's head and pretend some things never happened. Such was my experience with a Minnesota relocation client. Mrs. IWTRTM (I Want to Retire to Minnesota) and I had successfully...
More About: Face

Feedblitz Blogging Resources
2008-02-12 19:05:00
I discovered something new today! In my right side bar is a place that gives my readers the opportunity to sign up to get e-mail updates when I post a new blog entry. The heading says, "GET BLOG UPDATES" with...
More About: Resources , Blogging

Know Your Neighbors
2008-02-12 04:49:00
We stood side by side at the dining room window, my clients and I. This St. Paul house was an option, but there were a couple mysteries to solve. The listing sheet said there was a two car garage, but...
More About: Home Buyers , Neighbors

Adversity Makes Friends
2008-02-11 06:45:00
Minnesotans love to brag about their weather. A camaraderie is formed by having survived frigid temperatures walking barefoot three miles to school in the blizzard uphill both ways! It's a Minnesota joke. Yah, you betcha. Well, St. Paul is experiencing...
More About: Friends , Adversity