by Ross Kaplan on July 31, 2011
Ever wonder why — according to Hennepin County tax records — so many properties were built in 1900?
No, that wasn’t the peak of a construction boom.
The answer: county records don’t go back any further.
So, any property built before then is simply coded as “1900.”
In practice, it’s possible to guess the structure’s exact age by examining its foundation (partial, limestone basements suggest a decade or more older than 1900); heating plant, assuming it’s original; and other features like siding, mill work, and leaded glass windows.
by Ross Kaplan on July 31, 2011
I Don’t Think It’s Got Anything to Do With “Learning”
What is the most dismaying thing about “Some Bankers Never Learn,” Gretchen Morgenson’s article documenting mortgage bankers’ efforts to sabotage legislation (Dodd-Frank) 
aimed at cleaning up lending standards?
It’s not the bankers disingenuously arguing that tighter standards will unfairly limit home ownership.
It’s not the bankers’ willful obliviousness to the hundreds of billions spent (so far) propping up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which supposedly were all about “expanding home ownership” (and which Wall Street has conveniently cast as the scapegoat for its own role cratering the housing market and broader economy).
No, the most depressing thing (to me) in Morgenson’s article is what David Stevens, the President of the Mortgage Bankers Association — and mouthpiece for the foregoing arguments — did for a living up until last March.
His former job?
Federal Housing Commissioner at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”).
Do ‘ya think Mr. Stevens was an aggressive advocate for taxpayers and consumers in his former capacity at HUD?
Nah, me neither.
by Ross Kaplan on July 30, 2011
Gone Fishing Sailing!
Yes, real estate will be bought and sold somewhere in the Twin Cities today.
But not by me.
I’ll be sailing on Lake Harriet with a former neighbor and my sons — wind allowing.
by Ross Kaplan on July 29, 2011
“The More Things Change . . . “
Growing up in St. Louis Park’s Fern Hill neighborhood in the early ’70′s, one of the first things you did as a kid was go to the Lincoln Del to grab a treat (my favorite was their apple strudel).
When you got a little older — like 16 or 17 – the ‘Del was the spot to act cool and hang out with your friends, and maybe share a “Triple Tootsie” (corned beef, pastrami, and chopped liver mini-sandwiches on pumpernickel rolls).
Fast forward a couple . . . . uh, decades.
Edina Realty’s Parkwest is combining with my office, City Lakes, and moving into a smashing, new building on the site of the old Lincoln Del née Fishman’s.
So, where’s my new office?
About 15 feet from the spot where I used to sit with my friends in back of the old Lincoln Del . . .
P.S.: My first job was as a grocery bagger/clerk at the old Milt’s grocery store, one block east (now the site of Yum!).
On my first day, the senior bagger gave me the lowdown on how things worked: ‘just remember, there’s the right way to do things, the wrong way to do things — and Milt’s way,” he shared.
“Do it Milt’s way, and you’ll be fine.”
