Two (Oversized?) New Homes in Place of One I know firsthand that the neighbors aren’t thrilled with the increased density (I live nearby). Nor are they happy with the size of the new homes, which dwarf the next-door homes in both height and finished square feet. But, I certainly understand the business logic of the...Read More
Waiting for Supply to Catch Up to Demand According to Pat Hamill, chief executive of Oakwood Homes, it will likely take several more years before builders have the capacity to fully meet demand. “We lost a lot of builders, lost of a lot of trade contractors. We lost a lot of people to other industries,”...Read More
“Anyone Know a Good Welder??” I don’t know about the rest of the economy, but inflation is very much afoot in the upper reaches of the Twin Cities housing market — specifically, new homes. Anecdotally, I’d estimate that prices for upper bracket new construction in places like Edina, Minnetonka, and select Minneapolis and St. Louis...Read More
When is the Best Time to List a Tear-Down? Conventional wisdom (which I happen to agree with) is that early Spring is the best time for Sellers to list their home. Is there a best time to list a home that’s destined to be a tear-down? I’d argue that it’s also . . early Spring....Read More
How to Financially Qualify Home Buyers — and Home Builders One of the things you get pretty good at (hopefully) in the course of representing home Sellers for 12+ years is, how to qualify — that is, get comfortable with — the Buyer’s financing. To be sure, I have a preferred list of questions I like...Read More
Financing New Construction There are a multitude of ways for Buyers to finance the construction of a new home, including going through the builder (especially true of the bigger ones). However, the two main choices from bank lenders are: 1) what’s called a “construction-to-perm(anent) loan”; and 2) an initial mortgage to purchase the lot, followed...Read More
