When Bigger Isn’t Better Just like the discount for a one-car garage varies, so, too, does the discount for a home with no basement (at least in the Twin Cities housing market, where single family homes routinely come with — and Buyers expect — finished basements). The biggest variable driving the discount for no basement?...Read More
Pros and Cons For Downsizing Baby Boomers Surprise, surprise, that stalwart of the ’50’s — the one-story rambler (known as a “ranch” on the coasts) — is making a comeback. They can be especially appealing to downsizing Baby Boomers, who are looking for one-level living, in a smaller home, with the privacy and backyard that go with a detached, single-family...Read More
How to Increase Your Property’s Value . . . For Free! Psssttt! Hey, you! Twin Cities condo owner! Want to increase your property’s value 2% – 3% — conservatively — without spending a dime? Seriously. What’s the catch? There isn’t one (unless, perhaps, you happen to have bad allergies). Have your building association revisit its...Read More
Three (and one half) Theories One of the more confounding things about today’s — shall we say — “unusual” housing market is the conspicuous absence of what Realtors used to call the “sweat equity” Buyer. In no particular order, here are the three explanations I hear most often — and find most credible. One. Soft...Read More
Can’t Sell It? Sub-Divide It! As has been painfully noisily clear the last week or so, the landlord’s solution to filling the hard-to-lease retail space — directly below the Edina Realty – City Lakes office in Calhoun Village — has been to subdivide it. So, instead of the 3,000 square foot-plus space formerly occupied by Hollywood...Read More
For Lunch: Quiche and Cold Cuts (Subs, actually) Please join me tomorrow (Jan. 18) at 2615 Monterey in St. Louis Park’s Fern Hill neighborhood between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. This 2 Bedroom, 1 Bath stucco charmer has all-new windows, refinished hardwood floors, and new interior paint. Just the right size for first-time Buyers —...Read More
