Late Fall Buying Opportunities, or, “Perils of Overpricing” This Cape Cod-style 1 1/2 story in St. Louis Park’s Fern Hill neighborhood originally came on the market almost six months ago, at $539,900. Now? The price just dropped again (yesterday) to $329,900 — down over $200k(!) from June, and a substantial discount from the tax assessed value...Read More
. . . . When Overall Housing Prices are Static How can housing prices (average and median) be galloping ahead in some Twin Cities neighborhoods, when overall prices are only modestly rising (from still very low levels)? Easy. Explanation #1: not all neighborhoods are experiencing modest appreciation — some are doing GREAT; and Explanation #2: tear-downs....Read More
The Challenge: Corner Lot on a Busy Street As a general proposition, you can’t change a house’s location (at least not easily). While it can still be a challenge, it’s much easier to change the location of the garage and driveway. Why would you want to? If the driveway backed up to a busy street, and the house...Read More
Projected Selling Price: $171,400 Actual Selling Price: $155,000 In a post more than 4(!) years ago titled, “Tear-Down Economics: From Worst to First, or Housing ‘Leapfrog,” I posited a three-step test for determining how much the land underneath a given home was worth. In other words, how much the home would sell for as a tear-down....Read More
Multiple Offer Multiple Choice This (admittedly nondescript) brick cottage in St. Louis Park’s Fern Hill neighborhood came on the market June 1 at a list price of $90,000, and was switched to “Pending” 10 days later. The transaction closed August 13 (and was just posted on MLS this morning). What was the sales price? A....Read More
Silver (Gas) Linings Anyone who’s been in St. Louis Park’s Fern Hill neighborhood lately — just north of the Edina Realty City Lakes office — has doubtless seen the massive street construction project in progress. Normally, block after block of torn up streets suggests that homeowners will eventually be on the hook for a major special assessment. Not this...Read More
