Kudos and (Just a Few) Quibbles Kudos to Mpls. St. Paul Magazine for its well-done May, 2016 cover story, “Suburban Sanctuaries, Downtown Gems, and Walkable Havens: 28 Great Places to Live in the Twin Cities” (“on newsstands now,” as they say). If you’re new to town, you’ll want to check out the article for its thumbnail...Read More
Lake of the Isles Classic Original character? Check. Terrific location? Check. Great curb appeal, condition, updates, and well-priced at $1.295 million (below the tax assessed value)? You betcha. So, what’s the . . . uhh, hold-up? A whopping $26,329 annual property tax bill! If the City of Minneapolis was trying to dissuade upper bracket Buyers from...Read More
Test your knowledge of current Minneapolis property taxes, and guess what tax bill goes with this 5 BR/5 BA Kenwood home just north of Lake of the Isles, listed at $799,900: A. $6,479 B. $9,123 C. $12,815 D. $24,286 Answer: D. Yup, depending on how much they put down and what kind of mortgage they...Read More
Jay Leno “Headline?” If it were me writing the headline, I might have gone with one of these instead: “What’s in the City’s Budget?” “Parsing Minneapolis’ Budget” “Property Taxes and the City of Minneapolis Budget” Somehow, against a backdrop of government stalemates, shutdowns, etc., the actual headline (below) comes across as . . . politically tone-deaf...Read More
4200 Basswood Open 1-3 p.m Today! Charles Dickens famously published his novels in London magazines in serial form (the pace of installments reportedly accelerated whenever he was broke). In that spirit (minus the financial motivation), I’m offering the third installment of virtual staging at 4200 Basswood Road, just west of Cedar Lake in St. Louis...Read More
“The Death of the Housing Market?” “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.” –Mark Twain It’s hard to be a student of markets without some passing familiarity with so-called contrarian indicators: those harbingers that signal that a market is at an inflection point, presenting investors with a singular opportunity. That opportunity can either be...Read More
