Want Your Own Private Skyway?*Where: 96xx Oak Ridge Trail in MinnetonkaWhat: 5 BR/4 Bath, 3,800 FSF contemporary on .5 acre lotHow much: $325,900 (asking price)Tax value: $710,700 This sprawling, bank-owned contemporary (read, foreclosure) in Oak Ridge Trails seems like a screaming bargain. Until you go in. While it appears (to me) to be structurally sound,...Read More
Keeping Country Club . . . Country Club My law-practicing days (in the early ’90’s) are fading fast, but I do recall a basic principle about constitutional (vs. unconstitutional) zoning restrictions: general rules with a strong public policy component work, overly specific ones don’t. So, cities that don’t want Wal-Mart’s can’t simply pass an ordinance...Read More
Attributes of Tear-Down Neighborhoods I’ve posted previously about the somewhat counter-intuitive attributes of tear-down houses (“Tear-Down Economics,” “Contender . . . or Pretender?”), so I’m not going to revisit the analysis here. However, tear-down neighborhoods — areas with lots of tear-down activity — also have their own attributes. Here’s what they seem to have in...Read More
“They’re Asking How Much??” Where: 5500 Park Place, in Edina’s South Harriet Park neighborhoodAsking Price: $549,900 (white picket fence included)Key Stats: 3 BR/2BA; 1,500 FSF. Year built: 1947Lot Size: 60′ x 134.8′Time on Market: 64 days In any other Twin Cities neighborhood, this unassuming 3BR/2BA home with a white picket fence would be worth $150,000,...Read More
From Worst to First, or, Housing “Leapfrog” More than one would-be Seller has quietly harbored the hope that they wouldn’t have to spend big money getting their home ready for market — or face Buyers beating them up on their home’s condition — because, after all, “it’s probably a tear-down.” Unfortunately, more than 95% of...Read More
