“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
One Less Rambler Near the Lakes Continually replace the cheapest house on the block with the most expensive, and what happens? The block’s median sales price increases. Sometimes gradually, if the pace is slow. Or sometimes, quite rapidly, in the case of several high-demand pockets near the City Lakes right now. Thanks to such redevelopment,...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
“1/1/1,” or, Can You Say, “Teardown?” Yes, it’s hard to see. But, if you look closely, you’ll see an itty-bitty home — all 560 square feet of it — in the left center of the top photo. The close-up shot (below) helps, a little . . . P.S.: “1/1/1/” stands for “one Bedroom, one Bathroom, one-car...Read More
“Sloppy” Pricing — or Something Else? Even in a market with more “sloppy” pricing — properties listed either well below market value (occasionally) or well above (more often) — the new listing near Cedar Lake in Minneapolis stood out: an undersized ’50’s rambler on a level, huge 73′ x 135′ lot just waiting to be torn down and replaced with...Read More
Coming (Down) Soon! OK, so — unlike felling a tree — there’s really no “Timber!” sound associated with tearing down a home. But, the graphic above does a nice job conveying the likely fate of the home at 5140 Thomas Ave. South, in Minneapolis’ Fulton neighborhood (between Linden Hills and the Minnehaha Creek). Just so...Read More
