When to Skip Home Improvements In general, I applaud homeowners who want to make improvements to their homes and property. See, “Let’s Hear it For Granny Flats!” However, at least when it comes time to sell, there’s one scenario where owners are better advised to save their cash, and simply market their home to builders: ...Read More
New 2nd Story (and new 1st Story, Too!) In a post a year ago, I speculated that the Dean Parkway rambler (pictured above) was a prime candidate for a popped roof (that is, a 2nd story addition). See, “2nd Story Coming Soon?” That was based on both the home’s terrific location just north of the...Read More
But, That’s Not What You Can Buy It For Estimated Market Value — Building: $400 Estimated Market Value – Land: $150,000 Estimated Market Value – Total: $150,400 –Hennepin County 2014 Property Tax Records It’s not unusual for the land underneath an older, dated home to be worth more than the home itself. That’s especially true for a...Read More
Sizing Up Likely Winners and Losers With the dust literally still settling on the Minneapolis City Council’s March 7 decision to temporarily halt teardowns, it’s premature to sort out all the consequences. But, here’s my preliminary take on likely “winners” and “losers”: Losers: –Buyers and Sellers currently under contract for teardown homes in Minneapolis; –Prospective Minneapolis teardown Sellers; –Minneapolis-focused...Read More
Stuck in the Middle: the Plight of the “Near Tear-Down” While Twin Cites developers — and their clients — are once again on the prowl for tear-downs, unfortunately for would-be Sellers of such homes, not everything qualifies. In particular, a great many homes fall into a broad gray area, where they’re too expensive for many...Read More
Minneapolis Moratorium on Redevelopment “Ex post facto law” (Latin for “from after the action” or “after the facts”): also called a retroactive law, is a law that retroactively changes the legal consequences (or status) of actions that were committed, or relationships that existed, before the enactment of the law. –Wikipedia [Editor’s Note: see also the...Read More
