Real Estate Snippets

Touch of a Mother's Hand

Sometimes it seems the touch of a mother's hand is universal.  Check out this video to really appreciate the "universalness" of motherhood.

April 2007 Real Estate Stats

Spring has sprung in the St  Paul real estate market.  New listings have more than tripled last month's numbers.  Closed sales in Ramsey County tripled last month's closings as well.  That is a good sign for Ramsey County.  Both Hennepin and Ramsey County show a big increase in accepted purchase agreements over last month.  Dare we be cautiously optimistic that a good change is in the works?

The above figures were based on information from the Regional Multiple Listing Service of Minnesota, Inc. for the period March 1, 2007, through April 30, 2007.  Information is deemed reliable but not guaranteed.

St. Paul's West Side Story

Cinco de Mayo was Saturday as announced by this sign on the corner of Robert St. and Cesar Chavez Street on Friday.  Cesar Chavez Street used to be part of Concord Street and even I, a St. Paul immigrant, remember when Cesar Chavez Street was not there.  Even my 2004 King's Map Book does not show Cesar Chavez Street. 

Because this portion of Concord St. on the West Side of St. Paul became a center for so many of the Hispanic cultural celebrations including Cinco de Mayo, 23 businesses and 208 residents changed their street name in November, 2003.  The street was renamed in honor of Cesar Estrada Chavez, an Hispanic American farm labor leader.  Imagine the resultant confusion from that kind of change!  Not just the post office, but every piece of mail those businesses and residents received had to receive a change of mailing address!

Did anyone catch that this area is on the "West Side" of St. Paul?  Much like Northeast Minneapolis where going north brings the traveler through south east addresses before getting to "north", calling the south side of the river, the "West Side" of St. Paul makes no sense . . . unless the importance of the Mississippi River to St. Paul is taken into consideration.  The grand ol' Mississippi actually cuts through St. Paul in a westerly direction but in nautical terms, the river runs north and south.  Therefore, in nautical terms everything on the right side of the river (when ascending the river or going north) is considered east and everything on the left is considered west.  Because the part of St. Paul south of the river is on the left when going north on the river, it was dubbed the "West Side".

Unemployed? No Problem!

 

When one applies for a mortgage, it would seem safe to assume that employment would be a prerequisite to approval for that loan.  According to Caveat Emptor there is a website that will graciously help the applicant commit fraud by falsely verifying employment or source of funds for a mortgage!  Gainful employment is not necessary with the dastardly help from this website.  I wonder if somewhere on their site, there is a "surgeon general's warning" that use of this site could land you in jail!  The last time I checked, falsely entering information on a mortgage application is considered fraud.  That's definitely the "F" word in real estate.  Fraud gets you a free pass to jail without passing "Go"!

Missing Windows

They were there on Wednesday when I last checked the vacant St. Paul house.  Saturday our contractor did a cursory check while in the neighborhood and they were gone.  The thieves were very nice.  They actually left the key in the lock (after breaking the lock box to get the key out) so we could get in as well.  They even scribed the paint around the windows so when they removed them there wasn't a lot of damage!  That was so kind of them to be careful of our woodwork.  It was not so kind of them to have stolen the windows.  If by chance you see one of the above windows in a St. Paul antique shop, give me a call because they belong in my colleague's house!

Child Control

There are all kinds of ways for a shop owner to get the message across to parents that they should supervise their children.  Linda Davis, a blogging colleague, caught a great threat to parents in Bernalillo, New Mexico, while on a business trip last week.  Believe me, with a warning like that one, I'd make sure my kids were under surveillance during their entire visit!

Sharing Real Estate

This is a real garage in northeast Minneapolis.  Northeast is a town unto its own.  It's the section of Minneapolis where one goes north from downtown and encounters southeast addresses!  If one continues north for long enough, the addresses eventually become northeast, but wading through southeast first is your right of passage to get north!

Considering the reputation northeast has for being unique and being an area of town that watches out for its neighborhoods and its neighbors, where eclectic is okay, and where artsy is in, the garage in the picture (click to enlarge) may be de rigeur.  Maybe this is real estate art.  Personally I think some views are best avoided from across the street!

But check out this new picture (again click to enlarge).  The plot thickens and now the color scheme makes sense!  Not only do these two neighbors have different tastes in color choices, but they have a shared driveway and a shared garage!  The garage most likely is built on the property line and the peach house owns the peach garage half and the gray house owns the gray.  One would definitely need good relationship skills to make this kind of arrangement work.

While this is the first garage I've seen like this it's not the first building with two color schemes.  Twin homes that are individually owned and not part of an association often have different color schemes, siding choices, roof colors, etc.  Because each half of a twin home is individually owned and there are no by-laws of an association to prevent each owner making their own choices that differ from the owner of the other half of the building, the poor building can end up looking like a clown with a happy face on one side and a sad face on the other.  New roof and siding on one side; old roof and siding on the other.  It's legal, but looks weird! 

Sometimes the two owners have different tastes and stubbornly go their separate ways.  Sometimes one owner's budget allows for the change when the other's does not.  Whatever the reasons for two halves of the same building being drastically different, it still looks pretty gruesome!  This is one factor to consider when buying a twin home that is not governed by an association.  Can you convince your neighbor to make changes when you do?  Will they share in the responsiblity?  If the neighbor is not willing to upgrade are you willing to upgrade and look different?  Remember that resale of a two toned building will reduce the value even when your side is the good looking one!  Who wants to share a building with someone who is not capable of compromise on the exterior appearance!

All Rehabbers Are Not Equal

Not all rehabbers are equal and not all homes that have been rehabbed are equal! 

My first clue was when the owner/agent/rehabber kept referring to the St. Paul Truth in Housing as the baseline for what should, and should not, have been repaired.  Since the St. Paul Truth in Housing is a bare minimum disclosure rather than an intensive home inspection many important items are not covered.  The TIH  didn't call out the white paint used to cover black PVC plumbing pipes which improperly connected to white PVC pipes (plumbing code defines different rules for joining black and white PVC pipes); or the circular trap in the bath vanity; or the lack of clamps on wiring through metal electrical boxes; or the nests in all of the attic vents; or the big fascia hole made by a squirrel; or the missing furnace filter and cover for the furnace filter cavity.  The list goes on and on.  Mechanical things that cost very little to fix but are missed by the inexperienced rehabber.  This rehabber must have watched the infomercials and thought, "I can do that and make a mint."  Her husband's comment at closing, "This was our first and last rehab.  I'm going back to what I know how to do."

The work they did was very nice.  Top of the line cosmetics were used: kitchen cabinets, stainless appliances, a dresser style vanity for the bath, Cambria sink, etc.  But those things were not as mechanically important as the list of things missed.  The problem is that buyers see the cosmetics and want to ignore the mechanicals.  Had less expensive but still nice cosmetics been used and the saved money used to hire an electrician and plumber, the house would have been a 10.  It looked like a 10, but the book can't be judged by its cover! 

The buyers' inspector found the hidden items.  Some were fixed and some were not.  The buyers have agreed to take on some of the missed items.  Had they not hired the inspector, they would not have known.  The domino effect would then come into play.  The future buyers probably would have had an inspection and suddenly the rehabbers' missed list would have become this owner's problem.

 

Reality Real Estate

I missed the debut of HGTV's new reality series "Bought and Sold".  Considering the review given by Gene Molloy, it's probably a good thing I did miss it.  Like so many other portrayals of real estate agents, it sounds like this one followed suit.  To read Gene's opinion, click here.