Archive for June, 2009
Plymouth, MN - Real Estate Statistics - May, 2009
June 29th, 2009 Categories: Plymouth Current Housing Statistics, Real Estate News
Here are the latest statistics from the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors for Plymouth. The chart explains itself, but in a nutshell, there were a whopping 11.8% less single family homes on the market by the end of May this year than last year.
The housing affordability has not been this good since 2004, according to the association. I believe that we’re near the end of the price cuts, too. Plymouth’s average sales price for May alone was 7.2% above last year’s average sale price.
What this says to me is that Plymouth homeowners are digging in and not allowing their homes to be undersold. This signifies that the market is becoming more balanced. If home owners can’t sell their home for what they want, they’re not going to list in the first place. CLICK ON THE CHART FOR A LARGER PICTURE!
| Discussion: No Comments »
That Little Gray House With The Black Shutters…With a Big Past!
June 11th, 2009 Categories: North Minneapolis, Real Estate News, That Flippin' House, Twin Cities Home Buyers, Twin Cities Real Estate Economy, Twin City Sellers
Don’t get me wrong, I like nothing more than to tell a “feel good” story without a past. Unfortunately, life doesn’t always swing that way.
Lucky for a few, my client, Jennifer, aka, Flipper Girl, makes dreams come true. Now, I’m not a Pollyanna-type blog writer and, trust me, Jennifer isn’t the Pollyanna type either, but she is all over making dreams come true.
This week, I had a reporter from the Star Trib call me for some info about a house that Jennifer rehabbed. Turns out, it was the very first house that was given up by the Greater Minneapolis Housing Corporation. That’s no easy feat. I had a few discussions with the powers-that-be over there. I had to send pics of the other homes that Miss Jennifer had rehabbed to make sure the they would accept her work on the FIRST EVER TJ WACONIA property to be turned over to the public.
They said, “OK”. That’s a BIG DEAL!
Here’s the story of the woman who purchased it from Jennifer that was written by the Star Trib in yesterday’s paper…
Program helps heal wounds of North Side housing fraud
The house sits on a quiet street across from a fire station. The gray stucco looks freshly painted and the front windows are framed by black shutters. Inside, hardwood floors gleam in the morning sun as Jackline Mukiibi, 25, shows off her home, the first home owned by anyone in her family.
Daughter Ava, 3, is away at day care, but her photos sit atop a shelf. Over by the stereo is evidence of a fledgling modeling career, a Target ad featuring the toddler.
It doesn’t look like a house with a notorious past, but it is. Mukiibi’s tidy home was part of the TJ Waconia real estate scam that washed through the North Side. Over a three-year period, developers Jonathan Helgason and Thomas Balko of TJ Waconia bought and resold houses for inflated prices to straw-buyer investors, triggering a foreclosure crisis that left many homeless and many homes abandoned. In April, Helgason and Balko were sentenced to eight and seven years in federal prison, respectively, for their crimes.
Mukiibi represents an effort to reclaim that part of the city, one house at a time. Hers is believed to be the first of the 141 homes from the scam to be sold.
Working through City of Lakes Community Land Trust and taking savvy advantage of several other programs that encourage home ownership, Mukiibi cobbled together a mortgage loan and down payment and moved from her tiny apartment in February.
Mukiibi paid $703 a month for her apartment. Now she lives in a three-bedroom, two-bath house with a finished basement, family room and a fenced yard for $728 per month.
Born in Uganda, Mukiibi came to the United States with her parents when she was 2 years old. “I dreamed of owning a house when I was a little girl,” she said. But she got pregnant at 21, which seemed to limit her ability to buy in the near future. Mukiibi works for a nonprofit and goes to school full time at Metropolitan State University, where she is earning a degree in ethnic studies.
| Discussion: 1 Comment »
