Archive for the 'Minneapolis Home Buyers and Sellers' Category
2755 Russell Avenue North Sneak Peek!
March 20th, 2009 Categories: Minneapolis Home Buyers and Sellers, North Minneapolis, Real Estate News, That Flippin' House
In the dining room, the hardwood floors are the original birch. Wow!
This is the same home that I showed you a couple of months ago that was totally trashed. Everything has been completely restored to its natural beauty and new updates are in the kitchen and bath…as usual!
This has to be Jennifer’s best flip, yet. We will be putting it on the market next week. If you would like to see this property, please give me a call to schedule an appointment!
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Silly Property Repair #5 - Can You Say, “Mitre Box”?
March 20th, 2009 Categories: Minneapolis Home Buyers and Sellers, North Minneapolis, Real Estate News, Silly Property Repairs, That Flippin' House
Touring through the rehab candidates in North Minneapolis is always an adventure. My clients and I find so many interesting treasures. Many of them are beautiful old windows, light fixtures and built-ins.
Jennifer, the famous North Minneapolis flipper, and I toured a home and found it to have been partially finished. It was clear that the previous owners had bought it to rehab, but ran out of money and/or patience. It’s not easy to do a good rehab on a home. It takes stamina, guts and money.
These pictures are of the hack job they did on the moldings throughout the home. All that work!
We didn’t buy the home. It went into multiple offers before we even got a chance to give feedback to the listing agent. Multiple offers are typical, as of late.
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There’s Money Out There, Buyers! Here’s One Way to Buy an Affordable Home!
March 1st, 2009 Categories: Minneapolis Home Buyers and Sellers, North Minneapolis, Real Estate News, That Flippin' House
My client, Jennifer the Flipper, just closed on a very special home in North Minneapolis this past week. This was 3306 James Avenue North, the first home to be had that was once owned by the infamous TJ Waconia thugs.
Jennifer did a beautiful job on this home and it received a purchase agreement on just it’s second showing to a potential buyer.
Now, that’s awesome, Jennifer!
Here are some pictures of the inside and a link to previous posts and to Johnny Northside’s blog who also has taken the time to write about this great home.
The cool part about this sale was that it is going to be owner occupied, not left in the hands of another slum lord only to trash up the Folwell Neighborhood. This owner got some great incentives and grant money to be used as a down payment. Here’s the skinny:
Folwell Neighborhood Grant Funding: $4,000
City of Lakes Community Land Trust Funding: $21,000
Hennepin County Affordable Housing Incentive Fund: $30,000
Folks, that’s a whopping $55,000 in grants and funding!
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Move Over, Folwell (and a Few Other Neighborhoods in North Minneapolis), Hawthorne’s Got a New Plan!
January 11th, 2009 Categories: Minneapolis Home Buyers and Sellers, Mortgage Stuff, North Minneapolis, Real Estate News, Twin Cities Home Buyers
How many times do we hear of blighted neighborhoods trying to revitalize themselves only to fall back into the “we tried this and it didn’t work” mentality?
We may hear it again from some naysayers, but this time there is a VERY ATTRACTIVE incentive program that should raise a few eyebrows! The Hawthorne Neighborhood in North Minneapolis has just voted on the creation of a new program to assist home buyers with a purchase of a home in Hawthorne. It’s called the “Hawthorne Advantage”.
Here are the details without going into too much detail:
- You must live in the home after purchase (owner-occupied).
- 3% of the purchase price of the home will be granted to you and subtracted off the price of the home on the HUD-1 statement at the closing.
- An extra $1,000 will be granted to you if you purchase a previously foreclosed property.
What’s the downside? You will have to pay back the loan if you do not stay in the home for a minimum of five years to begin to “pay back” the loan up to ten years. After the ten years, the lien is removed and the loan is 100% forgiven. The idea is that you will want to stay and commit to the betterment of this community.
This program is brand spankin’ new, so it is not up on the Hawthorne website yet. Now is the time to start buying those diamonds in the rough in Hawthorne. Interest rates are at record lows, you can use grant money from the City of Minneapolis and, now, the Hawthorne Neighborhood’s Hawthorne Advantage.
Take advantage of it!
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A Silly Property Repair in North Minneapolis - A New Use for a Pie Tin
January 1st, 2009 Categories: Minneapolis Home Buyers and Sellers, North Minneapolis, Real Estate News
Let’s see…maybe the homeowner didn’t want to get water on the socket so as not to electrocute himself or to short out the circuit. This pie pan is between the socket and the junction box. I just can’t figure out Read the rest of this entry »
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The Secret to Marketing a Home on the Internet
December 31st, 2008 Categories: Minneapolis Home Buyers and Sellers, My Listings, Real Estate News, Twin Cities Home Buyers, Twin City Sellers
As a Realtor, I need to be one step ahead of my competition and always on the ball when it comes to marketing my listings. It is a known fact that 87% of potential home buyers now cruise the internet real estate websites before they call their Realtor. I make sure my listings are in tip-top marketing shape before I present them to the world.
One way that my clients can find out what’s been happening out there in the market besides actual showings of their home is to have me send them some statistics from these websites. We call these “hits”.
I do this every Monday so that it gives them an idea of the traffic that visits their actual listing on line. Since I supply many pictures of the interior of the home, people will “stop by” and take a closer look at the property. I also supply a bold headline and other various marketing tools on Realtor.com. Click here to see this home on Realtor.com so that you know what I mean.
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Flipper Girl’s Latest North Minneapolis Property - Ya Gotta See This!
December 30th, 2008 Categories: Cool Girls, Minneapolis Home Buyers and Sellers, North Minneapolis, Real Estate News, That Flippin' House, Twin Cities Home Buyers
Here she comes again! My talented client, Jennifer (aka Flipper Girl), has just purchased her latest diamond in the rough to transform in to a thing of beauty. This home is your typical craftsman style with natural woodwork, hardwood floors and a nice, big upstairs for a dreamy master suite.
Here are some more before pics…
This is actually the “after” pic. The “before” pic was the one with the Aldi grocery bag on the floor. Here’s a link from Johnny Northside’s website that shows all of the trashy pics.
This will end up being the dreamy master suite. I think Jennifer is going to remove this wall on the right to make for a larger space.
That’s it for now! Just a little teaser of things to come. Stay tuned!
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Thinking of Buying a Home in January? Take a Look at the New FHA Rules That Must Be Met
December 16th, 2008 Categories: Minneapolis Home Buyers and Sellers, Mortgage Stuff, Real Estate News, Twin Cities Home Buyers
First time home buyers, and any home buyer for that matter who chooses to take out an FHA loan, will have to save up a little more cash.
Beginning January 1, 2009 the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 changed the National Housing Act to read as follows: Read the rest of this entry »
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STOP FliPPiN’ in North Minneapolis
December 2nd, 2008 Categories: Minneapolis Home Buyers and Sellers, North Minneapolis, Real Estate News, That Flippin' House
Last Friday morning after a fun-filled Thanksgiving day my son, Jim, and I took a ride over to my client’s house at 3306 James Avenue North. You know, the historic first TJ Waconia home to be sold since the Greater Metropolitan Housing Corporation took them over. Jennifer, my client, is putting on the finishing touches and I wanted to show it off to Jim, who also is in the real estate biz down in Milwaukee.
After we left Jennifer’s property, we wheeled around the corner and here was this stop sign with the spray-painted word “flippin” under it. Actually, it says FliPPiN. Don’t you just hate it when people write a word in both upper and lower case? I mean, how gauche!
The question becomes, who would want to STOP FliPPiN?
Flipping, as most of us now know the term, means to turn an ugly, run down home into one that someone can now inhabit and enjoy. Hopefully, the flipper can make a profit. That’s the whole idea. So, who would do this? My only guess is it is someone who would like to keep the neighborhood the way it is so that he or she can spend some time in a vacant home to do their business. Like…say…drug dealing, partying, prostitution and more.
With the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP), a project of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Minneapolis will receive $5.6 million and St. Paul $4.3 million to purchase and rehab foreclosed homes. Some will be rehabbed and some will be demolished. That has yet to be determined. Along with the Greater Metropolitan Housing Corporation, private investors like my client will be buying foreclosed properties and turning them into the lovely homes they once were.
3306 James Avenue North will be available for purchase beginning this Friday, December 5th. Call me for a personal tour at 763-443-9148. The asking price will be $139,900.
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Bullet Holes and Duct Tape in North Minneapolis
November 30th, 2008 Categories: Cool Guys, Minneapolis Home Buyers and Sellers, North Minneapolis, Real Estate News, Silly Property Repairs, That Flippin' House
In the past week I’ve had the pleasure of showing off my client’s new TJ Waconia flip at 3306 James Avenue North to one of North Minneapolis’ most insightful residents, Johnny Northside.
We spent an entire day together scoping out different aspects of his neighborhood, Hawthorne, to be exact. We made a few sudden stops to check out the homes that had unknown visitors lurking about. Johnny wants to make sure that the people there are supposed to be there and not making off with copper and other belongings of the residents.
We also saw some beautiful homes that have been well-kept, the eco-village and the tree nursery in the neighborhood.
We saw shoes Read the rest of this entry »
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