Archive for the 'That Flippin’ House' Category
Twin Cities - What You Should Know Before You Buy That Flippin’ House
October 9th, 2009 Categories: Real Estate News, That Flippin' House
The big Twin Cities area foreclosure auction has come and gone. Many homes were sold to would-be investors who want to flip their new purchase. Some of these investors had never been inside the house that they just purchased.
Finding just the right home to fix up and resell can take time. There are many things you must consider before you buy. There’s been a real surge of homes sales to people who got caught up in the Flip This House craze.
Here’s how to make sure your flip doesn’t flop. Read the rest of this entry »
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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.
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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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In North Minneapolis, This Guy Tried to Stop Us.
January 30th, 2009 Categories: Cool Girls, North Minneapolis, Real Estate News, That Flippin' House
Jennifer, my client who rehabs homes in North Minneapolis, and I found a great house that we just knew would be a great rehab project. As we left the property, we came upon this cute little guy with knives in each fist ready to fend us off. (You’ll need to click on this picture a couple of times to get the full effect.)
Well, it worked! We almost missed him. We only saw him as we were leaving. We put an offer in on this diamond in the rough, but we were outbid, leaving us to search for other great properties.
Here’s a picture of Jennifer checking the little guy out. I don’t know what character this is, but I’m sure somebody out there does.
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Jordan Neighborhood…The Best Is Yet To Come! Here Comes 2755 Russell Avenue North!
January 20th, 2009 Categories: North Minneapolis, Real Estate News, That Flippin' House
It took a lot of hard work to get this absolutely beautiful home to be Jennifer’s (Flipper Girl) property. We’ve been dinking around with this property for quite some time now. The details are not pretty.
But…we got it! Woo hoo!
You’ve seen the before pics. You will now see some of the fun stuff that her crew found behind the cupboards today. I will just say that this home will be her best rehab so far. She’s got an awesome crew and the know-how to get the job done. She has a reputation in the City of Minneapolis of being one of the best in the business and I am proud to be her Realtor.
Above is just one of many pieces of memorabilia that were found at this wonderful property. More to come!
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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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Selling a Home in the Twin Cities Takes Teamwork
December 11th, 2008 Categories: North Minneapolis, Real Estate News, That Flippin' House
Most real estate sales transactions take two Realtors to bring the buyers to their new home and the sellers to take their money to the bank.
It can be a tricky dance, at times. There are moments when Realtors butt heads and do not take the clients’ best interest at heart. Egos prevail! I pride myself on working closely with my peers throughout the Twin Cities to make a sale happen. It is for the good of the client, which, by the way, is what it’s all about.
I’ll work with an agent to make sure that my client receives 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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