I love Minnesota! As the owner of the local bait shop, I get daily reports from the lake, even if I don't get a chance to get out on it. A large portion of West Rush is visible out of my window, and this morning as I was working, I watched boats traversing the lake with Eskimos piloting around the newly formed ice packs. Well, maybe not packs, more like skims..but hard water none the less! At our store, the past week has seen excitement build from some of our favorite (albeit crazy) fishermen, as the north end of the lake has frozen over. Todays report ranges from 3-5 inches, with ice fisherpeople already set up with tip ups, heaters, and more expectations than common sense! Eagles are feeding on the edges of the newly formed ice, and gulls. The spot to the right in the ice to water picture is the boat!
A tradition in my family is going to be altered this year. My kids and I have made a yearly trip to the Arts Fest annual Christmas sale, which takes over two full schools with over 200 crafters from around the area. It is an awesome, crowded affair, with items from the $1.00 to $1,000.00 range..something definetly for everyone! Or, there is, of course, the ideas...the flash of inspiration when you know you can make this exact item..then go back next year if you can buy it from the maker who does it right! My first child has gone off to college, leaving us with less pairs hands to point out the creative masterpieces packed into the buildings. The event is large enough to warrant shuttles from the local malls, and in between schools.
North Branch has so much to offer at any season. Not quite a bedroom community, not quite stand alone, its 10,000+ residents are a mix of commuters to the metro (about 45 minutes south), Forest Lake, Cambridge or the myriad small businesses which have popped up. North Branch Outlet Mall is a mecca for Minneapolis and St. Paul shoppers, whose ranks swell the closer we get to the holidays. Anderson Windows, relatively new to the area provides well paying local assembly jobs, while Shopko has just opened as the anchor for another retail center for the area.
Both Cambrdge and North Branch appear poised to become members of the mass transit system in the near future. Both cities struggle with the question of re-routing local traffic to accomodate the economy of mass transportation. Both cities maintain strong, community based populations, which bodes well for keeping the rural flavor and welcoming atmosphere alive and well as it adapts to the future needs of it's people.
This summer proved to be one of the busiest times of my life. I have had the good fortune to work with a local lender in clearing their inventory of new construction homes, at a hugely reduced price. The REO and short sale market can be a rough one, and if you are one of the first contacts with a homeowner who will be losing their home, or take over inspecting a home just after the owner has vacated, it can be gut wrenching. New construction homes are a wonderful breath of fresh air emotionally for this agent, and putting a young family or single homeowner into one of these sparkling units is very exciting.
The city of Cambridge is thriving, with new infrastructure, new shopping, thriving industry..and now it looks like the Rush Line Corridor may be providing mass transit to the metro area sooner than later. I love it here, just enough city in the country, surrounded by lakes, within an hour of the metro.
Cambridge has an awesome school system, performance arts program that lets us enjoy big city acts (Leo Kottke, Tony Sandler, Lori Line), in our local high school! Talk about spoiled! A new community center promises to help those of us who are putting on the weight with the age, and walking trails grow by the year.
Cambridge has something for everyone. My dad, at 93, still drives the ladies to Wal-Mart, and my kids enjoy the opportunity to explore theatre performance, music, hunting or fishing, all within minutes of their front door. It is indeed a home for the ages, I'm sure glad it has adopted me!
Many baby boomers have considerable equity built into their homes. An acquaintance called me last week, very embarrassed, but looking for somewhere to get answers. A single woman with 20 years into her home, she was a perfect target for the low life form of human being called the Equity Stripper. Her call was too late, but I have hopefully given her the resources she can use to report her experience, and possibly recover some of her losses.
Frequently, people who have hit hard times for any of a multitude of reasons, are embarrassed to ask for help. We call it burying your head in the sand. They look outside of their sphere of friends and advisors for help in settling their financial problems, hoping to remain anonymous. Please, IF IT SOUND TO GOOD TO BE TRUE, IT IS.
Boomers are perfect targets. Many, such as my friend, have not bought or sold their primary residence in many years. When a job lay off, medical situation, or just plain hard luck hit, the first place they look is to their home for the cash to make it through. In her case, getting behind in payments, an unscrupulous company scanning for pre-foreclosure properties found her, approached her, wooe'd her and won her house.
The company (now under investigation by the Minnesota Department of Commerce) promised to buy her home, pay her late payments, and sell it back to her on a CD until she could get back on her feet. What did they get? All of the equity built in between her current mortgage, and the new value they put on the home today, plus a home occupied by the person who loved it, making the payment at the higher rate. At 18 months that initial rate balloons, the owner cannot make it, and voila, the stripper not only got cash out, but gets the house back when she can't make the new payment.
The Minnesota Attorney Generals Office has a great site on Equity Stripping. The information included on the site are ways to spot a scammer, and a couple of alternatives for people faced with foreclosure. If you or someone you know is faced with foreclosure, talk to someone you trust. Many local realtors, mortgage loan officers and credit union professionals can help. A couple of non-profit agencies can help direct you:
We contacted the Attorney Generals Office, found out that the company is already being investigated and are waiting further instructions. We were also able to contact an amazing group of attorneys and law students willing to help at
If someone you know tells you about some angel who will be helping them out of a tight spot, let them know about equity stripping. There is a place for this type of angel, but it is not in heaven!
The buzz is on statewide, Bulrush Golf Course in Rush City is one of the premier spots to spend the day chasing your passion! Located just 45 minutes north of the metro, 15 minutes from Grand Casino, and minutes from championship fishing on both Rush Lakes, this course offers challenges, beauty and a golf pro to help your game improve. Designed by George Shotridge, the course opened under the name Brookside in 2002. After a rocky beginning, new owners have taken over the course, improved it immensely, and added a great eating establishment and club house, the Rush Hour Bar and Grill. With Senior discount days, friendly down home service, and beautiful scenery, the course is a must for golfers of all levels and ages.
Rush Point Realty LLC is proud to represent Sherco Builders, an Exclusive Brookside Builder, in marketing of 4 lots right on the course! Choose from single level living, to larger, split levels..the options are limited only by your imagination! Begin a Legacy of outdoor living, with fishing on East and West Rush Lake only 5 minutes away, Grand Casino Hinckley 15 minutes north, the cultural centers of Minneapolis and St. Paul 45 minutes south..Hunt,Fish, Golf, then celebrate the day by walking over to the club house! Vicky Frieberg, broker for Rush Point Realty LLC can be reached at 612-369-3746. Have your home built over the winter and be ready to Tee off at springs first greening!
The buzz is on statewide, Bulrush Golf Course in Rush City is one of the premier spots to spend the day chasing your passion! Located just 45 minutes north of the metro, 15 minutes from Grand Casino, and minutes from championship fishing on both Rush Lakes, this course offers challenges, beauty and a golf pro to help your game improve. Designed by George Shotridge, the course opened under the name Brookside in 2002. After a rocky beginning, new owners have taken over the course, improved it immensely, and added a great eating establishment and club house, the Rush Hour Bar and Grill. With Senior discount days, friendly down home service, and beautiful scenery, the course is a must for golfers of all levels and ages.
West Rush Lake is my home, and a large part of my livelihood! I have lived on the lake for the past 18 years, and have watched it cycle through high and low water levels, great and lousy fishing, and huge pressure, low pressure. This year we seem to be experiencing some of all of the above! The fishing for walleye and sunfish is holding at levels I have not seen in at lease 5 years, and as co-owner of the local bait store, my sources are not just in my family! The lake, unfortunately, is dropping like a spilled bowl, with it impossible to get boats off the lifts far to early in the season. Last year by August, my 18 foot jet boat would not come off, and watching my neighbor yesterday getting their pontoon on, would guess without a monsoon, they are done for as well. Funny how the two seem to dovetail, low water, good fishing. Just an uneducated observation. With temps expected to be in the 90s again for the next 4 days, we can expect lots of recreational water sports, personalwatercraft and fisherpeople with umbrellas and bimini tops. As for this girl, I will be out with the buyers who seem to be also searching the lake for some long term relief from the heat, their own cabin or lakehome near the water!
As well as owning Rush Point Realty LLC, my husband and I own the Rush Point Store LLC, a local convenience store, bait and tackle shop located on the southern side of West Rush Lake. We have owned the store for eleven years now, and for some reason, fishing opener still brings us some of the best laughs, groans, and new stories to share through the year. This year we heard one to top the list! A friend and customer who has been in the water patrol for over 20 years stopped in and we were comparing opener mishaps. Another deputy had been on local Lindstrom Lake a couple of years back, doing his thing at the public access, when he sights a boat coming in way to low in the water, full of guys. He's thinking there must be trouble, leaking, something wrong, when the tongue of the trailer begins to appear as they approach the landing! Seems the missed the important detail of unstrapping the boat from the trailer when launching, and proceeded on their way!!!! The bouyancy of the tires must have been on their side, or they would have never made it back!
Each year we have someone dump their boat onto the concrete when in their haste to hit water, they loosen the boat from the trailer, and let it slide off before backing to the lake. Some let it gently glide as the tilt is engaged, some just unceremoniously dump it. For some reason, people think boating is a genetically programmed skill if you are from this area! One poor lady was seated in the hubbies boat as he pushed it off the trailer. Sad thing when she was set adrift not knowing how to turn it on! As he screamed and yelled for her to drive it back, she finally engaged it, only to speed back at shore at full throttle! Not pretty for that prop!
Another co-worker (who shall remain unnamed!) brought his beautiful baby schnauzer out for the first time. Excited the dog jumped in chasing waves. Afraid the puppy might drown, the gentleman jumped in to save him, leaving the wife, who had never driven the boat, in charge. After a couple of close calls with her husbands body and a couple of boats, she managed to turn it off and wait while he swam with the clawing and biting dog back to relative safety!
West Rush Lake in Chisago County is known for some of the best fishing in proximity to the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area. About 1 hour north of both cities, Rush Lake is comprised of two large bodies of water, with hugely varied structures. East Rush Lake is the least structured of the two, but West Rush Lake boasts several islands, on of which is a national Scientific and Natural Area. The island was the first in the nation to be named as such in 1974, because of its active Great Blue Heron rookery. There can be as many as 500 nests each year, one of the largest rookeries of its' kind. Black crowned herons can also be found on the island, which is off limits to foot traffic from April 15 through July 15 in order to protect the young herons. Air traffic is also forbidden over the island, and is noted on all maps as such. A trip to the island in the winter is eery, as the abandoned nests, dead fledglings hanging from trees and an old truck abandoned in the 1950s cast a spell over the winter shadows....
Victoria Frieberg, Realtor@, Broker, ABR,CRS,TRC
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