Tom Meckey's Blog

Home for Sale in Kenny Neighborhood, Southwest Minneapolis @ 5432 Aldrich Ave S

Tom Meckey (Re/Max Results) — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 15:09:09 -0800

See photos below for a Home for Sale in Kenny Neighborhood, Southwest Minneapolis @ 5432 Aldrich Avenue S Minneapolis, MN 55419

see southwestminneapolisblog for photos

MLS# 3874306
Summary:
Listed at $264,900
3 Bedrooms, 2 Bathrooms, 1-Car Detached Garage & 1304 Finished Square Feet
Annual Taxes: $3648

Schools:
Kenny Elementary Anthony Middle School Washburn Senior High School

See Full Listing Details on Webdigs.com

Values for this home from Automated Valuation Websites:

eppraisal.com: $281,631

Zillow.com: $265,000

Cyberhomes.com: $261,360

Hennepin County Tax Assessed Value: $259,000

Last Sales Price and Date Sold: $275,000 in March of 2004

The Housing Bubble: not just an American phenomenon

Tom Meckey (Re/Max Results) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 10:55:59 -0800

This is an interesting commentary on the housing market from a global perspective...but it seems to be just that ... commentary. I think that Spencer is on the right track, but would like to see more credible data to back up the claims.

Via Spencer Rascoff (Zillow):

In this paper from Banque de France, Pamfili Antipa and Remy Lecat argue that home prices in France and Spain ran up to about 20% above their fundamental value by the end of 2008. Only 20%? Ha, I laugh at you France and Spain! America crushes you.

All kidding aside, what's interesting is that the paper concludes that it wasn't loose monetary policy that mostly drove the Spanish and French bubbles; it was loose lending standards that really mattered more so than low interest rates: "When enriching fundamentals with a measure of households’ borrowing capacity, most of this overvaluation, however, disappears as credit duration increased substantially in both countries since the 1990s. This emphasises that the analysis of housing prices should include banking practises much beyond interest rates. This could be extended in particular to credit standards applied to the approval of loans, when long enough time series will be available."

Housing experts here in the US (aka Monday Morning Quarterbacks) have been having this debate here, trying to decide if it was low interest rates, lax lending standards or both which created our craziness, and the subsequent fall. The study concludes the following about France and Spain:

"Hence, monetary policy [in France and Spain] has limited power to control house price dynamics. First, housing prices displays strong inertia which makes an accurate control of their movements through interest rates difficult. Second, housing prices may be sensitive to different segments of the interest rate curve within the euro area (e.g. short-term segment in Spain or long term one in France), leading to highly heterogeneous reactions of European housing markets. Finally, banking practises such as credit duration are important determinants of housing price changes."

Why does this matter? Here's the normative finale of the paper:

"In the debate on the need of monetary policy to control potentially damaging housing booms, this pleads for the use of a wider set of policy tools. A first direction in that sense could structural reforms rendering the supply of housing units flexible enough to curb down lasting house prices appreciation."

I've written before about analyses of the Canadian housing bubble and other countries' bubbles. Here in the US, the debate continues and will probably never be resolved. Should blame rest with the Fed for keeping interest rates too low during the run-up? Or with lenders for being too lax in their lending standards? It's one of the most important questions of our time, and unfortunately we'll probably never have a clear answer.
DT267

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UMore (U of MN) Park Development WouldBbe Home to 30,000 People

Tom Meckey (Re/Max Results) — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 15:57:43 -0800

Article from Kare 11 Home Page: By Karla Hult

Rosemount, Minn. -- The University of Minnesota has plans to turn thousands of acres of mostly undeveloped land in Dakota County into a forward-thinking, environmentally friendly community.

"It would be a place of 20 to 30 thousand people that would be energy-efficient, sustainable, carbon neutral, sort of a city for the future," said Charles Muscoplatt, Director of UMore Park and University of Minnesota Vice President of statewide resource development.

The area known as"UMore Park" covers 5,000 acres in the City of Rosemount and Empire Township. The land is currently rented farmland, plots used for university agricultural research and empty space.

But the university envisions building on that land a community that would embrace the latest environmental technology available.

"If you design a community from the very beginning, you can think of designing a building with better insulation," Muscoplatt said, adding that the community would also include heating and cooling systems that use solar, wind and geothermal energies and could cut energy use in half.

The community would meet the demands of an expected population surge, Muscoplatt said, while also generating money for the university. The university hopes to start mining gravel on the site beginning in 2011. Muscoplatt believes that would raise $3 to $6 million per year. Officials hope actual construction at the site could begin in 2012, depending on the housing recession and whether private developers have decided to join the project.

So far, the affected communities are on board with the plan.

"It certainly is an exciting project, and there's a lot of opportunities there because of the land size," said Kim Lindquist, the Rosemount Community Development Director.

Lindquist said some residents remain skeptical the plan will actually come to fruition, given the university's previous development plans.

"The university has talked over the decades, has talked about various projects they might do on the property and really have not gone anywhere," Lindquist said.

The university said they're committed to this plan, and they believe it's a model that will generate enough revenue and attention to attract private developers.

"It has all the ingredients to show people how to live well in the 21st century," Muscoplatt said.

Want to know the latest statistics for the Minneapolis / St Paul Metro's Top 100 Cities?

Tom Meckey (Re/Max Results) — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 11:02:04 -0800

Market Updates for 100 Twin Cities Communities Twin Cities Region - compare individual community market activity reports from the list below with the Twin Cities region as a whole.

Albertville	Andover	Annandale
Anoka	Apple Valley	Arden Hills
Becker	Belle Plaine	Big Lake
Blaine	Bloomington	Brooklyn Center
Brooklyn Park	Buffalo	Burnsville
Cannon Falls	Champlin	Chanhassen
Chaska	Chisago	Circle Pines
Clear Lake	Columbia Heights	Coon Rapids
Cottage Grove	Crystal	Delano
Eagan	East Bethel	Eden Prairie
Edina	Elko	Elk River
Faribault	Farmington	Forest Lake
Fridley	Golden Valley	Ham Lake
Hastings	Hopkins	Hugo
Inver Grove Heights	Lake Elmo	Lake Minnetonka Area
Lakeville	Lindstrom	Lino Lakes
Little Canada	Lonsdale	Mahtomedi
Maple Grove	Maplewood	Medina
Mendota Heights	Minneapolis	Minnetonka
Monticello	Montrose	New Brighton
New Hope	New Prague	North Branch
Northfield	North Saint Paul	Norwood-Young America
Oakdale	Oak Grove	Otsego
Plymouth	Princeton	Prior Lake
Ramsey	Red Wing	Richfield
Robbinsdale	Rogers	Rosemount
Roseville	Saint Anthony	Saint Francis
Saint Louis Park	Saint Michael	Saint Paul
Saint Paul Park	Savage	Shakopee
Shoreview	South Haven	Stillwater
Vadnais Heights	Victoria	Waconia
Watertown	West Saint Paul	White Bear Lake
Woodbury	Wyoming	Zimmerman
Zumbrota

Minneapolis / St. Paul Has Been Removed from Lenders' List of "Declining Markets"

Tom Meckey (Re/Max Results) — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 12:04:24 -0800

Minneapolis / St. Paul Has Been Removed from Lenders' List of "Declining Markets" - which is great news for our local housing market. Things are looking up for 2010. This comes from United Guaranty's website in the rates section (click this link to see report).

United Guaranty is a Mortgage Insurance Company / Underwriter for lenders and they have been in business since 1963.

Home for Sale in Southwest Minneapolis

Tom Meckey (Re/Max Results) — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 10:22:49 -0800

If you are looking for a Home for Sale in Southwest Minneapolis check out this link. It is that time of year again, to get the kids ready for the upcoming school year. With Burroughs Elementary leading the Minneapolis Public Schools as the most desired elementary school, parents of kindergarten aged children will be looking for homes in the neighborhoods surrounding the school so that their kids can attend next year.

Below is the Burroughs School Attendance Boundary Map - if you live in this area when your child enrolls in Kindergarten, then you are guaranteed a spot.

Lynnhurst Homes For Sale, Southwest Minneapolis

Tom Meckey (Re/Max Results) — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 15:16:59 -0800

Are you looking for Lynnhurst Homes For Sale, Southwest Minneapolis? If you dont what what area makes up Lynnhurst it is from Penn Ave S to Lyndale Ave S (east & west) and from 46th to 54th (north & south)

Search Active Lynnhurst Homes For Sale and the map to zoom in the neighborhood. You can narrow the search by price range, size, number of bedrooms and bathrooms also, by property type (ie: condo, single family residence, foreclosure, fixer upper, etc.)

Interesting Housing Statistics for Lynnhurst:

Average Sales Prices in Lynnhurst for 2009 are approximately $416,058.00
Average Size of a home sold in Lynnhurst: 3BR, 2 BA, 1,034 Sqft (Year Built: 1933)
Median Sales Price for 2009 in LynnhurstL $402,450
Average Total Market Time for List to Sale: 89 Days
Percentage of Original List Price Recieved By Sellers: 95.9% (so if the average sales price is $416,058 then the average list price was $433,701)

Public Schools Serving Lynnhurst:

For a 2010/2011 Map of the all the Minneapolis Public Schools: Click Here