44,096 Points

Name

Chanhassen Real Estate Blog

Company

IBR Realty

E-mail

Contact Chanhassen Real Estate Blog (IBR Realty)

Website

http://www.chanhassenrealestateblog.com

Office Phone

(952) 548-1614

Address

7955 Stone Creek Drive, Suite 120, Chanhassen, MN, 55317

Description

The primary source of real estate information in Chanhassen, this site is loaded with neighborhood profiles, featured homes, new construction reviews, photos, community events and market statistics.

Independently serving Chanhassen since 1989

We're Kevin and Linda Sharkey. We've lived in the Chanhassen area since 1984 and are proud to call it our hometown. Both of us are Minnesota natives and are living proof that Swedes and Germans can live together peacefully (usually).

We raised both of our children in Chanhassen and they attended District 112 schools for their entire school careers. We've gone to countless ball games, dance recitals, and community events. We've coached our kids' teams and we've been saddened watching farms become townhome developments. We remember when Hwy 5 became a real road and swimming in Lake Riley before there were lifeguards.

We have been independently serving Chanhassen's real estate needs since 1989, and have worked with hundreds of buyers and sellers.  We know more about our town than pretty much anyone else.  We also know more about real estate than pretty much anyone, so it makes sense that ours is one of the largest independent real estate companies in Minnesota.

We believe in working hard and telling the truth. We try to do the right thing and take the high road. We admit our mistakes when they happen and take responsibility for our actions. We are quick to laugh and embrace the life we have been given.

But enough about us - what can we do for you?

Real Estate Marketing No One Else Does

We have served the Chanhassen real estate market since 1989 and have come to the conclusion that effective marketing is the number one priority for home sellers. Everything else is important, but effective marketing is what sells houses. So here is what we do to market every home we list in Chanhassen:

1. Stage your home.

We want your home to look its best for prospective buyers. The better it looks, the better it will sell. That's why we hire a professional stager to do an analysis of your home and offer recommendations on how best to show it off. We pay for the initial consultation out of our own pockets because we believe staging is a critical element of selling homes.

We will probably encourage you to hire the stager or at least to follow their recommendations. And we don't get any referral fees when you hire any of our contacts. We just want your home to look great and sell fast.

2. Use professional photographers.

The MLS system, a Minnesota-wide online database where agents list homes, is still the main portal used to find homes and is responsible for the bulk of real estate sales. Homes that are visually striking get shown more often than those with substandard photography. The professionals that we use are paid to make your home stand out to prospective buyers and other agents alike.

3. Add Amateur Photography.

That's done by us. Kevin is a former wedding photographer with a degree in visual communications and has taught photography in a former life. We like to take dozens of photos of the inside, outside and all the other important details . Our goal is to tell a complete story of the home and to fulfill the potential buyer's expectations when they visit the home.

We also take photos and sometimes videos of the neighborhood. Buyers buy homes in a specific type of neighborhood so this information can be a critical element in persuading a buyer to set an appointment and view the home.

4. Perform Pre-inspection and Provide a Home Warranty

Many buyers look for reasons to not buy a home instead of  finding reasons to buy. For these buyers we recommend a thorough pre-inspection of the home. This is especially true for older homes or homes with deferred maintenance. We have several inspectors to choose from and post their inspection reports on the website as well as the MLS listing.

We also believe in providing home warranties to buyers for the first year of their new ownership. We do this at our own cost to further remove any doubts about the condition of the property and to protect our sellers from claims after the sale.

5. Develop single property websites.

We develop an elaborate, custom website on every property we list. These sites are loaded with more photos, 360-degree tours, and additional information on our clients' homes. Buyers spend more time looking at our listings because there is more to see.

These sites are syndicated to dozens of other websites and make it easier for prospective buyers to find our listings online. Some of our listing websites get their own URL's based on the street address making it even easier to be found.

Most agents shoot ten or less photos for the MLS system. By linking our property websites to the MLS we can post hundreds of high-quality photos, videos, and documents, providing more content into the same system. This dramatically increases the chances that our clients' homes will be seen and visited. Again, the more viewable content there is, the more time buyers will spend looking at the property. This dramatically increases the chance that the buyer will want to see the home.

6. Create 360-degree home tours.

Panoramic views of a home's interior allow viewers to better see how a home flows from room to room. Static photos don't convey spatial relationships between rooms, so we add the tours to the single property website to fill in the blanks for the prospective buyer. These tours are imbedded to the single property website as well as the local MLS systems. Our purpose is to tell such a complete and compelling story about the house that buyers want to see it in person.

7. Use better words.

Most agents tend to use flowery adjectives when describing a home. That's why all write-ups tend to sound the same. Our style is to use more verbs and stay away from adjectives. Buying a home is an emotional experience and verbs can be used to better convey emotion than can adjectives. We make compelling stories that attract attention both visually and by the written word.

We also use captions to describe the home. Every photo in the MLS has space for captions so we use them well. This is where we can describe, as well as show, the buyer why they should make an appointment to see the home.

8. Syndicate listings online.

Every one of our listings is syndicated to more than 30 national websites including Trulia, Yahoo, Facebook, Cyberhomes, Oodle, and more. We use the Point2 system as a primary source of syndication but also manually load our listings to Craigslist on a regular basis. A broad internet presence is a necessity for marketing homes online, and we do it better than most other agents.

Realtor.Com is still the dominant website that buyers go to for home searches. That's why we pay extra to get our listings, single property websites and virtual tours highlighted and enhanced.

We also create electronic flyers through Postlets.com and distribute them on a weekly basis to Yahoo, Google Base, and about a dozen more search sites.

9. Employ Viral marketing.

Many times our clients will use their personal contacts to help find a buyer for their home. For those clients, we use AnnounceMyMove.com to create an electronic flyer on their home and have them distribute it via email. The flyer has photos and descriptions of their home along with the request for help. The biggest benefit of this program is that our commission is deeply discounted if the seller provides a lead to us that results in the sale of their home.

10. Blog listings.

Every one of our listings gets a unique post on our Chanhassen Real Estate Blog that also links back to the single property website. This allows the site to be "spidered" and makes your listing get recognized quicker online.

This also allows us to put the property address, photos and descriptions into a format that is recognized on Google. (That's a very good thing.) Potential customers can simply enter the property address on a search engine and are taken to the home website and complete listing information. We have a strong understanding of how to use Search Engine Optimization to promote our listings. The majority of buyers search for homes online, so we make it easy for our homes to be easily found.

11. Table top books.

These are bound coffee table books with photos, details, and descriptions of the home. Think of them as being highlight sheets on steroids. The purpose of them is to give information on the home, but more importantly, to get the buyers to spend more time in the home. We want them to sit down and get comfortable with the surroundings. The more time they spend in your home, the more likely they are to consider it as a prospective home.

12. Text listing information.

Every one of our listings is assigned a unique text number so buyers can get detailed information on our listings at any time. The text number is displayed on the For Sale sign. Buyers can see photos of the interior and request a showing. Most 3G phones have this capability so this is one more way for us to promote our listings.

13. The same stuff everyone else does.

All of our listings appear in the state-wide MLS system, get a sign in the front yard, a lockbox on the door, colorful highlight sheets, notice for showings, and everything else sellers expect from an agent. We just do a whole lot more than the typical agent.

Founded in 1852, the city of Chanhassen is a delightfully small and bustling community of 24,481, located in the southwest suburbs of the Twin Cities.  It is a fantastic city in which to live, work, and play.  In fact, Money Magazine just ranked Chanhassen the second best place to live in the nation.  Not surprising, with unemployment at three points below the national average as of May 2009 and property taxes dropping every year the last five years straight.  Family Circle Magazine ranked Chanhassen in its top ten best cities in America to raise a family.  With a 500-acre park system, 12 lakes, two top-notch school districts, and a plethora of fabulous community events, Chanhassen truly is a great place to live.

STATISTICS

• Location: Southwest Twin Cities Metro
• Population: 24,481 (April 1, 2009)
• Acreage: 14,427 in 24 sq. miles
• County: Carver, some in Hennepin
• Highways: 5 major - 5, 7 and 212 run east/west and 41 and 101 run north/south
• Public Transportation: Bus System - SW Transit

PARKS, LAKES, & RECREATION

Few cities can boast the wealth of recreation hotspots that Chanhassen can.  Twelve beautiful lakes, six public beaches, nearly 30 parks totaling 500 acres, five nature preserves, 55 miles of trails, and an 1000 acre landscape arboretum featuring gardens, trails, wetlands, and woodlands - Chanhassen has it all.

Neighborhood Parks

• Bandimere Heights Park, 9290 Kiowa Trail
• Carver Beach Playground, 900 Carver Beach Road
• Cathcart Park, West 62nd Street
• Chanhassen Estates Park, 55 Lake Drive East
• Chanhassen Hills Park, 8579 Chanhassen Hills Drive South
• Curry Farms Park, 1300 Stratton Court
• Greenwood Shores Park, 7110 Utica Lane
• Herman Field Park, 2591 Forest Avenue
• Kerber Pond Park, 7380 Kerber Boulevard
• Meadow Green Park, 921 Pontiac Lane
• Minnewashta Heights Park, 6220 Dogwood Avenue
• North Lotus Lake Park, 295 Pleasant View Road
• Pheasant Hill Park, 1720 Lake Lucy Lane
• Power Hill Park, 8702 Flamingo Drive
• Prairie Knoll Park, 1124 Dove Court
• Rice Marsh Lake Park, 8119 Erie Circle
• Roundhouse Park, 3950 Kings Road
• Stone Creek Park, 2250 Stone Creek Lane East
• South Lotus Lake, 7610 South Shore Drive
• Sugarbush Park, 7220 Galpin Boulevard
• Sunset Ridge Park, 1364 Lake Susan Hills Drive

City Parks

• Bandimere Park
• City Center Park
• Lake Ann Park
• Lake Susan Park

Nature Preserves

• Bluff Creek Preserve, Audubon Road
• Chanhassen Nature Preserve, Coulter Boulevard
• Lake Susan Preserve
• Pleasant View Preserve, Pleasant View Road
• Rice Marsh Lake Preserve, Dakota Lane

Trails

• 55 miles of trails

Lakes

• Christmas Lake
• Harrison Lake
• Lake Ann
• Lake Lucy
• Lake Minnewashta
• Lake Riley
• Lake St. Joe
• Lake Susan
• Lotus Lake
• Rice Lake
• Rice Marsh Lake
• Silver Lake

Beaches

• Lake Ann Beach, Lake Ann Park
• Minnewashta Regional Park, Highway 41 between Highways 5 & 7.
• Carver Beach on Lotus Lake, 6891 Lotus Trail
• Greenwood Shores Beach on Lake Ann, 7110 Utica Lane
• Lake Susan Beach in Lake Susan Park, 903 Lake Drive East
• Roundhouse Park Beach on Lake Minnewashta, 3950 Kings Road

Campgrounds

• Baylor Park, 10775 Co. Rd. 33, Norwood Young America, 952-466-5250
• Dakotah Meadows, 2341 Park Pl., Prior Lake, 1-800-653-CAMP or 952-445-8800
• Fish Lake Acres Campground, 3000 210^th St. E., Prior Lake, 952-492-3393
• Minneapolis S.W. KOA, 3315 166^th St. W., Jordan, 952-492-6440
• MN Horse & Hunt Club (Campground & RV Park), 2920 220^th St., Prior Lake, 952-447-2266
• MN Valley Trail State Park Rec Area, 19825 Park Blvd., Jordan, 952-492-6400
• Shakopee Valley RV Park, 1245 Bluff Ave. E., Shakopee, 952-445-7313
• Will's Riverview RV Park, 1705 3^rd Ave. W., Shakopee, 952-445-5323

REAL ESTATE

As you can imagine, with Chanhassen ranked the second best place to live in the nation, real estate has been a hot commodity.  In the past year, approximately 149 homes have sold.  While some homes in Chanhassen date earlier, most are fairly new, with the average Chanhassen home dating to 1993.  There are a variety of homes found in Chanhassen, from four story homes to townhomes, from lakeshore to farmland, and the prices reflect that.  The highest listing price in the past year was $2,399,900 and the lowest was $79,900.  There's something for everyone!

Quick Facts

• Average price per square foot: $154
• Average percentage of listing price: 94%
• Average asking price: $432,066
• Average square footage: 3121 sq. ft.
• Number of houses sold in the past year: 149

SCHOOLS

Chanhassen plays host to a number of excellent schools, both public and private.  There are two public schools districts within the city, Eastern Carver County School District 112 and Minnetonka District 276.  District 112 accounts for approximately 72% of Chanhassen's student population.

• Public
  • Eastern Carver County School District 112
    • 1 kindergarten center, 2 elementary schools, 2 middle schools, 1 freshmen center, 2 high schools
  • Minnetonka District 276
    • elementary schools, 2 middle schools, 1 high school
• Private
  • St. Hubert Catholic School
  • Chapel Hill Academy
• Preschools
  • La Petite Academy
  • The Goddard School
  • Children's World Learning Center
  • KinderCare
  • New Horizon Child Care
  • Children of Tomorrow

RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS

• Discovery United Methodist Church
• Family of Christ Lutheran Church (ELCA)
• Chanhassen Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses
• Oasis Church
• Living Christ Lutheran Church (LCMS)
• New Life Christian Fellowship
• St. Hubert Catholic Community
• Temple of Eck, Eckankar
• Westwood Community Church
• Bethel Fellowship Community Church

COMMUNITY CELEBRATIONS

At no time is the sense of community stronger than during the many community celebrations in Chanhassen.  Over the course of the year there are a number of seasonal and holiday events including the February Festival, Easter egg hunt, Arbor Day celebration, a 4^th of July celebration, a Halloween party, and a tree lighting ceremony. Other events include ChanJam, the KleinBank Summer Concert Series, the Dave Huffman 5K Memorial Run, and the Fire Department Open House.

• February Festival
  • The festival is held each year on the first Saturday of February on Lake Ann. With over 800 fishing holes drilled in the ice on Lake Ann, this is a great family event.  Activities at the event include open ice skating, a s'mores cookout over a bonfire, bingo, a horse-drawn hayride, a raffle, and an ice fishing contest! Each year this event brings in around 2,000 people.
• The Easter Egg Hunt
  • Held at the Chanhassen Recreation Center, this event has been a Chanhassen tradition for 25 years. Over 900 children and their parents attend the festivities.  The program includes live entertainment, a coloring contest, the candy hunt, and an appearance from the Easter Bunny.
• 4^th of July Celebration
  • One of the biggest Chanhassen events is the 4^th of July Celebration.  Over 4,500 people attend the event per day. Usually held on July 3^rd and 4^th, the festivities include a kiddie parade, community parade, carnival rides and games, adult and children fishing festivals, beach games, the SouthWest Metro Chamber of Commerce Business Fair, a street dance featuring the ChanJam winners and a professional band, Taste of Chanhassen, and an incredible display of fireworks over Lake Ann. It is definitely not to be missed!

• Tree Lighting Ceremony
  • Every year Chanhassen residents celebrate the holiday season by witnessing the lighting of the holiday tree, enjoying refreshments, seeing live reindeer, admiring gingerbread house displays, and welcoming Santa Claus himself.

ENTERTAINMENT

Don't be fooled by the small town charm - there is plenty of entertainment to be found in Chanhassen!  With three places to golf and a PGA course just a town away, you can perfect your swing in no time.  The Chanhassen Cinema provides an outlet for film enthusiasts while those more inclined to the theatre will find fantastic musical and plays alike at the Chanhassen Dinner Theatre.  Fans of music will not be disappointed in the live acts featured at the School II, a great place to enjoy a cup of coffee or glass of wine.  Bookworms can take solace in the aisles of the expansive city library.

Those who would rather get outdoors can find solace in the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum's vast grounds, featuring a rose garden, Japanese garden, and natural wetlands among its other features.  There's even something for the foodies!  Chanhassen boasts restaurants featuring everything from Thai food to Mexican cuisine to all-American burgers.  And if none of that sounds like something you're looking for, Chanhassen is only a few miles away from the twin cities!