st paul: Spring comes to St. Paul
- 05/07/08 04:09 AM
I know I complain during the winter about being cold and having to show houes when it is "I can't stand it" below zero, but there are many reasons why I love living in St. Paul, and spring is one of those reasons. In the spring the grass turns green again and people come out and walk or ride along the bike paths. I get to see my neighbors again. The shipping seasons has started so I can hear the boat horns again too.
In the spring the tables and umbrellas come back outside. We like to eat outside. People plant flowers … (11 comments)
st paul: Saturday Night in St. Paul
- 04/19/08 11:31 PM
Quiet down along the river. Too early in the season for those wonderful moon light cruises. The Ordway is packed.
There is a Minnesota Wild game going on at the Xcel center and a large roof top tail gate party on the parking ramp. The local bars in and around downtown are packed. Fun to walk around on a Saturday night and take pictures. Now that the weather is warmer the streets are full of activity again.
St. Paul Cathedral, St. Paul, Minnesota. I never get tired of photographing this building, both inside and out. Built in 1905, Emmanuel Louis Masqueray, a French architect trained at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, was selected to design what we know today as the fourth Cathedral of Saint Paul. The church is made of Granite stone from St. Cloud, MNThe Cathedral's most prominent feature is a 120-foot-wide dome made of curved steel beams, covered with a clay tile surface and overlaid with copper. A copper-clad lantern, approximately 30 feet tall, sits on top of the dome. From … (19 comments)
st paul: High dynamic range imaging
- 03/18/08 02:48 AM
High dynamic range imaging, HDR. Just playing around with it. The photo was taken at dusk and is of the Wabasha bridge which spans the Mississippi River in downtown St. Paul. HDR is a photo processing technique where multiple photos are combined. This photo is made from three photos of the same scene. The techique allows the photograph to contain more than the human eye can see. The technique has gotten more popular. It does take some software and some computing power. I like to think of it as what happens when geeks start using digital cameras. … (24 comments)
st paul: Birds of the Skyway
- 02/03/08 09:39 PM
Downtown St. Paul has about 5 miles of indoor skyways connecting the buildings. In the wonter when it is cold out and I want to go for a walk without freezing I head for the skyways. I only wish I could bring my dog with, she would love it. Walking in doors might not seem like fun but it is. Here is some of the wild life that can be found in the skyway between the trade center and the children's musuem of Minnesota.
Not all of the skyways are open on Sunday so the trick is to not get stuck in a … (16 comments)
The picture for the magazine cover is of a Murial in the lobby. A Mosaic of the pictures I have uploaded into Flickr. Check out Flickr toys. The loft is for sale. The price has been reduced to $129,899. Where is this loft? Downtown St. Paul Map
Basic Info: Taxes: $406 Association Dues: $130 - low monthly dues cover all untilities. Air Conditioning: Central Parking: Surface lot About 550 Square feet of finished living space. Gourmet kitchen has marble counter tops, all new appliances, and a large window. The unit … (6 comments)
st paul: St. Paul Public Library
- 03/23/07 07:09 AM
History: Constructed: 1914 -1917Listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1975 The Central Library is Italian Renaissance revival in style The exterior of the Library is of Tennessee marble, while the interior is finished in gray Mankato stone. Blue Rutland and golden vein Formosa marble are also used in select areas. The Saint Paul Public Library has been a Federal Depository Library since 1914 More about the St. Paul Public Library and the JJ Hill Reference Library. The St. Paul Public Library is one of my favorite building in St. Paul. Some of my earliest childhood memories include the children's … (1 comments)
st paul: Customer Service Anyone?
- 03/04/07 09:52 AM
Friday! The best day of the week because Friday's are for fun. Customer Service This week I have been thinking about how I can integrate customer service into my business. I don't have a customer service department, which is an essential element of any successful business. I did some research and am beginning to understand what I need to do. Automated phone systems and auto responders for email, appear to be the two most important components of customer service. If I want to run with the big boys I am going to have to start acting more like them. Currently if someone calls … (31 comments)
st paul: Meme tag again - I am it
- 01/11/07 06:29 AM
I am begining to get a complex with all this tagging going on. :) See my last post for the definition of a meme and maybe a good laugh.
This post is a bit more serious. Maureen Francis of Active Rain and of the most excellent Oakland County Michigan blog, has challenged me to list my favorite posts on the St. Paul Real Estate Blog in 2006. No easy task, I made 390 posts in 2006. I misunderstood Maureen and thought she meant for this to be an Active Rain post. I beleive she wanted me to post it on my St. Paul Re blog. I … (7 comments)
st paul: T.W. and the dish
- 01/03/07 11:15 AM
This is about one of my clients. I don't normally "dish" on my clients on my blog, so I'll just call her T.W. T.W. and I have spent some quality time together looking at condos in downtown St. Paul. I think we found some units that really wow her. I honestly think buyers should wait until they have that wow experience before they plunk down all that money. Last night we were looking at a condo conversion in a large building with the Realtor® from the sales office. Between the two of us we managed to answer all of T.W's … (16 comments)
st paul: some 2006 numbers for the twin cities metro area
- 12/30/06 01:20 AM
2006 Numbers Twin Cities It has been an interesting year, with the number of homes on the market increasing, while at the same time the numbers of homes sold each month decreased. It is important when looking at these numbers to compare at least two years worth of data because there are seasonal variations in home sales every year. The biggest change in the past year has been in the number of days homes are on the market before someone buys them. The supply and demand ratio is currently at about 11 months, in January of 2006 , the supply and … (9 comments)
st paul: Absorption rates for the three St. Paul's
- 11/15/06 01:19 AM
November 14, 2006 Borrowed with Permission from the St. Paul Real Estate Blog, origional post 11/14/2006 Absorption Rates The math used to calculate absorption rates is simple. Add up the number of homes on the market, and then find how many homes were sold in the past 30 days. (Homes taken off the market because they got offers) Take the total number of homes and divide by the number of offers made to get the absorption rate which is used to determine how long it will take for all the homes currently on the market to be absorbed by buyers, at … (2 comments)
st paul: All REALTORS are not the same.
- 11/12/06 07:45 AM
When I started in the business I worked with a company that I will call 'blue', we were taught that as brand new agents who had no experience we could get listings. We were taught, or shall I say required, to charge as much as the seasoned pros. We were told to tell prospects that we could do as good of a job as an experienced agent, and that we could do more because we had fewer clients and more time. It gave us the confidence to go out and work with the general public, but looking back on it now … (16 comments)
st paul: Pictures
- 09/20/06 11:28 PM
I met a delightful young woman last night who would like to buy her first home. Her price range is about 20% below the average price of a home in these parts. We met at a coffee shop and started looking at houses in our MLS. Many homes in her price range had few, or no pictures. The less expensive homes attract first time home buyers. These people are often young, in this case 26. The twenty somethings are a generation that has embraced technology. They expect more from home listings on the internet. The more expensive homes in our market tend to … (7 comments)
st paul: The buyers are coming back
- 09/19/06 05:21 AM
I am noticing an uptick in showings here in St. paul. My friends in the mortgage business are busy and the freindly folks in title are telling me that they got a bunch of new orders this week. The way I see it we have about a six week window of opportunity before the holidays. If the weather holds. The interest rates are working in our favor. So I plan to sell one home a week so that I can earn enough money to heat the entire house this winter! … (0 comments)
I know I complain during the winter about being cold and having to show houes when it is "I can't stand it" below zero, but there are many reasons why I love living in St. Paul, and spring is one of those reasons.
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