How to find out more information on a property

If you are looking at a specific house, and want to find out more information than what is on the MLS system, there are free resources that will allow you to find out things such as structure information, assessments, whether the property is in foreclosure, and more. This is public information, and much of it is available on the internet.

For a house in Minneapolis, the city’s website has lots of information based on county records, as well as assessor records. The Minneapolis property information website has the following categories: 1. Structure information (bedrooms, baths, sq ft, foundation), 2: Permits / Inspections (when they were pulled, and what they were for), 3: Business License information, 4: Truth In Sale Of Housing (TISH) Inspection reports. If the house is currently on the market, there should be a TISH report online. Minneapolis requires it.

Hennepin County Property Information has all the tax information about a house (or property), as well as a map that will show the lot lines, acreage, aerial photos and more. Hennepin County also has a Foreclosure page, where you can look up if a house is in foreclosure. This information will include the date of the sheriff sale, the redemption date, and the amount of the sale. Read more

Foreclosure Process Timeline

In the Minneapolis / St. Paul and suburbs, the typical process for a foreclosure goes something like this. Upon missing the first mortgage payment, the bank sends a nice, friendly letter reminding them of a missed payment. After another one or two missed payments, the letters get a little less friendly. After 4 or 5 missed payments, the bank starts the foreclosure process. A notice will be taped to the door with the sheriff’s sale date, and a notice will be published in the newspaper. This will usually be a month or two out.
At the sheriff’s sale, the bank usually will buy back the property. After the sheriff’s sale, the homeowner has 6 months to redeem the property (6 month redemption period). That means that the homeowner can pay back the bank and get the property back. If that doesn’t happen, at the end of the 6th month, the bank will do an eviction. Now, the bank owns the property outright and will usually put the home on the market within 2 or 3 months.
As you can see, the timeframe from when the owner misses the first payment to when the bank puts the house on the market is about 14-16 months. Each bank will vary on how long they take to start the sheriff’s sale, and how long it takes for them to get it on the market once they own the property.

Just Listed

Here’s a wonderful cottage in Arden Hills that we’ve just listed for sale. It is cute as a button, and totally ready to move in. Everything in this home has been lovingly cared for. So much love and care has gone into this house. Contact me if you want more information.

A Short Commute

The Star Tribune just published an article on having a shorter commute. Here’s a link. I’m in agreement on living in the city. I currently live in a great neighborhood of South Minneapolis with great neighbors, a wonderful character-filled house, and lots of closeby amenities. We can walk to two different parks within 3 blocks, Minnehaha Creek and trails are just 2 blocks away, Kowalski’s is just 4 blocks, Turtle Bread and Pepitos are just 6 blocks away, and downtown is just a short 10 minute bus ride.

Even the Bloomington Strip and MOA are under 10 minutes away, as well as the airport. We have many elements of Traditional Neighborhood Design built right into our traditional Minneapolis neighborhood, like sidewalks, and lakes, and parks, and local grocery stores.

If you are considering a home, why not check out Minneapolis? Here is information about some of the character you can find in these old houses, and here you can find houses listed for sale in various areas of Minneapolis, among other areas.

Miles Per Gallon

How can you decide on which vehicle is best for you? Is Miles Per Gallon a good way to compare vehicles?

Maybe. Looking at Miles Per Gallon will give you an indication of how efficient a vehicle is. There is one downside, however. When you compare a car that gets 35MPG vs one that gets 48MPG there seems to be a lot of difference. But if you take the number of gallons used in a typical year at each of those ratings, you’ll see that the difference isn’t as much as the numbers indicate. Running at 35MPG at about 15,000 miles per year, you would burn through 428 gallons of fuel. At 38MPG, you would burn 394. That difference at $4 per gallon is $136 per year. Read more

What is CDOM?

No, I didn’t spell CD-ROM wrong. CDOM stands for Cumulative Days On Market. Well, ok. What does that mean? And why do you want to know?

CDOM is the total time the house has been on the market since it was originally listed. Here’s an example. Let’s say the homeowners put their house on the market in September, October, and November for 82 days, then took it off the market over the winter because showings decrease over the winter. In March, they put the home back on the market. On the first day it’s listed, the Days On Market (DOM) will show that the home has been for sale 1 day, while the Cumulative Days On Market will show 83 days.

Let’s say prospective buyers looks at this house on the first day. If they don’t look at the CDOM, they might think that the house has been on the market for only 1 day. If they are considering making an offer, they might think that the house will sell quickly or there might be multiple offers due to the short time on market. If they know that the house was really on the market for 83 CDOM, it may relieve the pressure of making a quick decision.

CDOM information may not be easily available. If you are interested in finding out the CDOM for any house, please feel free to call or e-mail.

What is OLP?

What is OLP? In South Minneapolis, we know it as Our Lady Of Peace, a church and school. But OLP in the real estate sense stands for Original List Price. The quick definition of Original List Price (OLP) is the price that a home is listed at when it is offered for sale. This price may differe from List Price (LP), when a house is reduced. An example is when a house is listed at $299,900, then reduced to $289,900, and again to $279,900. The Original List Price is $299,900, while the current list price is $279,900.

Here is a more complex example. Let’s say the house is listed at $299,900, then reduced to $289,900. For some reason, the house was taken off the market for a few months. At that point, it was relisted for sale at a price of $279,900. In this specific example, the current MLS information wouhd show $279,900 as the Original List Price  as well as the current list price. Digging further, an agent can look to see if the house was listed before, and what the real Original List Price was, in this case, $299,900.

Knowing the Original List Price can be helpful in making your offer. If you would like to know the Original List Price of any specific houses, please feel free to e-mail or call.

Character Homes

We’ve got some character-filled homes in Minneapolis, so much so that I’ve dedicated a website entirely to the subject. I’ll be writing more about these old-style houses on this blog as well. But for now, please visit http://www.HousesOfMinneapolis.com and be sure to leave a comment!

On that website, Houses of Minneapolis, we refer to older character houses as being built prior to 1960. Minneapolis was incorporated in the 1850′s and many houses were built to reflect the various contemporary design of the respective eras. Much of Minneapolis was built out in the 1900′s through the 1960′s. After that, Minneapolis was mostly fully developed. There are pockets of houses built more recently, as well as the occasional in-fill house, too.

Come and explore the various styles that you’ll find around Minneapolis, including victorian, craftsman, prairie, colonial, mission, and more.

10 Ways to Save Gas

With gas prices here in Minneapolis approaching $4.00 per gallon, we all are thinking of ways to save gas. Whether it is buying a hybrid car, or just driving less, saving gas is not only helping the planet, but also our pocketbooks. In real estate, we drive between many houses whether it is with buyers or whether we are just previewing the neighborhood houses. We all need ways to cut down on consumption.

Here is my top 10 list of ways to save gas:

10. Make sure your tires are not low on air pressure. Low pressure increases the rolling resistance of the tires, which in turn uses more gas.

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