Well...

Word on the street today is that this house in Old Highland is coming down.

What is PARTICULARLY disturbing is that a local non-profit developer HAD AN OFFER SUBMITTED on this house!

I don't know why the listing company & seller just disappeared on them and never accepted or countered the offer.

But this is really just out of control.

Oh, and I posted fellow-blogger Tyler's picture of the front of the house over here.

Random Thoughts Roundup

1. I have a new tenant moving into my little cottage. Huzzah! He seems fabulous, and is really excited about the house and the area.

2. The house on one side is for sale. I don't really like the building, but the yard is FANTASTIC. Too bad it's overpriced, and therefore I'm not buying it.

3. The house on the OTHER side is foreclosed and has a lockbox on the door. No listing as of yet, but it'll come on soon. I'd seriously consider this one if it were priced right. The deferred maintenance is crazy (and it has all of ZERO curb appeal,) but I'm confident that I could transform it. It's got great bones.

4. I toured a $20k Victorian today, a couple blocks away. It's actually not on the demo list, nor the chapter 249. (Dang, if only I were a millionaire NOW... I'd buy ALL these places!)

5. The sunset over Theo Wirth Parkway is PHENOMENAL.

6. Only one more day until the election. Thank heavens... I want this to be over. (Though I think it's pretty cool that the old Bean Scene on Penn/Bro is currently serving as an Obama campaign office.)

I think I'm going to throw up

I did everything I could think of to call attention to this perfectly salvagable brick foursquare.

But my efforts were clearly not enough.

This picture is nauseating.

Opportunity in Old Highland!

Yes, this is me shamelessly promoting my newest listing... but look how gorgeous it is!







This fabulous, huge, 5BR home is located the Old Highland neighborhood, and is currently listed for $199,9.

Tell all your friends!

Oh, and for my fellow old-house-crazy-obsessives... I have two words:

SUBWAY TILE!!!

Huzzah!

More great press for NoMi!

Am I crazy?

Is it bizarre that I look at things like this and want to save them?


Am I really the only one who thinks this sort of construction merits our stewardship?


Are people REALLY telling me that such a house is beyond salvage?


What will fill the void if this house goes away?


Does no one else wonder how many children have sat on this bench to remove their galoshes or snow-boots?


Do we really want to fill our landfills with shards of quality craftsmanship; bits of old-growth history?


Apparently I AM crazy.

To say nothing of tired.

And very very sad.

Oh and by the way -

I was vacationing abroad when this little nugget found its way to my email inbox, courtesy of a neighbor:

Sent: Tuesday, June 17, 2008 3:26 PM
Subject: Please join us -- Hennepin County demolition initiative for
boarded and vacant houses in Minneapolis
Importance: High

Hennepin County Commissioner Mike Opat would like to invite your office
to a news conference tomorrow morning announcing Hennepin County's
initiative
to demolish boarded and vacant homes in Minneapolis. We hope you are
able to attend. Please forward this message to other stakeholders who
may be
interested, and call or email me with any questions.

Hennepin County to fund demolition of at least 50 blighted properties in
Minneapolis

A news conference will be held Wednesday to announce a Hennepin County
initiative providing $1.25 million in funding to demolish boarded and
vacant
homes in Minneapolis. The county will fund at least 50 demolitions of
properties that are blighted and pose a public safety threat to
neighborhoods.
Since many of the condemned homes have been abandoned because of
mortgage foreclosure, the initiative is aimed at accelerating the
housing market
turnaround and stabilizing and securing neighborhoods.

WHEN: Wednesday, June 18, at 10:30 a.m.

WHERE: 2914 Dupont Ave. N. in Minneapolis -- a condemned, burned-out
house that will be among the properties demolished by this initiative:
(See attached file: 2914 Dupont North (2).JPG)

WHO: Join Hennepin County Commissioner Mike Opat, other elected
officials and staff from Hennepin County and the City of Minneapolis,
and housing
and community organizations and residents.

CONTACT: Office of Hennepin County Commissioner Mike Opat, 612-348-7881

DETAILS: Tuesday the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners approved a
resolution, authored by Commissioner Mike Opat, to address major blight
and
public safety issues in Minneapolis by demolishing at least 50 vacant
and boarded residential properties.

The resolution includes $1.25 million in Hennepin County funding --
$500,000 from the Environmental Response Fund for environmental
assessment and
cleanup; $500,000 in contingency funding for demolition work; and
$250,000 from the Solid Waste Enterprise Fund for transport and waste
disposal.
Environmental concerns for the properties include the presence of
lead-based paint, asbestos and other hazardous materials.

All of the properties will be demolished by Dec. 31 and final site
activities completed by June 30, 2009. An assessment of $17,500, or 70
percent of
the average cost for assessment, cleanup, demolition and disposal, will
be made on each property, repayable to Hennepin County.

______________________________

_
Phil Essington
Office of Commissioner Mike Opat
Hennepin County
300 S. 6th St., Mpls, MN 55487-0240
612.348.5206, f) 612.348.8701
phil.essington@co.hennepin.mn.us

This makes me feel ill.

Under $25,000 Home Tour

A while back I mentioned that there are a whole bunch of REALLY cheap houses for sale at the moment, many of which are located in North Minneapolis.

Remember? Very good.

Anyway, a couple of lovely gentlemen from Minnpost found this particularly interesting, and asked if they could see a few such houses. I obliged, and they made a video about it.

Here it is:

Victims or Miscreants?

Here's the Strib article.

Here's Johnny Northside's response.

I already have a fully formed opinion on this, but please do read and judge for yourself.

Northside Home Tour THIS SATURDAY???

****BREAKING NEWS****

I just found out about this today - YIKES!

But in-between your Art-A-Whirling, I heartily encourage you to jog west just a smidge and check out the home tour that's going on this Saturday, May 17 on the Northside!

I have a flyer, but I can't for the life of me figure out how to link it here. (It's a PDF)

Email me for the details and/or if you want to school me on PDF-linkage...)

And I'll see you North/Northeast this weekend!

Northside Synagogues Walking Tour!

From the City of Minneapolis website:

Co-sponsored by the Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest
Date: May 31
Time: 10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Place: Mikro Kodesh Synagogue, 1000 Oliver Ave N.
Guide: Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest
This walking tour will highlight some of the gathering places of North Minneapolis’s Jewish community in the early 20^th century. Visit a neighborhood with three synagogues as well as the Emmanuel Cohen Community Center and the Jewish Shelter Home for Children. Learn about the architectural history of these buildings and the communities that have – and continue to gather here.

SO NEAT! I'm definitely planning to be there.

Minneapolis Advantage loan program

From the city web page:

"The Minneapolis Advantage loan program is a downpayment and closing cost assistance program to help rebuild the housing market in key neighborhoods that have experienced mortgage foreclosures.

The program offers a $10,000 zero-percent interest rate loan that is forgivable over five years to anyone buying a home in which they will live in these eligible neighborhoods (PDF). Additional assistance offered through neighborhood associations may be available to homebuyers purchasing homes in Harrison, McKinley, Folwell and Webber-Camden."

Loan applications will be accepted starting May 5!

This is an awesome opportunity.

Holy Cheap Houses!

A quick search on MLS Matrix this morning reveals that North Minneapolis currently has:

470 homes for sale listed UNDER $100,000;

234 homes for sale listed UNDER $50,000;

and 36 homes for sale listed UNDER $25,000.


This is mind-boggling.


Here's a photo of one from the third category:


I think it's pretty cute... especially considering the fact that it's about the price of my first decent (used) car.

Well now... THIS should be interesting!

Thanks to their handy-dandy blog, I just learned that North Minneapolis's Hawthorne Neighborhood is charting a bold new course in the battle against foreclosure-blight.

I don't know where this case is going to go, but I DO know that many of the good boys and girls of North Minneapolis are getting rather PISSED about the current state of affairs... and I don't blame them one bit.

I can't wait to see what happens next!

So much for nobody wanting homes over north

Yes yes, I knowwwwwww, if you read the Strib or surf the web or talk to just about ANYBODY on the street on a given day about real estate, I KNOW they will mention the foreclosure rates in North Minneapolis.

Yes yes, mm-hmm. Indeed.

We've all heard... From Old Highland to Victory; from Willard-Homewood to Webber Park, there's a bootload of inventory, and price has crashed like some overweight ice-dam in a torrential spring rain. We've seen the google-maps, with their bazillion merging red dots.

But wait - let me tell you something you may not know:

In the past couple of months, I've gone shopping with several buyers in North Minneapolis. While we found the very inventory we expected, we also found something else: fierce competition.

Ye gads!

You mean somebody ELSE actually wants these homes? Not just us crazies?

You bet.

In fact, in the past week and a half, one particular buyer of mine (bless her poor, disheartened soul) has encountered multiple offer situations on no less than FOUR CONSECUTIVE HOMES on which we've written offers.

Coincidence?

Bad luck?

I think not. In fact, I think that as aggravating as this may be for my clients, it actually points to something very GOOD.

I think we're on the rebound...