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!