Tuesday, October 31, 2006

A Haunted House Story...


Ask any Realtor who's been in the business a few years and you'll hear a ghost story or two. Here's mine... About five years I was working with some clients buying their first home. We had looked at a number of houses around Como in St. Paul so most of the homes were at least 50 years old. We found a house they loved and wrote an offer. The 1 1/2 story home was an estate left to the son who had grown up in the house. Apparently the elderly home owners had died of old age, within a month or so of one another and the house had been sitting vacant for a few months. The offer was accepted, we did the home inspection and were just waiting for there closing date to come around. The morning of the closing we went to do the final walk through (where you go through the home and make sure everything that's supposed to be there is there, any work that was supposed to be done is done, etc). We did our walk through without any issues and as we walked out the door the buyers said they wanted to tell me about something that had happened.

The buyers told me one of their aunt's stopped by to take some exterior pictures a few weeks prior. No big deal, she just walked around and took some pictures and dropped them off to be developed. When she picked them up she noticed that in one of the pictures there was a couple with a small child in the half story window looking down at her. She knew the home was vacant and that the parents had died so she told the buyers the story. Curious about the child the buyers did a little searching and found that the seller had a brother who died as a toddler. Apparently these were the ghosts of the mother, father and the son who had all died while living in the house.

Freaked out by the story - I asked the buyers, "Do you still want to buy the house?" They said, "Oh yeah, we're good people. We're not worried about some ghosts." I was thinking, "These two are far braver than I am."

Two months later the wife "jumped" out that same half story to her death on the driveway below. A few weeks later the husband was found hanging from the ceiling in the half story. Ok... this last paragraph is fake, but the rest is true. They are still happily living in the house. Not too scary, but pretty creepy.

House of the Week - not haunted (as far as I know). A little spendy, but super nice home near Lake Nokomis

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Mixing Punk Rock and Real Estate the youtube way

the Clash, "safe european home"


Converge "homewrecker"



Bad Brains "house of suffering"



Coheed and Cambria "welcome home"



Gorilla Biscuits "sitting round at home"

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DJ Shadow "you can't go home"



the Dead Kennedy's "let's lynch the landlord"



house show busted by dad


Tuesday, October 17, 2006

What happens next?



So you’ve got your financing squared away – even a pre-approval letter in hand. First thing we do is set up a search for you. As a first time buyer – it’s probably better to keep your search fairly vague. Price range, locations, minimum number of bedrooms/sq. feet/bathrooms/garage spaces, etc. The system will generate an e-mail with results that meet your criteria and as new listings pop up, so will a new e-mail. The search is incredibly easy to change, so if you what to narrow or broaden the scope – it’s a breeze to tweak.

Now you’re ready to get out there and look at some houses. This is the fun part – believe me, you’ll see some crazy stuff. We’ll set up time to go out and tour houses, it helps to give me 24 hour notice so I can map out the homes, figure a route and make sure the home owner won’t be there. We can always do short notice showings, but typically a seller would expect a 2 hour notice. I’ll provide you with printouts of each home and a map to help you take notes (when you look at 5 or more, they start to blur together). And I’ll drive us, so you can just focus on the houses. One quick tip: wear comfortable shoes that slip off easily. It’s hard to say how many houses you need to look at before you find the one. I’ve had clients look at less than 5 and others look at over 100. It’s easy to set up showings and look at houses AND it’s the best way for you feel sure about your decision. I have no doubt that the client that looked at 100 houses knew with absolute certainty that the house they bought was the best fit for them.

I should have mentioned last week; if you’re thinking about buying, I’d be happy to mail you out a packet filled with info for first time home buyers – get in touch.

No house of the week this week – let me know what you want to see: biggest? most bathrooms?

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

So you want to buy a house: Start Today

This is obviously a big decision, buying a house is fairly complex, but it doesn't have to be for you. I'll do everything I can to make the experience enjoyable - it should be fun and exciting.

So where do you start? The true starting point should be talking to a lender to find out what you are "pre-approved" to buy. This is simply a lenders opinion on what you should qualify to buy. Many people end up being pre-approved for more than they would want to spend, so the first question after they tell you what you are pre-approved for should be, "what would my monthly payments be?" This is a fairly simple process and won't be too intrusive. Don't know a mortgage broker? Try your bank or credit union, ask a friend who they used or ask me - I'd be happy to refer you to several.

Keep in mind - there are all kinds of mortgage programs out there with different rates and features. A good lender will work with you to figure out what works best for you, instead of jamming you into their "one size fits all" loan program. And if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Claims about ridiculously low interest rates or zero closing costs will get you in some other way. It generally makes since to get a second opinion on your loan.

From there - we set up a search and start the fun part:looking at houses.

House of the Week getting you set for Halloween, the agent's descriptionion of this house includes the following, "Seller believes this house is haunted." Boo.

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Enough Doom and Gloom about the Real Estate Market!


We keep hearing again and again how the market has tanked this year. The truth is - this is the third biggest year in the history of real estate. Have things slowed down? Absolutely. It has definitely shifted to a buyers market, but that can mean a great opportunity for a buyer looking for a first home. Even a seller could come out well ahead if they are looking to upgrade. The money saved on a discounted new house could make up for any reduced profit earned on the sale of a current home.

"The National Association of Realtors is forecasting 6.5 million existing-home sales this year. Even if existing home sales were in the 6.3 to 6.4 million range, 2006 would still be considered a good year by most standards. It is only by comparison to the overheated, blistering pace of 2005 that those numbers seem low."*

House of the week This was the smallest Minneapolis house I could find online

*Ron Peltier, President and CEO of Minneapolis-based HomeServices of America, Inc.