Reasons you should RENT and not BUY… PLUS a resource if this is you.

September 5, 2021September 5, 2021 MaryLeave a comment

Sometimes RENTING is the way to go. If you are moving to (or within) Minneapolis I’ll give you some reasons why you may want to choose RENTING a house or an apartment vs buying one.

I see people juggling this decision about where to live daily. A lot of people WANT to buy, but certain circumstances may mean that renting is actually the best choice, at least for now.
The number one reason people that I speak with most often are looking for a rental is that they are moving to the Minneapolis area from out of state. Not everyone is ready to buy sight unseen (but if you are I have a video about how I help people do that!). In this tight market, if you can possibly avoid having a home sale contingency on your offer you are FAR better off and that means there will be a period of time where you may be without a permanent home and need a place to rent.

A lot of my clients move to Minneapolis because they have been freed from having to work in an office and now work remotely and can live where they choose. This means that they have a LOT of options – that’s both a good thing AND a bad thing. Having the flexibility to explore without committing to a particular neighborhood is a great reason to rent! If this is YOU, let me know – I put together a list of rental options specifically with this in mind, you can email me and I’ll send it to you.

Most often people I work with that are relocating to Minneapolis may be looking for a short term rental to use as a base while they house hunt. I do not work in rentals for several reasons, but I am happy to email you a list of resources that I have recently compiled of places to start your search.

When you don’t have to eliminate any particular area because the commute is too long, it means that you have a lot to choose from and likely want to choose carefully based on what kind of lifestyle you want to live.

Do you want to live downtown in highrise condo overlooking the famous stone arch bridge and the Mississippi River? Taking advantage of easy access to all of the wonderful restaurants, clubs and outdoor spaces?

Or do you see yourself in a quiet suburban neighborhood with a cul de sac and playgrounds for the kids? Is being close to a large park to pursue outdoor activities important to you?
Maybe you want to be convenient to shopping or find a single level floor plan? You may need time to explore and figure out where the things that are most important to you are.

man standing beside his wife teaching their child how to ride bicycle — Photo by Agung Pandit Wiguna on Pexels.com

Juggling a move from one part of the country to the other will necessarily have some uncomfortable times – it’s emotionally stressful and often physically a bit uncomfortable too as you adjust to temporary housing and figuring out your way around the cities. Having a home base to operate out of even for a short time can ease that pain.

Another thing to mention – because rentals are in high demand if you need to sublet because you found a permanent place to live you’ll likely have an easy time finding a taker – just make sure that the landlord on your rental is ok with that before you sign.

Not everyone wants to or should be a home owner! Do you need to move often? Buying a home has a lot of associated expenses and they are typically not easily recouped in a short period of time.

If you want and need the flexibility to move without all of the expenses associated with buying or selling a home, then you should definitely rent. Renting can be an option for any type of home or area in the Twin Cities – there are a lot of downtown condos available if you want to be in the heart of it all as well as options reaching out to the single family homes or townhouses in the suburbs. Most single family homes are rented by owner, and not listed with an agent or a property management company.

Another reason to rent is that you are saving up for a downpayment on a home because you DO want to become a homeowner eventually. The rental market in the twin cities is very tight, so this may not be the money saving option that you hope for unless you’re able to split the rent with roommates or somehow find something that will be well under your budget.

Rents vary across the metro area but Average Rents in Minneapolis are:

Minneapolis studio apartment is $1,297
Minneapolis 1-bedroom apartment is $1,541
Minneapolis 2-bedroom apartment is $2,432
Minneapolis 3-bedroom apartment is $2,960

How much do you need to save in order to buy? Probably not as much as you think! There is a commonly held myth that you need to have 20% of the price of the home for a downpayment. This is just not true. You can get a conventional loan with as little as 3% down. Having more cash saved IS better, because you will want to have a cushion available when making offers in this environment.

If you’ve seen any of my videos this year about how tough of a market it is for buyers, you’ll know that having the option to offer over list or to cover an appraisal gap is going to be very helpful for you in getting an offer accepted. Even if you do not need to use all of your cash for a downpayment, moving into a home naturally leads to you to want to change a few things and make it your own so you should also plan to have some cash on hand in the event that you have something to change or fix. When you own your own home, there is no landlord and if the AC unit or water heater break that is now your problem, so try not to make your budget too tight.

For comparison to rental costs take a look at these estimated numbers by Nerdwallet. $380,000 is the median price of a single family in the Twin Cities as of August 2021. We currently have exceptionally low interest rates if your credit is good – 3%! and even if you have to pay for private mortgage insurance (PMI) because you did not have a 20% down payment you are still in a good position relative to renting IF buying is your preference.

There are some other benefits to buying, including tax benefits and property value appreciation over time, so if you DO buy you’ll likely come out of it better off than when you purchased. People talk about “generational wealth” or having something to pass down to help the next generation and home ownership is a fundamental element of that. The National Association of Realtors said that prices appreciated by 22.9% in the past year – this is the result of a very tight supply of homes. If you had purchased a home last year you actually may have been able to make some money selling it this year, but this is NOT the norm. Prices rise and fall but the overall trend in values is UP. Add this to the fact that you’ve built equity by paying your mortgage down over time and a home could be a spring board to other opportunities.

Another reason you may want to rent – if you do not want to be the one responsible for the maintenance on a house – either by paying someone to fix it or putting on that toolbelt and fixing it yourself, stick to renting and leave the headache to the landlord. The fact of the matter is that houses are nearly constantly in need of something and they are the biggest asset that most people own, so keeping them in good shape is important to your comfort AND your bottom line.

Let me know if you want that list of places to start looking for a rental home, or if you’re wondering about how you can STOP renting and buy your own home – I’m here to help either way.

Living in Minneapolis

5 things that SHOCKED me when I moved to Minnesota!

August 17, 2021 Mary1 Comment

Maybe the words “confused” or “amused” would also work to describe our reactions… 😉

I held a lot of stereotypes in my head about Minnesota but I also had a pretty large black hole where Minnesota information might have been if I had given Minnesota much thought at all before moving here… but I hadn’t.

Disclaimer out front – we LOVE living in Minnesota. I’m probably going to get ridden out of here on rails for this video/post, but I’m still going to do it! I am not a native, I’ve lived in Ohio, Michigan, Atlanta GA, Chicago IL and now I’m here, so I’m just coming at this with the eye of an outsider, and I’m sharing it with you.

#1 STATE PRIDE

The first thing that struck us when we moved here was that Minnesotans are extremely proud of their state. I have lived in SEVERAL other states as I mentioned and in none of them has there been this level of state branding worn by the residents. People wear Minnesota gear ALL THE TIME. I don’t mean gear for just the sports teams, I mean it’s like school spirit day every day because people wear clothing & hats, put bumper stickers on their cars, there is Minnesota themed artwork in their homes – you name it! All proudly proclaiming that they live in, and LOVE living in, Minnesota. It’s everywhere. Also, Minnesotans do not tolerate a less than favorable comparison to another state very well, even just a hint of one.

If there is any glory to be had, even if it’s tied by the very finest of threads, they will mention it. If someone does something notable and their uncle’s in-laws cousin once removed is from MN – well, good enough! Minnesota can lay claim. I really like it here too, I think a lot of this is somewhat justified. BUT this is a video about what stood out to me as an outsider and it is a very noticeable trait when you’re not from around these parts.

One of my Minnesota born and bred friends explained that Minnesotans are a little sensitive about being in fly-over country, it’s a little out of the way if you’re from the coasts, and it hurts to have your exceptional light dimmed by the fact of geography. The place has a lot going for it and if you know, you know. But if you don’t know …you may be tempted to step in it a bit and not give credit where Minnesotans believe that credit is due. 🙂 If you’re on Twitter follow the account “Indignant Minnesotan” – whoever this is gets it.

#2 Infrastructure

One thing that I was surprised by, and am now ecstatic over is that the infrastructure of the Twin Cities and the state as a whole is built very intentionally around helping people enjoy being outside. It took me a while to put my finger on it even though I take advantage of this nearly daily. It’s just so EASY to be a part of the natural beauty and lakes that surround us whether it’s on foot, on bikes or in the water itself. Chicago had some of this on the lake front, but MN has it EVERYWHERE. It feels like Minnesotans are born feeling that being outside and having easy access to it is their birthright.

scenic view of lake in forest — Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

I absolutely LOVE this characteristic and I can’t believe how deeply integrated this is into most of the state – at least the parts that I’ve been in so far. There are bike trails absolutely everywhere. City, suburb or exurb. The lakes are an extension of the way people live here and a lot of parks have ways for you to enjoy the water whether it’s through beaches, boat rentals, paddle boards, keeping them cleared for skating and pond hockey in winter or making them accessible for fishing. Much of the northern part of the state is forest or borders on Lake Superior and the parks and cabins that are available for spending time outside up there are extensive. Trails are used year round, for hiking, fat tire bikes, skiing, or snow mobiling.

three men riding on bicycles — Photo by Dorothy Castillo on Pexels.com

#3 Cabin culture

This one isn’t too much of a shock based on the last one, but cabin culture here is strong. People clear out of the city pretty much every weekend through the summer to head up to the cabin. All summer long you’ll see lots of photos of people having fun outside at lakes and cabins and you can enjoy easier access to just about everything in the city because no one is here.We don’t have a cabin, but I imagine that would be nice. 😉 but in the meantime, I’ll just be here in Minneapolis enjoying fewer people at the things I want to visit.

food wood man vacation — Photo by Ron Lach on Pexels.com

4. The weather!

Everyone thinks COLD when they think of Minnesota, what they don’t tell you is how ridiculously HOT it gets here in the summer. The month of July is like a sauna. Super humid and super hot, it’s just gross.

man in black shirt drinking water from plastic bottle — Photo by Ketut Subiyanto on Pexels.com

I am a cold weather person, I like to enjoy the moderate days and the sun for a few months but cold weather makes me happy inside. So July is not my favorite. We moved from Chicago which is significantly further south and it is significantly hotter here in the summer. I like to tell my friends and family in Ohio when they start talking about how awful our weather here must be in the winter that it’s about 10 degrees colder in winter and 10 degrees hotter in summer.

Most states talk about snow days for school. You aren’t likely to see that here. Kids go to school in the winter. The potential for kids being called off school for weather comes in when spring hits or the early fall when kids start back to school for a “heat day”. When it’s hot out with no AC in some of the schools, it’s intolerable and kids stay home (or go to the lake!). We do get the occasional day called off for cold or snow too, MPS calls school when its -35F or colder with wind chill or if, there is an extra large and fast snowfall. Whatever you imagine this to mean – double it.

5. The FAIR.

Minnesotans are OBSESSED with their state fair. They call it the Great Minnesota Get Together. They love the rides, the CROWDS, the “pronto pups” aka corn dogs and the “sweet martha’s cookies”. People will go to the state fair multiple times during the week that it’s running. This is not an inexpensive endeavor, in 2021 they are honoring 2020 admission tickets. You’re best bet is riding one of the buses from the various park and rides rather than trying to find a place to park. It’s a relatively inexpensive ticket and gets you there and back easily pretty much whenever you want to go.

people riding carousel in park — Photo by Scott Webb on Pexels.com

I don’t love it.

I keep trying.

I worry that there is something wrong with me, but then I think – I can’t be the only one that doesn’t love it! There must be more like me! I think we all try to keep it to ourselves to avoid the gasps of astonishment and confusion.

It’s not personal Minnesota! I just don’t like huge crowds!

If you like being smooshed together with vast swaths of Minnesotan humanity – give it a try! The one thing I DO love about the fair is the annual “Crop Art” competition just because it is just SO MINNESOTAN, and so creative. It amazed me all three times I went.

But now I like look at photos instead so I don’t need to be near all those people.

market updates

Real Estate Market Update for July 2021!

August 8, 2021August 8, 2021 MaryLeave a comment

A little breathing room!

If you are a buyer OR a seller, I think you’ll be happy with what is happening right now.

Today I just have a quick update on the Twin Cities real estate market for July 2021, including how the market has changed in the past month and what kinds of offers are being accepted by sellers right now. I LOVE this particular bit of data, it’s SO valuable to see in a higher level view of what types of offers are being accepted. This information started being sent out to us in early spring and while every transaction is different, the trends in offers are enlightening.

After a steady climb in home prices since the beginning of 2021, we are seeing the market flatten out a bit.

The median single family home price for the Twin Cities region stayed nearly level (it actually declined by a whopping $100) at $379,900.

The same can be said for townhouses which are at $259,900 down $100 from $260,000 last month.

Condos in the area that showed a legitimate dip in price, from $203,500 down to $200,000. $3000 isn’t a lot of money n the scheme of things but at that price point, that represents a decrease of 1.5%.

We are seeing an uptick in the number of months supply of single family homes, at one point early this year we were down to a couple of weeks worth available home which actually means that things were selling in a couple of days, usually taking offers on the first day and through the weekend and then being in some sort of contingent status for a period of time.
We are now up to 1.2 months supply. For context we consider it a balanced market at 5-6 months of supply, and the lower the number the more it favors SELLERS. So while we are coming out of that very painful time for buyers to some degree, it is still a seller’s market in the Twin Cities region.

For the macro view comparing todays market to a “normal” market (pre-Covid):
Showing activity, which is a measure of demand, dropped 8.0 percent overall, but not across the board! Some segments of the market have increased interest. For example, listings above $300K saw increased showing activity compared to the same time period in July of 2019.

Sellers haven’t been quite as active as they were – listings are down 21.8 percent overall.

This doesn’t hold true for every price range! Homes listed between $500-750K saw a 27.5 percent increase in supply of new listings compared to 2019 while listings priced above this category also saw increased supply on average.

Buyer activity, which was regularly skyrocketing in the first half of this year, has since calmed to follow a more stable pattern of demand, which is a big relief for buyers in general. Will there still be multiple offers? Quite possibly if the home is priced properly and in good condition. However, when sellers try to price at the top of the market it can backfire.
Overall pending sales are level with two years prior, but every price point has a distinct market of its own.

Listings below $250K saw decreased demand, down at least 29.7 percent. This could be due to the uneven job loss disproportionately hitting this with lower incomes.

Homes priced above $350K saw increased demand, up at least 44.8 percent or greater.
As of the end of July, the 30-Year Fixed Rate Mortgage Average in the United States remained at 2.8 percent – still super low!

Now lets take a look at the types of offers being accepted by sellers most recently.

I love looking at this over time because earlier this year it was like a bacchanalian feast for sellers and being sent to into the coliseum in Rome to fight for survival for buyers.
This data is provided to agents by the Minnesota Transaction Coordinators Company that helps agents across the metro process and manage transactions.

The current Offer Acceptance Rate is 55% – earlier this year we were hovering around the 30% mark and that was an exhausting place to be for buyers, especially those that had any contingencies at all.

The current Cancellation Rate on purchase agreements is 8% (mostly during the inspection timeframe).

Inspections are being Waived about 34% of the time. This is also a major improvement over earlier this year when we were seeing rates close to 50%.

I’ll reiterate something I’ve said in the past – I think an inspection is a really important thing for buyers and sellers AND their agents. It protects everyone.

Pre-market sales (private, off market) are UP to 6.60% after a steady couple of months in decline.

Average Purchase price to List Price: 102.5% – still a little low for where we’ve been this year. So you’re likely not going to get a big discount on a home, but it was OVER 105% earlier this year. This stat is still good for sellers and shows things getting a little better for buyers.

How are people financing their purchases?

Cash has increased to 14%, Conventional loans are down a little to 71%, FHA has increased to 8% (what a great thing to see for first time buyers!) VA is up slightly to 4%, USDA loans are at 2%, Other 1% (contract for deed?)

One of the most heartening pieces for buyers is that Seller Paid Closing Costs are included 26% of the time – the highest it’s been since March and it looks like these are genuinely being paid by the seller because the Average Purchase price to List price for SPCC included sales is 100% and only 17% of these waived the inspection.

Home Warranties included in the contract are at 8.12%

Purchases Contingent Upon the Sale of the Buyer’s Property: 10.15%

OK – I have been saying every month to avoid this if possible and I still maintain that is the best course of action but the trends don’t lie. Sellers are accepting this more and more.
Thanks for stopping by!

Neighborhood Tours

Hopkins MN

July 30, 2021July 30, 2021 MaryLeave a comment

Want that small town, walkable feel without a major commute? Think about Hopkins!

If you like a small town feel, with easy access to all of the things that the city has to offer – as well as access to the joys of the more rural areas outside of the immediate metro, Hopkins may be for you!

Hopkins MN seems to fly under the radar – it has a tendency to be overlooked, it’s a bit of a small town tucked into a 4 square mile pocket surrounded by the larger, more well known suburbs of Minnetonka, St. Louis Park and Edina. Hopkins sits just west of Minneapolis, it’s a small suburb with only about 18,000 people and it’s part of in Hennepin County MN.

A little bit of Hopkins history – By the 1920s, growing raspberries had become a big business for Hopkins area farmers. It is estimated that at one time the Hopkins area had over 800 acres planted in raspberries! Most were used for fresh market consumption. It became known as the “Raspberry Capital of the World.” Hopkins still celebrates this although now it’s is far from being a farming community – the street signs have a raspberry logo on them and they still hold a festival every year.

I have done a LOT of videos highlighting different suburbs in the twin cities metro – some of them are circled here, but you should check out my neighborhoods and suburbs playlist on YouTube for more.

Commute times and other profiled suburbs

Commute times are easy by car – it is only 3 miles to the border of Minneapolis as it is, but driving to downtown takes approximately 20 minutes via 394, or about 24 minutes to MSP airport via 494.

One of the main things I love about Hopkins is the adorable downtown area. It still has a historic feel, it’s a walkable city with sidewalks in the city center as well as throughout the neighborhoods which have a lot of pretty, older homes in neighborhoods branching out from the main street area. Main street is lined with shops and restaurants, the local library, post office and city hall are in the town center, as well as the Hopkins Center for the Arts.

Hopkins has a nice mix of housing – including single family homes, and newer condos that are close to downtown and transportation. Speaking of transportation – Hopkins Station is right on what will be the newly expanded light rail line. Lots of construction around that and the southern portion of the Cedar Lake Trail which runs along side it right now, but once this is completed it should be a real asset to people that live in Hopkins and want to get downtown to to the airport without driving.

All this charm and convenience and it comes at an affordable price compared to many suburbs in the Twin cities metro area as a whole. Currently (july 2021) Hopkins Median price for a single family home is $353,100 which is just slightly higher than that of the twin cities as a whole. Property tax in Hopkins is a little higher than in some of the other ‘burbs that I have profiled. The effective tax rate is 1.41%

current month’s supply of homes (July 2021) – Seller’s Market

While there is a market in the city of Hopkins it isn’t a giant SUPER market – so if you want to do a bigger shop or have a preference for one of the larger chain super markets like Lunds and Byerlys or Cub, or if you want to get to a whole foods, you’ll have to do it outside of the city of Hopkins – but the surrounding suburbs are very close and you probably won’t be inconvenienced much at all to drive to a neighboring town for groceries.

low angle photography of brown wooden dock at golden house — Photo by Heiner on Pexels.com

It’s not just groceries that require a trip to a neighboring town – Because of it’s small size and easy proximity to it’s neighbors, Hopkins residents share a lot of the amenities offered by the nearby suburbs.

For example, residents of Hopkins use and get resident discounts at Shady Oak Beach and park in Minnetonka. I stopped over there and I was so impressed – it looks like a great place to spend the day playing in the water (they have an inflatable obstacle course that looks like SO much fun!) and if you have little kids there is a playground and areas geared that way as well. In addition to the beach and lake there is a really nice outdoor dining area so you can come and have fun and pack a picnic or order food at the concession stand and stay all day, You can pay by the day or buy a season pass.

Other nearby parks include Lone Lake Park which has tennis & pickle ball courts, a playground, sports fields, picnic area, basketball courts and trails. It is also a part of Minnetonka.

road nature man summer — Photo by Pack2Ride on Pexels.com

Hopkins has several regional trails running through it, so if you enjoy biking, roller blading or walking you’re in luck. There are 4 rail trail connections in Hopkins including the 2 branches of the Cedar Lake Trail, the Lake Minnetonka regional trail (just did an out an back bike ride on this one a couple of weeks ago – 30 relatively flat miles past some gorgeous lake views and through some of the most affluent areas of the Twin Cities Metro) and lastly the Minnesota Bluffs Trail an approximately 10 mile section of aggregate trail that runs south of Lake Minnetonka out to Chanhassen and Chaska.

If you live in Bloomington or just want to bike the south section of the metro you can get on the 9 mile creek regional trail which is both segregated bike trail and some lanes on streets, but it connects from Bloomington (and possibly further east) through Richfield, Edina, Minnetonka and up to Hopkins. I have ridden this one before as well and there are points that I found less than well marked so it’s good to have your phone with you for GPS. The official tally on this one is about 14.6 miles each way, but if you get lost and wander you can really up your mileage. Good times when you’re tired … not.

Hopkins schools are ranked highly on Niche.com with an A+ rating, but as I always mention, make sure you do your own homework and meet with the administrators and make sure that the schools are right for YOUR child. Everyone is different.

Even though Hopkins is smaller, the district boundaries kind of weave their their way through several of the neighboring suburbs and there are some kids that live in pockets of Plymouth, Edina, Eden Prairie, St. Louis Park, and Minnetonka that may attend Hopkins schools. I also did a video on open enrollment in schools in MN, it’s kind of a nice thing to have if you want to send your kid out of district to another school. Not guaranteed, but an option!

This post would not be complete if I didn’t let you know where you can get your eye candy – aka books!

Hopkins has a great library and it is right downtown where you can easily bike or walk to it. It is a part of the Hennepin County Library system, and is one of the 41 branches. If you want a book, they can get it for you! Hennepin county library has a really impressive budget for books – Ive been looking for the actual number but I can’t find it today! I just remember my jaw hitting the floor followed by green with envy feelings and then realizing that I can read any of those books! The HCL system has recently done completely away with fines too! YAY!!

Alright – chickens. I always need to end with chickens and fences.

Chickens are recently permitted in Hopkins – as of August 2020. And fences are allowed – heights vary by where the fence is placed – typically 4′ in front, 6 in back.

Final recommendation: the Hopkins web site is a very nice source of information for just about any question you can think of regarding the day to day details of living in Hopkins.

If Hopkins is in the running for you I strongly recommend check it out!

Neighborhood Tours

New Hope!

July 16, 2021 MaryLeave a comment

Another surprising community! Today I’ll show you around New Hope MN and give you all the reasons you may want to consider living there.

Lately I’ve been working with several first time buyers, and if you remember buying your first home you probably didn’t have a massive pile of money for a down payment as many people who may have equity from a sale do, so you have to look for a starter house in a more affordable neighborhood.

That’s where New Hope comes in! A quick look at what is on the market right now illustrates my point – there are 30 active homes in New Hope ranging from a 1 bed 1 bath condo for $115,000 to only a few homes in the mid-upper $500’s with MOST homes being single family homes in the upper $200,000’s to mid $300,000’s. The MEDIAN price in New Hope is at $309,000 whereas the Twin Cities Median is at $380,000.

If you’re an investor and want to rent out a residential property you must register the property with the city.

In addition to single family homes and people just starting out in life, New Hope makes senior living a priority as well. They have 3 long term care facilities, some assisted living complexes and senior citizen apartment homes.

elderly couple holding bouquet of flowers while holding hands — Photo by RODNAE Productions on Pexels.com

Let’s talk Property taxes… New Hope is in Hennepin County, the effective property tax rate in New Hope is 1.35%. Hennepin County’s portion is 1.28%, the effective tax rate for the state of MN is 1.08%. Sales taxes since I looked this up as well – MN has a sales tax rate of 6.88% on everything except (I believe!) food, prescriptions and clothing, and the sales tax rate in New Hope is 7.13%.

tax return form and notebooks on the table — Photo by Nataliya Vaitkevich on Pexels.com

The beauty of New Hope is not only the affordable home prices, but that New Hope is actually a really lovely community and it has a lot to offer.

New Hope is an easy commute to downtown or the airport. It’s only about 20 minutes by car to downtown. and Because I’m such a fan of our regional parks I also want to point out how close New Hope is to the beautiful Theodore Wirth Park. I touched on this park in my Golden Valley video (which you can watch next!) but Theodore Wirth really has it all. It’s just gorgeous, and can keep you busy outside no matter what season we’re in.

If you are leaving town or going to fetch a visitor, it’s about 26 minutes to MSP airport and while you’re down there you can stop by the Mall of America and get your shopping done or amuse the kids on the roller coasters. I was a major skeptic because I am not really a “mall person”, but I like “The Mall”! It has so many great stores that you don’t see everywhere else, some nice food options and my kid and I had fun doing some of the rides the first time we stopped in. Being close to it is nice because it can just be something you do for an hour or two and you don’t have to feel like you need to spend all day there since you can go back any time. The Ikea is right next to the mall as well, so if you like. Swedish Meatballs and cryptic assembly instructions for affordable furniture that utilize allen wrenches – you’ll be in heaven!

New Hope does NOT have it’s own school district, all schools in New Hope are part of the Robbinsdale Schools aka ISD 281. It’s a pretty big district with 10 k-5 elementary schools, 2 middle and 2 high schools. I always recommend that you do your research and see if the school district that your home is in is one that you will be happy with. You can check out Niche.com or GreatSchools, but another option is to actually VISIT the schools and talk to the administration and see things for yourself.

Speaking of brain food… New Hope residents have convenient use of 3 branches of the Hennepin County Library system. They can easily access Brookdale Library in Brooklyn Center, Golden Valley’s adorable little library, or the Rockford Library in Crystal.
One of my favorite topics when giving community profiles is the park systems. I just think green space improves the quality of life for everyone. New Hope agrees! They are a small city (only about 21,000 residents) but they have 18 city parks and several other venues offering all kinds of recreational activities including:

the new Hope aquatic center which is a community pool and water slide
2 off leash dog parksa 9 hole public golf course
disc golf course
ball fields
a skate park
tennis / pickleball courts
Community gyms with basketball courts that can be rented out for the day
and 3 outdoor skating rinks that are open in season.

sunflowers on rack with price tag near orange canopy tent — Photo by Daria Shevtsova on Pexels.com

The city hosts a Farmers Market on Saturdays from the middle of June through the middle of October at City Hall.

Lastly – Pets & fencing. Everyone’s favorite topics!

winking black and brown puppy — Photo by Dominika Roseclay on Pexels.com

New Hope allows for a LOT of pets – 3 dogs, 3 cats and 3 “other” household pets, as well as 3 “fowl”, This is not restricted to actual chickens – if you want ducks instead – go crazy!
All dogs, cats and ferrets need to be licensed and vaccinated for rabies.

Fencing – IS ALLOWED! 🙂

OK – that is ALL I HAVE on New Hope! It’s a lovely community that I feel lucky to have worked in lately. It offers a lot of great options to people that may be priced out of other areas of the city. It’s 100% worth considering if you’re wondering where to live in the twin cities metro.
If you like this kind of content – I have an entire playlist of neighborhoods/suburbs on my YouTube Channel that you can look at to see what feels right for you.

Thanks for stopping by!

Living in Minneapolis · market updates

Twin Cities housing market update – June & a bit o’ July 2021

July 14, 2021July 14, 2021 MaryLeave a comment

Is the feeding frenzy OVER?!? Not quite, but it seems to be a LOT better? Of course that is relative! and in this case I mean relative to the crazy times we were in in March – May!

In this video and blog post I’m giving you the current conditions of the market for the 7 county Twin Cities area broken down by property type and then I’ll go into a bit about what we see as far as what terms are resulting in accepted offers right now. These are the encouraging signs I’ve been looking for!

This year has definitely been one for the books! It has been the strongest sellers market that anyone I know can remember – and this is AMAZING if you have a home to SELL! Prices are higher than ever and you can dictate the terms for the MOST part – HOWEVER! Buyers! Do not despair! Things ARE getting easier for you now (at least compared to a couple of months ago when it was an all out SCRUM!)

A note about these graphs – I chose to make them show monthly ups and downs without the smoothing effect that softens the seasonal aspects, so keep that in mind as you look at the dips and heights. the market changes constantly, and this shows those changes month to month.

The median SFH price in the Twin Cities sits at $380,000 – that is UP from $326,100 at the beginning of this year.

Median Price TC Metro Single family Homes

You’ll often hear me talk about the “absorption rate” or the # of months supply of housing available to be sold if no other homes were to go on the market. For context it is considered a BALANCED market if there is 5-6 months of supply. We have been UNDER 1 month for different segments of the market for much of this year, mainly anything under about about $600K. Right now we are STILL at .8 months for anything under about $400k. For single family homes in general we are at a little over 1 month’s supply of homes.

Homes are only on the market for FIVE DAYS!!! a year and a half ago it was FOURTY FIVE! And only 6 months ago around 20! So still homes are still flying off the market.

Let’s look at the 2 softer spots – Townhomes and Condos.

The median price for a townhome is consistent with the rest of the market rise in prices and is at $271,000 from $240,000 in January.

For Townhomes there is a little uptick in supply and we have a full month available right now.

Condos! This is the place if you’re looking for any kind of deal! Sellers are negotiating! You can get an INSPECTION! 🙂
Condo prices are at $171,000 for a median price, up a similar amount from the beginning of the year as other property types are.

The supply of condos is where the opportunity comes in – Still a sellers market but for people selling condos it can feel like a whole different world. There are 2.5 months worth of inventory available. This has dropped a small amount since January but has been relatively flat this year overall.

Now let’s look at what kinds of offers are being accepted!

This is a valuable bit of information that the Minnesota Transaction Coordinators gives us on a regular basis and I’ll add my 2 cents to about what I am seeing (although as a much smaller segment of the market)

Offer Acceptance Rate: 42%

Inspections Waived: 31% – we haven’t been in the 30% range since March

My 2 cents: the last 6 contracts (this past month or so) that I have either written or accepted have had inspections included and accepted. that’s 100% of my sales in the past several weeks. I’ve been thrilled for my buyers and I am 100% fine with it for my seller as well because I feel like inspections protect EVERYONE, the buyer, the seller and ME.

Pre-market Sales that happen without hitting the MLS : 2.8%. This is DOWN from earlier this year! It was over 5% for quite a while – maybe due to pandemic fears about having too many people in a home?

Average Purchase to List Price: 102.7% – about the lowest it’s been since the spring market!

Still great for sellers, but also good news for buyers! And a lesson to sellers about pricing appropriately. Things change, you want to not have YOUR home sit because it’s been priced too high as well as understanding that unless you have something really special that the insane bidding wars may be over for now.

I have talked to many agents saying that showings are down from earlier this spring when agents were setting overlapping showings and having the home packed full of people for 12 hours per day. Now there are private showings again. There may be open spaces in the calendar. More than one offer may come in but they aren’t seeing the literal STACKS of offers that they were before.

Financing Types:

Cash 11.5%, which is higher than it’s been

Conventional 68.5%, – a little lower than its been

FHA 8.5%, higher!

VA 3%, Still a rough spot! People that use VA are often choosing it because it is a no downpayment loan, which means they are short on cash. If you can’t make appraisal gap guarantees, or add other sweeteners that need ready cash available this can be a VERY tough time to buy.

USDA 8.5% (this is a high number and I wonder if it is a function of the sample size that they had – if they had 2 transactions it could hit this #). These loans are generally for rural buyers.

Seller Paid Closing Costs: are at 12%

Home Warranties: 5.7% – I was able to negotiate this recently as well!

Contingent Upon the Sale of the Buyer’s Property: 8.5% (this seems HIGH to me! I’m still cautious about having this particular contingency, it can be a real weak spot in an offer if you have any competition at all. I would avoid this at all costs or you may have to make it an offer they can’t refuse due to price, or magically find a seller that wants to stay a little longer.

And that is ALL for this week. I’ll be back next week with some more neighborhood profiles. I’ve been AWOL due to this insane market and actually getting a vacation for the first time in YEARS. No regrets. 😉

See you then!

Living in Minneapolis · Neighborhood Tours

June 11, 2021June 11, 2021 MaryLeave a comment

Golden Valley Minnesota

Hi everyone! It’s been a while, real estate is BUSY right now but I have been working on a profile of Golden Valley & I wanted to share that with you.

I’ve been working with some buyers and we have been spending quite a bit of time in Golden Valley. Housing in the Minneapolis area is very tight right now and the availability of homes anywhere near the median twin cities home price of $330,000 are hard to find and gone within a day or two, and Golden Valley has been a surprising source of homes in this price range. While it definitely ALSO has higher priced homes, this is still an area that can be considered “affordable” and it has a LOT to offer. And I am going to cover it ALL (or at least a LOT of it!) and I’ll answer the 2 surprising questions I get asked so often about just about every area of the metro.

Golden Valley gets it’s name from flowing fields of wheat, fields of sunflowers OR Irish immigrants that had fond memories of the River Shannon. As a midwesterner, I’m going to put my money on the wheat.

People are HAPPY there…

The city does a periodic survey of it’s residents to find out how they feel about the community, and 98% of Golden Valley residents give the city an “excellent” or “Good” rating for quality of life. The three top reasons for the rating are Housing and Neighborhoods, People, and Government and Services. I can’t really look at the PEOPLE side of things but I will give you a look at housing and government services. FYI the last survey was in 2016 and here is the link if you care to read it.

Golden valley is in the NW side of Minneapolis and it is very conveniently located to the city. Since it is a suburb, if you are someone that likes to get away to state’s lakes and cabins in the north and west, you won’t really have to fight the traffic to get there.

Commute

If you need to commute to downtown and you are taking your own vehicle the drive is about 10-15 minutes. If you don’t want to pay to park, or you are planning to just hit a Vikings or a Twins game downtown, in the (hopefully) not too distant future you should be able to hop on the newly extended Metro Transit Blue Line light rail extension that will go from downtown and stop in Golden Valley on the way to other NW ‘burbs. This extension will follow a current railway that is in place and not involve any new tracks.

If you want to head out of town entirely or have someone heading in to visit, it’s only a 20 minute drive to MSP Airport.

Types of housing

Most homes in golden Valley were built in the 1950’s and 1960’s. If you love midcentury modern architecture THIS is the place – street after street of midmod homes. Some have been updated to a more current aesthetic but others have some true authenticity to them. There is a market for both! You’ll see some newer homes in my video tour as well. A benefit of older housing stock is that they usually built on larger lots than we see today and the landscaping is mature. The other thing that stands out to me is that typically these neighborhoods have some variation among the homes, you don’t see a lot of the “cookie cutter” feel that you get in newer subdivisions.

The median home price in May 2021 for Golden Valley is $374,150. This is higher than the Twin Cities Metro as a whole. I have been working with a few buyers that have budgets in the low to mid 300’s and we have found options here!

What will you pay in property taxes to live in Golden Valley?

Golden Valley is in Hennepin County which has an effective property tax rate of 1.28% (state average is 1.08%) and Golden Valley property tax is at an effective rate of 1.38%.

Work

Several large corporations have nice leafy campuses here including the HQs of General Mills and Tennant Company as well as major US offices for Allianz Insurance, Honeywell & Resideo.

Parks

Golden Valley, like much of the twin cities, loves their green space and parks. They are also the home of one of the best parks in the Twin Cities area – Theodore Wirth Regional Park. It’s 740 acres of happiness and outdoor fun. I’m just going to give you the highlights – in summer enjoy the golf course, disc golf course, beach, walking and biking trails, archery, or fishing and in winter tubing, x-ctry skiing, snowshoeing, sledding, snowboarding, fat tire bike trails…

15% of Golden Valley is PARK! There are 2 off-leash dog exercise areas in outdoor hockey rinks at Gearty & Medley Parks, both are FREE to use. Golden Valley does not require dog licenses, but they DO require a current rabies tag.

curious golden retriever resting on grassy lawn — Photo by kira schwarz on Pexels.com

Part of the parks are TWO activity / community centers. Lets start with the basic one – Davis Community Center attached to Meadowbrook Elementary. It’s a 10,000 sq foot gym space with open gym for basketball, pickleball, volleyball, kids gym activities and parks rec leagues.

basketball team stacking hands together — Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

The crown jewel in Golden Valley is the BROOKVIEW Center. It’s so pretty! It started life as a private country club and was purchased by the city in the 1960’s.

There is a beautiful building with a bar and grill and lots of patio seating overlooking the golf course and lawn bowling courts. The city grooms trails for x-ctry skiing and fat tire bikes in winter and if you have little kids that are going nuts indoors and need to burn off energy you can take them to the indoor play space at Brookview and buy yourself some sanity for about $5-$6/day depending on whether you’re a resident or not.

Schools

Let’s talk about schools – Golden Valley does not have a school district of its own, residents in Golden Valley will send their children to either Robbinsdale Schools OR Hopkins Schools depending on the address of the home. If you have a preference, it’s important to do your research up front and figure out what will work for you and make sure your home is where it needs to be to be in district. One school that stood out to me is the Perpich school for the arts – its the tuition free state arts high school and if you have a child who is an artist and this is what they are drawn to more than anything, it might be a place to consider! Seems like such a valuable asset to have this available to students who are serious about the arts. They even have a residence hall!

Library

Golden Valley has a small branch of the Hennepin County Library system. The architecture fits with the rest of the town – very midcentury. Despite it’s smaller size, every branch has access to the enormous number of books within the library system which includes 41 branches including the main branch downtown ad larger satellite branches like Southdale. They will also request books and other material for you from libraries throughout the state via interlibrary loan.

OK! Here it is! the TWO QUESTIONS I get asked ALL the time!

1. Can I fence my yard? YES – unless your’e in an HOA community that won’t allow it or has some restrictions, you may fence your yard! Front yards may have a 4′ limit and back yards 6″ high, but see the city web site for rules.
2. Can I have CHICKENS? YES! Up to 4 HENS per lot. Hennepin county municipalities have nearly all agreed to allow yard birds.

And last thing – if you have chickens you won’t need much of this because they LOVE veggie scraps, but if you live in Golden Valley they do include municipal composting with trash pick up. We separate compostables into green bins here and it goes to a large composting facility. The beauty of this is the ability to compost meat or dairy which aren’t a good idea in backyard composting bins.

That is ALL I have for Golden Valley today! If you have questions – reach out! I’d love to chat and see how I can help you.

Home Buying · home selling · Living in Minneapolis

March Real Estate Market Update

April 2, 2021April 2, 2021 MaryLeave a comment

My last post & video about this were pretty well received, so even though numbers aren’t flashy, I’m going to try to make this a monthly feature as we navigate through this crazy market. This post has some good little nuggets in it if you’re in certain segments of the market, so stick with me.

A bright spot for buyers?!!

Last time I posted about the market I gave an overview of “absorption rates”, this is going to be a recurring theme, so if you want to check that out you can find that post here: https://twin-cities-living.com/2021/02/26/i-had-other-plans-for-this-weeks-post/

There is an obvious lag in the data because we need to look after homes close and that shows up in the MLS, but I do get some data relatively quickly thanks to Minnesota Transaction Coordinators, a company that helps many of us with processing our transactions.

Let’s start there with their analysis of terms that they see in contracts.

Inspections

In the past couple of months we’ve seen quite a few buyers deciding to waive the inspection in order to release one more contingency ahead of everyone else. By “a lot” I mean 38% of buyers were waiving inspection in the first 2.5 weeks of the month, but when they looked at the first through the 26th the rate went to 31%. That means that enough people have STOPPED waiving them to lower this percentage by 7%. Buyers are insisting on protecting themselves and sellers are acquiescing to that.

Offer acceptance rates

Even better, offer acceptance has gone from 31% for the month last week, to 39% for the month over all as of the 26th. YAY!!!! Sellers are accepting offers! I represent a lot of buyers and it has just been TOUGH. So this is great news.

Homes listed on the open market vs witheld

In an office as large as mine, we often hold listings off market and only market to agents within the office. This shrinks the pool of who looks at the house which is desirable for a lot of reasons – from Covid, to privacy, to simply wanting to not have to deal with the preparation and hassle of selling on the open market. Sellers can name their terms and if another agent has a buyer that can meet those, there is a happy meeting of the minds without all of the associated prep work, exposure, etc and everyone feels satisfied. The number of sales that they have worked on in this status is down to 5.6%. This is good because more homes are hitting the market than have been.

Percentage of list price received

Current purchase price to list price ratio is “down to” 104% from 105% last week. It has been hovering between 103% and 105% in the past couple of months. It’s good to have that number in mind, even though it’s not a fixed price, it’s an idea of what you should think about when offering on a property that has a lot of interest. Price is not the entirety of a an offer, there are a lot of other terms that need to be in line as well, but this is good info for this metric.

Seller paid closing costs

26% of deals include some seller paid closing costs. I have to assume in this market that the offer price was increased to account for these, but I like that we are seeing it because it means sellers are accepting these terms.

Forms of financing

76% of loans are conventional (you do NOT need 20% down for a conventional loan! These are viewed as more favorable and if you can get a conventional loan it’s one more check mark on the list of terms).

FHA loans represent 10% of the offers, CASH 10%, and VA & USDA loans are at 4%.

Traditionally, inventory really increases around this time of year (inventory = homes being listed and available for sale). We currently have less than HALF of the listings we had 6 months ago.

Good news for downtown condo buyers!

Downtown condos are in a balanced market right now! If you are looking for a condo in the central city including neighborhoods like Loring Park, Downtown, University, Dinkytown, Elliot Park etc… now is the time. We believe that this is caused by the pandemic and people wanting to live in less dense housing + fewer people needing to be downtown for work, but don’t expect it to last with the speedy rollout of vaccine and life returning to somewhat new normal.

Days on Market are up to 41 (only from 38), but these are the kinds of indicators that let buyers know that they will not likely have to pay more than list, that sellers will be willing to negotiate because they know you can find another condo to buy and someone will play ball with you.

So that is what is happening! Sellers are still mostly in control of things, but if you’re a downtown condo buyer you’re in the sweet spot!

Let me know if you have questions.

Uncategorized

FOOD

March 29, 2021March 29, 2021 MaryLeave a comment

A friend of mine who really enjoys cooking said that she did not think there was a “Midwestern” cuisine. I (and James Beard award winning Minnesotan & chef, Amy Thielen) disagree. This post won’t necessarily be about the foods that Amy has elevated, although she’s taken some of these stand-bys and made them into something special. This post is about the foods Minnesotan’s crave.

I’m going to start with the #1 all time fave and famous dish:

“Hotdish” with tots. This one is Minnesota ALL THE WAY. People here rave about it. I’m still skeptical, but I tend to keep that to myself.

Hotdish is Minnesota for casserole. But I think most probably think of this particular casserole when they say it. It’s a ground beef, cream of celery soup (you know you’re in the Midwest if they are putting a can of Campbell’s soup in the recipe), mixed vegetables – pretty sure green beans and corn are standard, cheese and then topped off with Tater Tots and baked up in the oven for what *I* actually would refer to as “mofungo”. I eat Mofungo no problem, but I haven’t eaten this particular Mofungo.

photo of person holding ice cream — Photo by Sittisak C on Pexels.com

Dairy Queen. AKA DQ. You cannot swing a dead cat without hitting a Dairy Queen here. Not that I would want to swing a dead cat. It’s JUST A SAYING. Anyway – DQ, home of the Dilly Bar, the Blizzard and all the other frozen treats + fast food type chow as well. DQ is headquartered here in Minneapolis and their presence is ubiquitous. If you ask my daughter what her favorite restaurant is she will say DQ. And she’s never eaten an actual meal there, just had blizzards and ice cream. Some areas of the country close their DQ’s in winter, we do NOT. The beauty is that many are these cute little walk-up stands with picnic tables. It feels right to eat ice cream that way.

smiling ethnic girl eating corn against wooden house — Photo by Zen Chung on Pexels.com

Corn. Sweet corn on the cob specifically. It’s not technically ripe here til late July, but other Midwestern states get the jump on us and we pretend we are eating local sweet corn until we are actually able to. Summer in many homes = corn on the cob with butter and salt several nights a week. It always makes me nostalgic for my childhood when you could go get some from our local farmer. He would put grocery bags with a dozen ears each in them and a coffee can on the picnic table and it was the honor system that you would drop a couple bucks in there per bag.

mother and child preparing crepes — Photo by Elly Fairytale on Pexels.com

Lefse. Lefse are an unleavened crepe / pancake usually made with potatoes. They are eaten as a substitute for bread or can be stuffed with things like ham and cheese, salmon and cream cheese or sweet with cinnamon and sugar.

plate of fries and burger — Photo by Engin Akyurt on Pexels.com

Juicy Lucy. Whatever you do, do not sit directly across from someone eating a Juicy Lucy. A Juicy Lucy is a hamburger with the cheese on the INSIDE. It guarantees that the cheese remains molten for a long time and also guarantees that it is a high probability that it will come flying out the other side of the burger. A friend had her suede jacket destroyed by someone eating one of these at the table next to ours. Fair warning. Just get your cheese on top. No need to be weird(er).

The next two are products of the Great Minnesota Get Together aka the State Fair. The more I add to this list the more I feel like I’m going to be the target of a hit because I’m not singing love songs to the native foods. I don’t love the fair. It is SO CROWDED and SO EXPENSIVE. But if you’re there you will likely be eating a Pronto Pup with a side gallon bucket of Sweet Martha’s. In English this means a corn dog and a gallon bucket of chocolate chip cookies.

Wild rice… this is an indigenous food here in MN. It grows wild in the lakes and the traditional way to harvest is by bending the rice over the side of a canoe with a stick and knocking the rice into the boat. Then the rice is dried or parched. This rice is a thin, black grain, not the white stuff you buy in the store. It’s often mixed with meat in burgers, added to hot dish or served in chicken and wild rice soup – delicious.

Walleye. Walleye is a mild tasting freshwater fish. People love it – fishing for walleye is a major hobby here in Lake Superior and Lake Mille Lacs, and you’ll see it on the menus around town.

fresh ripe apples placed on wooden chopping board — Photo by Skylar Kang on Pexels.com

Honey Crisp Apples. The university of MN breeds apple varieties and one the most popular types that people can’t seem to get enough of is the Honey Crisp. The name fits the apple – its the perfect blend of sweet and crisp, but with a mildly tart edge to it. This is the famous one, but I’m going to make a pitch for one of the newer apples on the scene – the SweetTango – yum! My favorite! A super crisp and flavorful apple. Be wary of the “pick your own” places – it’s fun to do especially with little kids but you may quickly find yourself with $100 worth of apples and a big job in front of you when you get home…

Grainbelt Beer: The Friendly Beer. This is not a beer for snobs. I love beer, I love craft beers and the breweries and I love this beer on a really hot summer day. It’s a refreshing lager, but you can get their Nordeast version which is a wee bit heavier and falls into the amber lager category. Some of the hipsters may think they are ironic having a Grainbelt (like the ironic hipsters drinking PBR’s in Cleveland or the Yling Yling drinkers in Pittsburgh), however you want to justify it.

“Salads”. There are no vegetables in this. It’s jello with fruits and nuts in it or marshmallow fluff and fruit. I just say no. Lots of people would say that is my loss, I’ll take the hit.

Bars. I may have mentioned these before. THESE I LIKE. Cookies without the pain in he butt of scooping them out. Bars are made in a 13×9 pan and cut into rectangles. They come in a million flavors and all are good and made with efficiency.

Last thing… Top the Tater. Slavish devotion is lavished on what I basically think of as French onion dip. It’s good.

Living in Minneapolis

Things you NEED to know BEFORE you move to Minnesota!

March 13, 2021March 13, 2021 Mary2 Comments

If you’re thinking about moving to Minnesota, there are probably some things that you don’t even realize you need to know. I’m here to help. 🙂

Minnesota Liquor Laws

I moved here from Chicago, and I think the motto there was something like “keep everyone drunk so they don’t notice the high taxes”. There were very few constraints on when or where you could buy alcohol. I was so confused when I couldn’t buy beer on Sunday here – AT ALL.

photo of beer neon signage — Photo by Alex Knight on Pexels.com

Here in Minnesota, you won’t be seeing people crawl home after being at the bar til 4am like you might in Wrigleyville. Liquor can be served here Monday – Saturday 8am-2am, and on Sunday, they hope you hit the 8 am service before you hit the bar between 10am and 2am. In 2017 the Minnesota legislature finally came to their senses and decided that adults should be allowed to decide for themselves if they wanted to buy Devil juice on Sunday and allowed Sunday liquor store sales.

They aren’t going to make it convenient for you though! You will not be grabbing a bottle of wine to have with dinner while you’re at the grocery store. NOPE! You need to go to an actual liquor store to buy your beverage. There are a lot of them, and they do tend to locate close to grocery stores, but it still annoys me. Hot recommendation for one of the best liquor stores I’ve seen- if you are in SW Minneapolis and want a great selection of micro-brews, craft alcohols, and wine stop into South Lyndale Liquors. The people there are super helpful and the variety is just amazing.

Taxes

Everyone’s favorite word! And top of mind for me as we get close to April 15. I feel like I just did my taxes thanks to the extension that we were given last year.

heap of american money cash and vintage light box — Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.com

Sales Tax I’m not really much of a shopper (if you meet me you’ll notice my meager wardrobe), but even I had heard about the magic that is shopping for clothing in Minnesota! No sales tax on clothing here – the price is the price! Other items not subject to tax are groceries, prescriptions, and diapers. Everything else has a sales tax of 6.875%, but counties and municipalities may add taxes of their own. Harkening back to Chicago, it was about a 10% premium to buy a burrito after you had your beer in Chicago. (Can you feel the indigestion?)

Property Tax OK, I will continue to compare MN (favorably) to IL here. When we moved here people would frequently make complaints about property taxes. We were confused since the homes we were looking at were like twice the size and half the taxes. Lake County IL has an effective tax rate of about 2.83%, Hennepin county MN is at 1.28%, so you can see why we were thrilled! For a $300,000 home that’s a BIG difference! $8,490 year vs $3,840. The median home price in the Twin Cities metro area is about $309,000.

Let’s look at it regionally and at a state level. Here is a grid of how we compare to our immediate neighbors. We look pretty good!

*State*	*Rate*
Minnesota	1.08%
National Average	1.07%
North Dakota	.99%
South Dakota	1.22%
Iowa	1.53%
Wisconsin	1.68%

Vehicle Tax Sales taxes are applied when you purchase major items like cars. But the tax I’m thinking of here is the vehicle registration tax – when you get new tags each year in MN the least amount you will pay is $44. The minimum charge is $25 + other fees for cars over the age of 11. MN takes the MSRP of the car and reduces it by 10% each year to determine the tax for tax renewal, so if you buy an expensive car you’ll expect to pay a bit for tags as well.

Airports!

Minnesota actually has FOUR international airports! Ranked by size they are:

Minneapolis/ St. Paul Airport in the Twin Cities. This airport is enormous. Nearly 40,000,000 people fly into or out of MSP every year, which is over 400,000 flights! 87,000 people are employed in some way through MSP. 11 major airlines fly into MSP, Delta, American, and United have major presences in Terminal 1, and Terminal 2 is largely dominated by Southwest.

If you have kids, there is a fun drive-up viewing area to watch planes take off and land, it has parking and picnic tables and can be an entertaining lunch time activity with (or without) kids.

Duluth International Airport Delta, United and Sun Country Airlines fly into and out of Duluth. If you fly out of or into Duluth, you’ll most likely be connecting in Detroit, Minneapolis or Chicago.

Greater Rochester International Airport United, Delta, American, Southwest, and JetBlue are major carriers that serve this airport. They have MANY flights in and out every day. I imagine that this airport exists in support of the world renowned Mayo Clinic.

Finally, the International Falls International Airport. International Falls is a smaller city and they have an international airport because they border directly with our neighbor to the north. They have daily connecting flights to MSP airport on Delta Airlines. I’m charmed by the fact that the web site touts that the airport has vending machines. It’s a small airport, but critical to that region of the state. I am a fan of small airports, because the hassle level is so much smaller, you’re treated like a person not a herd animal.

Gardening

This was a tough one for me, even coming from a northern state like Illinois. I love flowers and like to have home grown tomatoes. The lower third of Minnesota falls into zone 4a for gardening. We don’t plant anything til after the threat of last frost which is Mothers Day. That can feel like an eternal wait at times. So plan on controlling the urge to plant until middle to late May and know that mid September to early October is likely the latest that you can plan to see tender annuals survive.

pink petaled flowers — Photo by Joseph Yu on Pexels.com

If you decide to plant perennials, I would recommend that you be extra cautious and select a hardiness to zone 3. If you like home grown vegetables, and you’re thinking of things like tomatoes and peppers, plan to either start them inside or buy plants that have had a head start so they have time to produce for you before the frost. Of course, cool weather crops have a really happy life here – cabbage, hardy greens like kale and swiss chard do well. I’ve also had great success with herbs, even planted from seed.

Seasons

country road during autumn — Photo by Alex Dayawon on Pexels.com

I’ve said it before, but one of the things that I truly love about Minnesota is that there are four TRUE seasons here! I love them all, but I’m usually ready for the next one when the time comes. The seasons are pretty prompt and take their place right on schedule every 3 months (even though sometimes a season can seem eternal – like a really harsh winter that doesn’t want to quit).

One thing to know is that while MN has a reputation for cold, don’t be surprised in summer when it gets HOT and humid. Spring turns to summer like someone flipped a switch. We have a pretty good stretch of days in the summer that are in the high 80’s and low 90’s. You may not need your AC ALL summer, but there are days when you’ll be very grateful to have it.

Natural Disasters

Sticking with the weather theme, what should you be prepared for? Other areas of the country have things that they are known for – California wild fires, hurricanes on the coast, but these aren’t concerns here.

white clouds over blue sea — Photo by Raychel Sanner on Pexels.com

Things that we worry about (and maybe hope for depending on how old your roof is) are hail storms, severe thunderstorms and tornados. I, personally, want to have a basement to hide in when tornado season is in full swing, and most homes here have them. If you don’t have a basement, head to an interior room without windows if possible. A bathroom with tiled walls work, get into the tub, and if you have a mattress of something that you can put over your heads to protect your head, even better.

In Minneapolis and much of Minnesota, we test our tornado sirens every month on the first Wednesday. This day is my dogs’s worst nightmare and it happens regularly. You should be aware of what day it is and know that we never actually have tornados at 1pm on the first Wednesday of the month. Or at least we hope not, because no one gets alarmed at that particular alarm.

Two sides of the same natural disaster coin are flood and drought. There isn’t much you can do about a drought, but knowing if you’re buying in a flood plain can be very helpful when you’re looking at property and knowing if you need to have flood insurance or not. Our multiple listing service gives us the flood status of lots, but if you’d like to check yourself you can go to the FEMA website and take a look.

Roads

Unlike South Dakota which basically has a sign at the border saying that the speed limit is 80, and don’t let us catch you exceeding that or you’re in deep doodoo, Minnesota has lots of different rules about how fast you can go and when.

photo of empty road in between grass field during golden hour — Photo by Josh Hild on Pexels.com

On rural interstates, the speed limit is 70 MPH, urban expressways and interstates it drops to 65. Other main highways are at 55mph, and when you enter an urban area you can plan on the speed limit being 30. Unless you’re on a neighborhood street in Minneapolis in which case you better know that it’s 20.

We have a lot of potholes here because of the changing weather conditions and you should keep an eye out for them unless you don’t mind getting a flat or having your teeth come down hard on your tongue. People joke about there being 2 seasons, winter and road construction, but there is really only one season – road construction.

We thought moving here would mean moving to a place that had a good handle on snow removal, but I’ve found that it varies widely. In the city of St. Paul it can feel like every man for himself. Suburbs and outer areas handled by the state tend to do a better job clearing with plows and salt or a salt/grit combo. I’m writing this in peak grit season as the snow has melted and it leaves behind the grit. LOTS OF GRIT. It’s unavoidable and annoying, but I appreciate the traction in winter. Hot tip – get an all wheel drive car that has some weight to it and you’ll probably be ok driving on our roads. 😉

Staying warm (or cool)

I’ve been in other parts of the country that seem to rely on electricity to provide heat, but here in Minnesota we primarily use natural gas and forced air furnaces. If you have a forced air furnace you’re also likely to have, or be able to easily install, central air conditioning.

Older homes use radiant heat, either through baseboard radiators, radiant floor heat or the traditional style cast iron radiators that you may have seen. I’m a fan because it’s a constant warm heat rather than a blower clicking on and off all the time, but there are downsides. No ductwork available for the AC, and the air may get very dry in your home.

If you do have radiant heat and still want AC your choices are the old school window units or you can have an attic condenser unit and they will put round ducts in the ceiling for it, or what is called a “mini split” that is kind of a rectangle shaped AC unit installed on the wall. Retrofitting an old home for AC can be a little pricey and it’s important to think about that when you’re considering how you like to live in a home.

cozy fireplace in light minimalist living room — Photo by Rachel Claire on Pexels.com

Many people in Minnesota have wood stoves in their homes – we have one! They are a nice addition for mood and heat, but it’s totally an extra that we enjoy, not the way we heat our house. The beauty of a wood stove is that the heat stays in the home, and they are made of cast iron which retains and radiates the heat, so you get that glow and warmth without the heat loss that you can have with a regular fireplace.

What else are you curious about? How does this seem different from where you live now?