Selling your home? Do yourself a favor…

November 15, 2020 MaryLeave a comment

Right now – inventory is low, interest rates are low and it’s still a seller’s market, but that doesn’t mean you can be sloppy if you are selling your home. Houses get the most traffic in the first week or so, and right now most are under contract in that time. If yours sits there it will quickly raise suspicion – I think of it as having a “bad smell” to buyers – they wonder WHY it hasn’t gone and may avoid it. Don’t miss this golden window of opportunity by turning buyers off when they walk into your home. Especially because in this market they will likely be paying premium prices.

I also have a checklist that you can download (for FREE) of things to do to make sure your home gets sold QUICKLY and for the best possible price and did a video on this topic as well.

Click here! http://bit.ly/MSPMaryHomePrepChecklist

In this post I want to give you guys a list of 8 related things that you should take care of before you let the first buyer in the door.

ODOR

This one I can’t emphasize enough! Even as an agent previewing for someone, smells can drive me right back out the door. We’re talking about pets, moisture / mustiness, food odors like fried foods and strong spices, old food in the fridge, cigarettes (!!), and even air fresheners.

I’ve developed migraines in minutes when walking into a home that was hosed down with air freshener. Artificial scents can make people feel quite sick (even scented candles) and they also lead you to wonder what is being covered up?

Cigarette smoke is another one – I don’t see this all that often anymore, but I did go into a home that had obviously been owned by a heavy smoker. Even with all of the windows open it felt like we were in an ash tray. Depending on the severity of this, the walls should be painted with an oder killing primer and then paint, carpets & drapery removed etc. There isn’t a big market for homes that need to be remediated in order to live in them.

Check your fridge – people open refrigerators when they are looking at homes. We did and we regretted it. The seller had left fish in there for well past the time when it should have been cooked or thrown away and the smell nearly knocked us out. We didn’t make it past the kitchen.

Taxidermy

I don’t think this is just a MN thing… If you hunt or fish (and a LOT of people here do), take the dead animals off your wall when you go to sell. You can rehang them in your new home, but keep in mind that you are trying to appeal to the largest possible audience and you want to refrain from alienating people.

Actual Pets

I love dogs but not everyone does. Not everyone enjoys having a dog nose pushed into their nether regions, and many don’t enjoy “kisses” either. Your pet may also have some territorial feelings that surprise you and they may nip, bark or jump on people who are there to see the home.

Cats are usually easier – but they can be sneaky and slip out of an open door. NO ONE wants to be responsible for your pet escaping. If you have a cat, make sure that the litter box is sparkling clean. See “odors”. I’ve also looked at home with people that have kids who do not know what a litter box is… that’s fun when they think its a little sandbox! yuck.

Other animals – snakes, lizards, rodents etc. Remove them if you can, and if you can’t make sure the cage is secure and very clean.

Pests

Do you have an inkling that there might be a mouse? Seen a roach a time or two? Ants in the kitchen? Does Fido have fleas? Please make sure that ALL of these are handled before a potential buyer gets an unwelcome surprise.

Carpet

I’m going to say specifically in the BATHROOM. If you have carpet in the bathroom or the KITCHEN (I’ve seen it!), remove it and have a hard floor installed. That just screams DIRT. No one wants to buy someone else’s dirt. They don’t.

And if you have wall to wall carpet elsewhere, have it professionally cleaned before showing the home. This will help with any potential odors as well. (It’s a theme).

Ceilings

If you have acoustic tile ceilings in any room, it would be worth your while to have them replaced with drywall. This also applies to popcorn ceilings, people are very turned off by this. If the drywall underneath is good, it may be possible to just scrape this and paint.

Locked Rooms

Limited access to the building while you have a buyer looking at it will raise some questions. No one’s mind jumps to “that’s where they have their jewelry” – it’s usually more like “is that where they are keeping the bodies?”. Always lead with transparency and don’t introduce doubt or assume that someone will come back to take another look.

Mismatch

People don’t always replace all of their appliances at once, but if you’ve got avocado green & stainless steel it can be a glaring change and reinforce exactly how old the green appliance is. Some things (like refrigerators and dishwashers) can be inexpensively updated to match new ones with either a panel or appliance paint to give a cohesive look to a kitchen. It can be worth it to do this if the older items are in a good condition, if not, it is definitely a selling point to have new appliances in a home and knocks down an objection right off the bat.

mschumann@kw.com

612-234-5703

1350 Lagoon Ave, Suite 900

Minneapolis, MN 55408

Winterizing your home! Steps to take for newbies. Or if you’ve been around a while.

October 24, 2020October 24, 2020 Mary2 Comments

Are you a new home owner? Is this your first winter in the northern part of the country? Your house takes on a whole new meaning when it’s what is standing between you and below zero temps, howling winds and piles of snow.

In this post, I want to give you some tips for winterizing your home and heading off potential trouble right when you want it least. These aren’t in any particular order, and almost all of them are easy to accomplish, but NOT doing them can lead to a world of hurt.

Tune up your furnace. Have someone come out and service it and make sure that it’s functioning well. One thing you’ll notice is that furnaces malfunction at the very worst of times – probably because a lot more is being asked of them when it’s very cold and you want this to be the time when your furnace rises to the challenge.

If you have a high efficiency gas furnace, you will have 2 PVC pipes that exhaust out the side of your home. It is really important that these two pipes are free of any obstructions. And if snow gets high enough, you’ll want to make sure that the snow isn’t blocking them either.

Make sure you change the filter, and change it monthly when the weather gets cold and it’s running. Contrary to common belief – you want a thinner filter! We had been spending all kinds of money on “good filters” only to be told by our furnace tech that it actually inhibits airflow and that is BAD for the furnace – you want dirt filtered out but AIR going in for best results.

Boilers that service radiators need attention too! Once a year before it gets cold have someone take a look.

Clean and inspect your chimney. If you have a wood burning stove or fireplace, before you light a fire make sure that the chimney is CLEANED. Soot builds up in the chimney and it is flammable – everyone wants to be able to put their feet up in front of the fire, but no one wants a chimney fire.

Check the batteries and AGE of your CO/smoke detectors. Winter is when carbon monoxide poisonings are most likely to happen. Make sure your batteries are functioning – we like to change them at the fall time change.

Your detectors should have a date on them, but if not know that they should be replaced every 10 years just due to the fact that dust builds up and makes them less dependable. And if it’s time to replace them – think about going with the photoelectric instead of ionization type of detector. I’ve seen demos of the difference and it can be 15 minutes more escape time gained with a photoelectric alarm.

Turn off exterior water. Before it gets truly cold, shut off water to hoses. And if you have pipes that run along exterior walls INSIDE the house – think about putting some insulation around them. Pipes can & do freeze in winter, and when this happens the water doesn’t stay inside the pipe, it flows freely throughout your walls and causes a LOT of damage. This 10 minute task will bring you a lot of peace of mind.

Clean your gutters. When all of that snow and ice melts – it needs a place to go. You want your gutters to be able to guide it AWAY from your house. Having them clean is the way to go.

Cover the TOP of your AC unit. if you have central air, don’t put a full cover over the compressor (it will attract animals looking for shelter and hold moisture in), but if you set a piece of plywood on top and put a couple of bricks on it, it keeps things from getting into the unit.

Change the rotation of your ceiling fans. Fans can switch direction, heat rises and you stay down by the floor, so if you have tall ceilings, change the setting so that the fan rotates CLOCKWISE and the warm air will be pushed downward toward where people are.

Stock up on GRIT. In MN, that’s what they call it. It’s a mix of sand that you can scatter on your sidewalks and driveway to keep yourself from wiping out. I have a friend who broke her ribs trying to walk to her car because of ice. I highly recommend trying to AVOID this with liberal use of GRIT.

Air Seal. This one… is not really DIY, but I dream of doing it to my house because I fear ice dams which are caused when heat gets into attics and melts snow which then freezes on the edge of the roof. This can cause a lot of problems that I don’t want to have. And it takes a suprisingly small amount of heated air to create this issue, so if you can have someone crawl around up in your attic and seal up any hole from wiring, pipes or chimneys that allows warm air up there, you can potentially save yourself a roof and ceiling if winter conditions cause ice dams.

mschumann@kw.com

612-234-5703

Neighborhood Tours · Uncategorized

Woodbury – One of Money.com’s “Best Places to Live” 2020

October 16, 2020October 16, 2020 MaryLeave a comment

How will you decide where to live if you want to live in a suburb of Minneapolis/St. Paul? When we moved here a friend who grew up here said that most people choose which side of “the river” to live on based on which side they work on. “The river” is the Mississippi which is the dividing line for much of the way through Minneapolis and St. Paul. I suppose that rule holds true for the suburbs as well, although with the fact that so many more people are working from home now, options may be more open.

If you’re partial to St. Paul, or need to be in Wisconsin for any reason, but still want to be in the twin cities ‘burbs, then you might consider Woodbury.

Money.com thinks Woodbury is one of the best places to live in 2020… here are a few reasons why (with creative license to add my own reasons too!):

Schools. Woodbury’s schools are consistently ranked on top 10 lists for best schools in MN. The schools are part of South Washington County School District and public schools consist of six elementary schools, two junior high and two senior high schools. Woodbury also has two charter schools and two parochial schools if you are looking for other options.

Employment / unemployment. Even now when the entire country is experiencing high unemployment rates, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Minnesota’s unemployment rate (7.4%) is lower than the national average (8.4%), which is typical for Minnesota, and Woodbury’s unemployment rate (6.2%) is even lower than that.

Where do people work? Big employers in or near Woodbury are 3M (the post-it note people among other things), the Target distribution center, HealthPartners Insurance, and Self-Esteem Brands – aka Anytime Fitness/ BaseCamp etc. Of course just about everything in the Twin Cities is no more than about a 30 minute drive, so if the commute isn’t a big thing, living here and working on the other side of the city would not be uncommon.

Shopping. Woodbury has everything you could want in the way of shopping! I did a video on grocery stores a couple of weeks ago and Woodbury has pretty much every one of them – Costco (brand new!), Trader Joes, Whole Foods, Cub, Lund’s, Kowalski’s. They have 3 main shopping areas – Tamarack Village is enormous and has several large anchor stores like Home Depot, Old Navy, JoAnn’s etc. Woodbury Village is a little smaller with Kohls, Target, Total Wine and many smaller shops. The last shopping center, Woodbury Lakes, is the most charming – it’s set up to give you the feel of a walkable shopping area rather than a particular store that you would park directly in front of, they even have a “walking club” that meets there once a week.

Even though they have these shopping areas Woodbury isn’t what I would consider a walkable city. You definitely need a car to get around.

The most exciting thing about Woodbury (to me!!) is that they are the home to one of a very few locations of the amazing Chicago restaurant – Portillos. 🙂 You may know that Chicago is famous for their hotdogs and all the “weird” stuff they put on them – mustard, NEVER EVER ketchup!!, hot peppers, a tomato, pickle, celery salt. YUM. Portillo’s says they are about hotdogs, but what they are REALLY about is the Italian Beef sandwich, chocolate cake, and milk shakes. You can trust me when I tell you to give these a try. I like my Italian beef with some “sauce”, hot & sweet peppers. It’s super messy and delicious. Having Portillo’s here in the Twin Cities makes me ever so slightly less homesick for Chicago. Do not eat here if calories give you fits.

Parks. Within Woodbury itself are 3000 acres of park land and 140 miles of trails! Carver Lake Park has a public beach for summer fun and if you want to get in touch with nature a little more, head to Tamarack Nature Preserve. We all know winter can be tough if you’re trapped inside especially with little kids, but Woodbury has created what they call “Central Park” which is an INDOOR park and playground to give the kids a place to run off their energy, and parents a place to stay warm while they do it. Another benefit of Central Park is that the park connects to the Washington County Library and the YMCA – so you could make an entire afternoon of it and still be indoors.

Even if you don’t live in Woodbury there may be a good chance that you’ll use their premiere sports complex called HealthEast Sports Center – it is a MASSIVE sports complex with indoor and outdoor sports fields and if you are going there to watch games in the summer and have little kids to keep entertained, they have a splash pad right on site.

Housing.

Woodbury has a wide variety of housing, from townhouses to “quad homes” which are pretty interesting, a lot of typical subdivisions and several areas with custom homes. In addition to these rather typical suburban home choices, Woodbury is not completely built out yet and there are open farm fields in between the neighborhoods as well as some homes that sit on very large private lots, with no HOA. Not everyone loves a planned community and you can live in Woodbury without that if you like.

Home prices in Woodbury range from about $200K for a townhouse, all the way up to just under $1M for a custom built home. The median home price in Woodbury today is $430K.

mschumann@kw.com

612-234-5703

Living in Minneapolis · Uncategorized

Minnesota Pros and Cons

October 9, 2020 MaryLeave a comment

Put on your buffalo plaid flannel shirt, grab your ax, and head to the cabin!

Or something like that.

If you’re thinking about moving to Minnesota you may be wondering if the stereotypes are real – is everyone nice?!? ARE there 10,000 lakes? Does everyone say “you betcha!”? (kinda, more than that & no.)

Why do people like it here?

By “here”, I’m going to say the Twin Cities Metro area + the hinterlands.

PROS:

Minnesota Nice. It’s a midwestern thing, I think. For the most part people look out for their neighbors and are willing to pitch in and help when you need it. They will definitely give you some friendly conversation in the grocery store check out line. I often also read that while Minnesotans are nice, they won’t allow you into their inner circle easily. I honestly don’t think it’s any different here than anywhere else I’ve lived. The way to get close to people in the community is to make the effort yourself – get involved in things you enjoy and you’ll find your group.

Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Pexels.com

Cultural diversity. Yes, nearly 84% of the population of the STATE is white. Look, it was settled by Scandinavians – they are a pale people. However! Minneapolis has a more diverse population – and with that comes the art, culture & food that makes a city vibrant. If you didn’t know better you might believe that the food would be bland here, and while it’s not like Chicago or New York, you will not be stuck eating tater tot hotdish every day (unless you want to- then have at it!). There is a Vietnamese population that keeps everyone happily eating Pho, and one of my favorite restaurants is Ethiopian, among many others.

Autumn. People talk about going to New England to see the leaves… well, I am 100% sure that New England doesn’t have anything on Minnesota! Autumn here is something to behold. In addition to the leaves, crisp temperatures and apple orchards, if you like birds MN is a hot spot for bird migration in the fall and you can see some very unusual ones. One of my favorite things to do in September is bike over to Longfellow Gardens in the city – it’s a work of art with annuals and perennials and apparently the hummingbirds think so too – they stop on their migration south and there are days when you can see about 100 of them getting rest and fuel for their journey. It gives me awe to see them like that.

Lake Culture. I’m calling it a culture because it really is a way of life here. Even when you live in the city, summers are spent at the MANY lakes in and around the metro area. Swimming at the beaches, eating at the beachside cafes, paddleboarding, kayaking or sailing on the water. Many people have lake cabins here, and spend weekends and holidays there. And winter is no exception, either! If you like cross country skiing on flat surfaces, lakes freeze to depths of many feet and are safe to ski on, many people enjoy ice fishing and park their ice houses out on the lake and while away the day there, and we even have a lot of festivals held on lakes in winter – the Eelpout Festival is HUGE in northern MN, but down in the cities we have things like the Kite Festival and the Art Shanties on Lake Harriet.

CONS! What? yes, there are negatives… according to some people…

Winter… I am wincing as I write this because I like winter, but there are some days in winter here where you kind of question your sanity. Average winter temps are about 10 degrees F. Wind chill adds another dimension. It is cold, but not awful (dress properly! See my video about surviving winter in MN!). We do have cold snaps that are significantly below zero for a few days every winter. In northern MN, a friend of mine posted a photo of her car thermostat showing an external temp of -41. School still happens. Life goes on, you won’t hear a lot of moaning and groaning because it is what it is. Anyone can make it through a couple of nasty cold snaps, but what tends to weigh on people are the short days (the sun sets around 4:30pm and rises at around 8am), and while it’s often quite sunny here, that can feel like not quite enough. Winter also feels like it stretches on a ways. We usually have a frost in the beginning of October and first snowfall (that doesn’t stick) by Halloween.

Slower pace. Once again – this is how you look at it. Personally, I don’t mind. I’ve lived fast paced in Chicago for a long while – LOVED it, but it can also be a big relief to not. The outdoor lifestyle here is naturally kind of a quieter way to be, people hunker down at bars for a drink and a good time with friends in winter, but it’s definitely got a slower pace. If you have kids, one thing that struck me here that I didn’t have in Chicago is that my daughter could play outside without intense scrutiny and people wanting to call DCFS. Kids still play in the park without parents helicoptering around them. It feels nice.

Bland food. Yes – this is the exact opposite of what I said before. But we are talking about MN as a whole here, and while you can find some great options in the cities, you are very likely to encounter a lot of “meat and potatoes” food as a whole. Nothing wrong with meat and potatoes, but sometimes you want something else. Also, the Minnesotan version of “spicey” is comical.

OK – that is IT for me today! Let me know if you think this sounds like something you can handle. 😉

mschumann@kw.com

612-234-5703

Living in Minneapolis · Uncategorized

Minneapolis Grocery Stores….

October 3, 2020 MaryLeave a comment

I’m covering the big ones today, but this is NOT comprehensive! There are so many little markets where you can find great foods that are culture specific – one of my favorites that fits this description is United Noodles but I could do an entire video and post on that place alone.

Today is more about soothing the furrowed brows of worried transplants. There are definitely your hometown local things that you may miss, but I can assure you that you’ll find other items that make your mouth happy here. Minnesota has been the beneficiary of several groups of refugees and with these people come their foods, so we now have more diverse options even at big box grocery stores.

I’m going to start out with my main squeeze – Costco. I love this store and even though there are only 3 people in my family, and no matter what you buy you get a LOT of it at Costco, I still shop there. They carry a little bit of everything – including the kitchen sink! You can get kitchen appliances, large and small, TV’s, books, and clothes, but I go there for their produce – we eat a lot of fresh fruit and the quality is amazing. I also love their meat and seafood selection, well priced and high quality, they are famous for their $5 rotisserie chickens… Other things that are a regular purchase for price and quality – milk, eggs, butter, cheese, anything for laundry and cleaning, TP, paper towels, coffee! There is a membership fee, but you get cash back on every purchase – up to 4% on another favorite feature- gasoline, which is priced lower as well.

My husband & I have bought insurance through Costco, we bought a car through their auto program, it’s just a great place to shop. If you care about company ethics – they pay a living wage to all their workers and if you love great customer service, they take ANYTHING back no questions asked no matter how far past the purchase date. That sense of security make me spend way more money in the store and on their web site too.

We also have national grocery store options that you’re probably very familiar with – Target is headquartered here in Minneapolis and I bet we have more Targets per capita than any other state, Walmart is here, and HyVee is starting to pop up in the suburbs. I am not as familiar with HyVee, but have been in one and it had a full “food-court” area of prepared foods, along with an enormous store that reminds me a bit of Cub Foods, which is a local option…

Cub Foods is a midwestern chain with stores in MN and IL, the store is enormous and the selections are great. They have everything you would expect in a large grocery store, but I do think of Cub as more of a budget store. You will bag your own groceries, there is no carry out service, I think it’s profit model is based on volume.

Another budget friendly option that is springing up all over is Aldi. Aldi has a decent selection of fresh fruits and vegetables, but the store is mainly focused on package goods. The packages will look familiar, but not exactly the same – Aldi has a LOT of store brand packaged items that are reminiscent of bigger brands. If you aren’t super stuck on an actual brand name, I’ve heard great things from people that love to shop at Aldi. One quirk that you should be ready for is having your quarter ready to release the cart – you get it back when you put the cart back. Oddly this isn’t the first time I’ve seen this.

The Twin Cities is also home to a couple of very local chains – Lund’s and Byerly’s and Kowalski’s. These are the two I shop at most for my everyday needs mainly because I’m under a mile from either one.

Kowalski’s market is cozy and they have higher end brands of food – free range chicken, lots of organic veg and boxed items, they have an extensive hot food area, you can order to go specifically to what you want to have or you can pick up salads, sandwiches or heat and eat food. One of my favorite things is the soup bar – it’s delicious and perfect when you’re out running around but don’t want to eat fast food. This is the store I would come to for my cheese fix. They focus a lot on local suppliers and you can find some really wonderful choices here from MN and WI.

Kowalski’s bakes all of their pastries and bread on site. They have a small gift area in every store that has some charming items that you would not suspect of being from a grocery if you need to grab a quick gift for someone. Kowalski’s does carry out to your car, and they deliver as well.

Lunds… Lund’s is what I think of as a middle ground – not huge like Cub or Costco. It feels friendly and the right size for everyday shopping. Lunds is a full service grocery – they bag and carry out for you. They have increased their focus on including organics, if that is a concern you will be OK shopping there. They also sell things like dog food, cleaning supplies etc, but in my opinion you can do far better for that type of thing elsewhere. I stick to food here. Withe the exception of a few locations, this is not really a place to go grab a sandwich or soup, this grocery sticks pretty closely to its original mission.

If you ARE committed to organics or sustainably sourced foods – the Twin Cities has a large number of food Co-Ops that you can shop at – you can buy a membership and pay slightly lower prices, or not. Anyone can shop there.

In addition to co-ops, we of course have Whole Foods Market – or “whole paycheck” as it’s known. It’s not inexpensive to shop there, but they have things you won’t find elsewhere and generally their produce section looks like a work of art, so if you need a pleasant shopping experience or are just used to the brands that Whole Foods has you can continue to enjoy that here. A couple of my favorite things are the really amazing hot food selection at lunch and I believe dinner hours too, as well as their bakery, where you can find really beautiful pastries that might be too pretty to eat.

Any other lifestyle questions? I’m always looking for content ideas that people want to dig into! Let me know.

mschumann@kw.com

612-234-5703

Living in Minneapolis · Uncategorized

Can you survive winter in Minnesota?!?

September 12, 2020 MaryLeave a comment

Maybe? LOL!

If you ask people what they think of when they think of Minnesota I’m willing to bet that at least 9 out of 10 will say the word “COLD”.

Listen – the way people talk about winter here – it’s a scare tactic. Pull your big girl pants up and I’ll give you the reality – you may still be scared, and if so, I don’t know what to say to you except… you’re a wimp. Just kidding! (or AM I?!?)

It’s Labor Day weekend, most people in the rest of the country are indulging in the last bit of summer, secure in the knowledge that they won’t be super cold for several months to come, but weather reports for northern MN include the word “frost” in the forecast and we have highs in the low 50’s and lows in the low 40’s this week here in the balmy southern part of the state. It’s not going to stick – we’ll have some warmer temps but it HAS made me turn my thoughts to winter and all of the people that are moving here and are worried about what to expect. Side note- I had a weird thought about how everyone that I’ve been working with lately is from a distinctly warmer climate, and then I got a hold of myself and realized that pretty much every state is south of ours… so there’s that.

Minnesota has some pretty extreme temperature changes – from very humid highs in the 90’s in summer to -25 (or more- I won’t scare you by giving you a number) in the winter.

The debate rages every year at this time whether or not to turn on the heat. If you are a True Minnestotan®, you may believe that the only proper time for heat is November 1. I am NOT a True Minnesotan® – I’m a transplant, which means I have nothing to prove, so here is my take on it. I’m going to give you a list of the basics.

Turn the heat on when it gets cold. You probably don’t need me to tell you this. We do a mix of heat in the morning followed by open windows later afternoon September through October. In general, I would keep this to myself to avoid scorn.
You’re not too cool for long johns. Layers are your friend! Every layer creates a pocket of warm air between the next and you want that. I go way off the deep end for many people and say that if you’re outside for any length of time, wear snow pants. They are life changing. Having a full 50% of your body insulated from cold makes your whole world better.
The car itself…Make sure you have a gas tank that is over 50% full and a cell phone charger in your car at all times. If you park outside and it seems like there might be “weather” – pull your wiper blades up so they don’t stick to the windshield and you can scrape. Which brings me to scraping – I lived in Atlanta for a long time and didn’t own a scraper. It’s a necessity here. Get one with a long handle and a brush because you are supposed to clear your ENTIRE CAR of snow so you don’t have it blinding drivers behind you! Don’t say I didn’t tell you.
Have your car stocked… I like to keep granola bars, extra hats and gloves, a small blanket, a flashlight, and jumper cables in my car. They make little fold up shovels that come in handy if you get stuck. I also like to keep a bag of old school kitty litter in my trunk. It adds a little weight and if you need it to help you get unstuck on ice, it’s there. Minnesotans generally have an “we’re all in this together” attitude – if you do get stuck you’ll likely have someone helping push you out shortly.
Beware the neighbors – you can start a really hot back and forth by shoveling someone else’s walk. My husband got a nice snow thrower a few years ago and he was really enthusiastic about using it and started clearing neighbor’s walks and drives – this cannot go unanswered! We would wake up in the morning and someone would have done a stealth shovel at our house during the night. I mean… You know what comes next. We can’t allow that kindness to go unanswered and now we have to shovel their walk at like 3am to beat them. It’s a sickness.
Move your body & go outside! You’ll deal well with Minnesota winters if you don’t let them handicap you and keep you confined to your house! Most people here seem to look forward to and embrace winter. You won’t see a huge drop in outdoor activity, it just changes. People still bike ride all the way through winter they just switch to Fat Tire bikes, if you don’t know how to ice skate or ski – now is your chance! If you want something requiring far less coordination – go with snow shoeing! It’s just walking but you don’t sink into deep snow. Kids – sledding hills are MOBBED all winter. Many walking paths are cleared and maintained all winter long. It makes a huge difference in your ability to deal with short days and cold weather if you have a good attitude and don’t stay inside.
Winter clothes start hitting the shelves in August… I know. You don’t have to wear them then, but I WOULD consider buying them then. Mittens are warmer than gloves. Insulated and water proof boots are really important. Things sell quickly, so don’t wait.
Create a cozy atmosphere at home. We like to light candles or the fireplace by about 4:30 in the depths of winter. Everyone in my house has a favorite cozy blanket to sit under and a good pair of slippers. I also have lots of smaller lamps or lights in different parts of the house that beat back the gloom and make those spaces a draw.

Those are my tips! I have confidence in you! You can do it!

Uncategorized

Minnetonka – more than a fun thing to say. :)

August 30, 2020 MaryLeave a comment

When we were moving to MN and searching for a home we had a bizarre desire to live in Minnetonka just so we could tell people we lived there and make them say MINNETONKA, too. Side note, our GPS had fun pronouncing it and made us laugh every time. Do GPS’ learn regional pronunciation at some point? I haven’t noticed the weirdness since I moved here, but then again I’ve started saying things like “OPE!” and “UFFDA!” and the most common of them all “Oh, sure!” (it’s not “You betcha” – I think that must be more North Dakota, or “NoDak” if you’re cool)

I also had a strong association with Minnetonka slippers. Warm feet. Cold winters. Fun words.

What is the reality of Minnetonka? Here are 5 things to know if you’re thinking about moving there.

It’s a second ring western suburb of Minneapolis. Commute to downtown is about 20 minutes (14 miles to the heart of downtown). Maybe about 5 minutes further to the airport.

2. Minnetonka is not the most affordable place to live in the Twin Cities metro area. The median home price in Minnetonka is $436K for a single family home, $282K for a townhome. The median income in Minnetonka is $91,374 (national median is closer to $55K).

The population is educated – about 60% of adult residents have some college education. And speaking of education – the schools in Minnetonka are consistently rated A or A+ on Niche and other school rating web sites.

3. Other than nice homes and great schools with an easy commute – what do you get for your money in Minnetonka? Well, how about easy access to a lot of really nice parks like including the Bryant Lake Regional Park (technically in Eden Prairie but close!) which has a beach, trails, disc golf, and a dog park and as well as the Lake Minnetonka LRT Regional Trail and easy access to the Dakota Regional Trail which begins in Wayzata.

Per the Three Rivers Park District: “The Lake Minnetonka LRT Regional Trail stretches over 15 miles between Hopkins and Carver Park Reserve, offering scenic views of Lake Minnetonka along the way. This aggregate trail passes through the communities of Minnetonka, Deephaven, Greenwood, Excelsior, Shorewood, and Victoria. For more ambitious trail users, pack a tent and enjoy an evening under the stars while camping at Carver Park Reserve. No car required!” If you really like biking, this trail also connects to the Cedar Lake Trail heading into Minneapolis and the Midtown Greenway which heads east and west across Minneapolis and into St. Paul.

Dakota Rail Regional Trail

“The Dakota Rail Regional Trail is a popular attraction for bikers, in-line skaters and hikers. The 13 mile paved trail offers spectacular views of the lake and passes through a variety of scenic areas, including wetlands, wooded areas and agricultural land. In Carver County, an additional 12.5 miles of paved trail extends west of St. Bonifacius to Mayer.”

4. Minnetonka is close to shopping – my fave, Costco, is just south of Minnetonka in Eden Prairie. There are a lot of smaller shops and restaurants within Minnetonka as well Ridgedale Mall and shopping center up on the northern side of the city.

5. What do you get from the city?

Things I like to see are places for the community to enjoy outside of their homes. Minnetonka offers the Williston Fitness Center – aquatics, batting cages, indoor pickleball & tennis, fitness center and gym.

They also have the Minnetonka Ice Arena, Lindbergh Center (basketball courts, weight room), Grays’s Bay Marina where you can rent a boat slip or have public boat access to Lake Minnetonka and two public beaches.

PLUS – you get to say “MINNETONKA” all the time!

mschumann@kw.com

612-234-5703

Uncategorized

Waconia

August 22, 2020 MaryLeave a comment

I don’t know why I’m consistently surprised every time I profile a community, but I seriously underestimated Waconia. I think in this case I may have had a bit of urban arrogance… 😉

Waconia is a small community – only about 11,000 people – and it is 30 minutes directly west of Minneapolis. It’s kind of on the edge of Twin Cities development and there are still farms and fields on the way there and more so as you head west. I did not expect it to be able to offer all that it does!

Waconia has a charming downtown area that is still alive and kicking – businesses were busy when I drove through there on a Wednesday morning. I didn’t notice any vacant store fronts- something that breaks my heart when I drive through small towns. The downtown sits just off Lake Waconia and has the classic central square with the gazebo and a playground.

I’m always interested in parks, schools, libraries, and what things the city offers it’s residents – Waconia scores well on all of these things, plus a lot more.

The location on the lake is a huge plus – Lake Waconia Regional Park has a beach, geocacheing, sled hills, cross country ski and snow shoe rentals for winter fun on the trails. Waconia is a small community but it has has 3 community parks and 18 smaller neighborhood parks.

For such a small town, I was surprised at the amenities offered by the city – Safari Island (the name confuses me a bit, why SAFARI in Minnesota?), has an indoor aquatic center, fitness center, running track, basketball courts, and a kids play area. Hockey & ice arenas are a big deal here, and Waconia is keeping up with the Jones’. You won’t be deprived of your ice time here – and if the prices listed on their site are accurate, it’s super affordable.

Waconia has 3 wineries, a distillery, and a brewery that hosts food trucks or allows you to order or bring in your own food. If alcohol isn’t entertaining enough for you check out Carlson’s Lovable Llamas. Don’t say that there isn’t variety!

There is a wide variety of housing in Waconia – townhomes, and twinhomes, older single family homes near the center of town – either historic, character type homes or more mid century as you move outward a bit. On the outer edges of town are newer subdivisions with large modern homes on smaller lots. The least expensive home for sale in Waconia today was a 3 bed, 2 bath 2015 townhouse listed at $280K, and the most expensive single family home is a brand new lake adjacent build listed at $1.345M, but the median SF home price in Waconia is $340K, so higher than the twin cities median of $290K, but I would say lower than other western suburbs.

Niche.com gives Waconia schools an A rating, so if you have kids, there is lots to do between the parks, lakes and llamas, and they will likely make it out of school with some knowledge stowed between their ears.

mschumann@kw.com

612-234-5703

Uncategorized

Wildflower neighborhood ~ Eagan

August 15, 2020 MaryLeave a comment

I have previously expressed my lack of enthusiasm for cookie cutter neighborhoods. This one isn’t QUITE as unique as Cobblestone Lake (see my last post), but it definitely has it’s charms.

It’s a small neighborhood right near the most beautiful park in this part of the metro area – Lebanon Hills. I feel like I sing the praises of Lebanon Hills every other video / post at this point – but it’s a really nice park! I like parks, sue me.

The homes are all a similar style – 3 or 4 level splits, but the neighborhood is established enough to have mature trees, and people have lived in the homes long enough to have made changes to them.

I also didn’t think I loved split level homes, but it turns out I love THESE split level homes! I’ve been in two of them recently with clients, and both had the same kind of cozy feel – not necessarily SMALL, but because of the nature of the 4 level split it has a smaller footprint and goes up one level, and down TWO levels. They seem to go on and on. I’m one of the rare breed (or silent majority?) that likes a home with WALLS. I’m not opposed to a certain level of openness, and I think high ceilings add a lot (these have them!), but when you have more than one person living in a house, it’s nice to have a separate space that isn’t a bedroom that you can go to and still be OF the house but not necessarily right in the mix. If you’re living in MN, you will also appreciate that they all seemed to have fireplaces for winter coziness and beautiful back yard landscaping – either a deck or a patio – to enjoy the summer and fall.

The neighborhood has a really interesting layout – every street is a cul-de-sac! Until I had a kid I didn’t realize exactly how much I would like a cul-de-sac. The only traffic on any one of the short streets has a purpose for being there, there aren’t ANY cars using the neighborhood as a shortcut and there is only one way in or out, and that way has a bike/walking trail running right down the middle of it.

One of the homes we looked at backed up to the shopping area on this map – at first it was a little startling and we thought possibly not a great idea, but who hasn’t been one ingredient short when making dinner? it was quiet, and the walking/bike path continues from the entrance to the neighborhood on Lexington Pointe Parkway straight back to the shopping area. If you feel like heading over to the Eagan Arms Public House or Theresa’s Mexican restaurant – easy peasy!

If you have kiddos, they can take that same path over to Northview Elementary or Dakota Hills Middle School. Both have “A” grades on Niche.com.

Last but not least – it was apparent that this neighborhood had an active HOA. While it didn’t seem to revolve around ridiculous rules about the color of your curtains, the fees paid in went to maintaining the beauty of the neighborhood – either the abundant gardens lining the entry to the neighborhood, or the neighborhood mailboxes.

The three times I was in the neighborhood I saw people out walking and enjoying time with their neighbors. It just felt like a really welcoming little community.

Right now, single family homes in Eagan have a median home price of $341,000. They spend very little time on the market and they get at least 100% of their asking price.

Have a question about a particular suburb or neighborhood? Let me know!

mschumann@kw.com

612-234-5703

Living in Minneapolis · Uncategorized

Cobblestone Lake Apple Valley

August 8, 2020August 8, 2020 MaryLeave a comment

When you think of the suburbs what adjectives come to mind? Generic? Homogenous? Cookie cutter? Boring?!?! I admit that sometimes I think the same thing.

I like having access to parks, bike trails, restaurants etc either right outside my door or very close, I like sidewalks, and old trees, established neighborhoods and the character of older homes appeals to me. Those things don’t really make me think of suburbia. But in this case, maybe they should…. because Cobblestone Lake is something special.

Take a look around.

Unique

I’ve seen a lot of NICE neighborhoods in suburban Minneapolis, but this one really stood out! It’s a planned community and it has all types of housing. There are senior apartments, townhouses, small single level homes, and large custom homes. Most are very distinct from each other and that really appeals to me. Modern amenities on the inside with the attention to detail and character of old homes on the exterior.

Active

The lake has a charming gazebo and a fishing pier and there are canoe/kayak storage bays if you like to paddle often and don’t want to have to load up your boat every time you want to go. I can imagine some pretty idyllic paddles in the early morning or evening on the lake.

The neighborhood surrounds Cobblestone Lake and the lake is a major feature for the whole neighborhood. It has a bike path as well as a walking path around the lake. A resident I spoke with said that the path around the lake is about a mile and a half long. The bike trail also dips under busy 160th street and into the neighborhood across the way where you can continue riding / blading / walking around a pretty extensive trail system surrounding East Lake.

They also have a community pool! I don’t see a LOT of this here, and it would definitely be a selling point for me and anyone that likes to make the most our summers here.

Housing prices

Sale prices in the past year range from $247,000 for a 1664 sf townhouse with 2 beds and 2 baths and 2 car garage to $660,000 a year ago for a 3300 SF 3 bed 3 bath home, that had a lot of custom touches. In addition to the variety of single family homes, if you have a senior member of your family and want to have them live nearby while still maintaining their independence, or even if they need assisted living or memory care, there is a senior building on the edge of the development that would make it easy to keep a close eye and yet have everyone maintain their independent spaces.

Not a lot comes on the market in this neighborhood, so if you want to live there, have your agent put you on an MLS alert for the minute a listing comes up and be ready to pounce.

Convenient to shopping

Most of the homes in Cobblestone Lake are a very easy walk / bike/ or drive to shops. Target is just outside the neighborhood, along with several smaller restaurants, coffee shops (all three of the big ones in the Twin Cities – Caribou, Dunn Brothers and Starbucks… pick your fancy!), exercise studios and larger venues like Crooked Pint. The newest grocery store to come to the Twin Cities, HyVee, has a large store just outside the neighborhood as well.

mmmm…. beer….

Easy commuting

If you need to commute to downtown, the Mall of America or the MSP airport the MVTA Red Line commuter bus runs straight down 77 / Cedar into Apple Valley and there is a large “ramp”, or parking garage if you’re not a native Minnesotan, next to the station where you can leave your car.

Community Feel

I visited the neighborhood on a weekday morning, and neighbors were out walking and talking to each other, riding bikes, and enjoying the neighborhood. Sometimes subdivisions can feel like places where neighbors drive into their garages and that’s the last that you see of them – that was definitely not the impression I got while I was there – it looks like a place that will give you a sense of community and where it would be easy to make friends.

mschumann@kw.com

612-234-5703