Tag: Minneapolis MN

photo of lake Prior Lake MN
Neighborhood Tours · small towns and exurbs

Prior Lake MN

MaryLeave a comment

Prior Lake is a good place to consider if you’re looking for the following things – LAKES, parks, space around your house, a cute downtown and proximity to the cities! Watch the video if you want to see for yourself.

Where is Prior Lake?

Prior Lake is a suburb south of the Twin Cities, in Scott County MN. It sits about 20 miles from the Minneapolis border on the SW side of the city, and if you’re concerned about commutes or getting to the airport, it’s approximately 25 minutes to MSP and likely about 10-15 minutes more to downtown Minneapolis or into St. Paul.

If you like the idea of taking a commuter bus line into the city you can ride the express (no stops!) Minnesota Valley Transit Authority bus from Prior Lake into Minneapolis. I think some people have a knee jerk reaction to busses and believe they are dirty and uncomfortable but these busses are similar to tour busses. Pure luxury. 😉 and in true Minneapolis fashion they have bike racks!

Quality of life – from the actual people that live there!

96% of residents rated the quality of life in Prior Lake as good or excellent! There are some happy people down there. Approximately 25,902 of the 27,000 people that live there are happy! You still have a 4% chance of running into someone who is a little salty, but odds are better that you’ll be bumping into someone that’s blooming where they’ve been planted. 

Prior Lake has that charming downtown that many people like, but most of the city is zoned as rural subdivisions & “low density residential”. It’s not what I would consider “walkable” for the great majority of residents. I do think this will appeal to people who like a bit more space around their homes, the city does have remaining agricultural areas, as well as denser neighborhoods of townhomes and an older town center with homes that are older, closer together and more walkable. 

Prices for homes

Prices in Prior Lake range widely – there were 2 condos that were priced at or around $200K when I looked at current listings, but the median price for homes in Prior Lake is $475K. Single family homes in the $300’s tended to be either townhomes or 1960’s to 1980ish split levels.  Homes that were built before the boom of subdivisions down there. Split levels can be a little controversial, I feel like people love them or hate them, but the good points are that they typically have a large amount of living space and if they were built in this time period the lots are generally larger as well.  I saw one home listed with deeded lake access (not lake front!) in the mid $500’s.  There are new construction homes in Prior Lake starting in the $600’s. But, if you want to be ON the lake you’ll pay a premium and will likely be spending upwards of $1M. 

SINGLE FAMILY Median prices
All property types compared to neighboring areas

I pulled median pricing for neighboring areas over the past three years as well and here you can see how Prior Lake compares to Lakeville and Savage (which I have a video for, check that out if you’re curious!).

Parks

Speaking of lakes – if you’re not one of the fortunate ones that owns a little slice for yourself, Prior Lake does have two swimming beaches as part of their extensive park system.  They have two major regional parks – Cleary Lake and Spring Lake which are part of the exceptional Three Rivers Park District, as well as having easy access to nearby Murphy Hanrehan Regional Park.

The city has 55 parks within it, mainly community parks, and lays claim to 100 miles of trails and sidewalks. The park district also has two large athletic complexes, an archery range and 14 lakes with fishing piers, boat slips, beaches and green space. The park district sponsors all kinds of sports including the super popular Pickleball, beanbag, and volleyball leagues. In winter the park district maintains 6 outdoor skating rinks. 

Fests

Minnesotans love a good festival or celebration and Prior Lake sponsors several.  In summer they have a large music festival which attracts bigger acts – Lynyrd Skynyrd headlined this year. Freebird!

man in black crew neck t shirt holding jack o lantern
Photo by Yaroslav Shuraev on Pexels.com

In fall they host a candy crawl for the kids, and there is a new and I think, interesting event called Chalk Fest. They invite professional sidewalk chalk artists to create works and non-professionals can compete for prizes as well. 

Schools

man in black and white polo shirt beside writing board
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

If you have school-aged children they will attend Prior Lake Savage Area Schools. There are 7 elementary schools, 2 middle schools and one high school serving the area. You can look up information on their web site, check out what Great Schools and Niche.com have to say about the schools, but schools welcome prospective parents and students for tours as you consider your options and I always think that’s a good step.  

Library

person holding book from shelf
Photo by Element5 Digital on Pexels.com

If you love books and all the programming and services that the library provides you’ll find that at the Prior Lake Library, which is one of the six branches of the Scott County Library System. It’s located right in the heart of the little downtown area of Prior Lake. The library also hosts Club Prior which is its senior citizen programing.

Chickens, pets and fences!

four assorted color roosters
Photo by Engin Akyurt on Pexels.com

And the moment you’ve all been waiting for! You can have up to 4 chickens! but only 3 “regular” pets like cats and dogs. Fences are allowed if they aren’t banned by an HOA (thinking about the Wilds golf community where I believe it’s unlikely that you’ll have either of these). 

Fences must have 50% transparency in front (picket etc) and be no higher than 4′ and 6 ft with total privacy in back, if you want to build a great wall higher than 7′ tall you’ll need to get a permit from the city. 

You should check out the rest of the places I’ve profiled! I have an entire playlist of neighborhoods and suburbs on my YouTube Channel. Lots of good info out there is you’re trying to pick a place to live.

Reach out if you have questions, always happy to help.

DON’T move to Minnesota if you can’t handle these things!
Uncategorized

DON’T move to Minnesota if you can’t handle these things!

MaryLeave a comment

I hear some interesting assumptions/stereotypes? when talking to people about Minnesota so I’m here today to set you straight about a couple of them at least! Some of these may be controversial! Don’t shoot the messenger. 

Let’s start out slow, shall we?  The weather. If there is one consistent thing I hear it’s that Minnesota is COLD. I don’t feel like other states spark this much fear about weather, and I’m not quite sure why we do? Yes – it does get cold here in the winter. Sometimes VERY cold, in the double digits below zero for days or a couple of weeks at a time. This is manageable – we have heated homes, heated cars, and we dress appropriately. We have a saying (not proprietary to MN!) that there is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing choices. I’ll have to do an entire video on dressing for your first winter in Minnesota! A client actually requested that (hi Linda!).  

And yes, we also do get snow, and people DO enjoy being out in it. Minnesotans as a rule are very outdoorsy and I think that even if you’re not one to want to sit on the ice in the middle of a lake in winter trying to catch a fish, you WILL probably find that spending time outside is the way to go.  I have helped a lot of people move here from very hot climates, many specifically because they wanted relief from the unrelenting heat and the ability to enjoy being outside most of the year.  I’ll have to check with them on the first winter experiences. 

A myth that I hear is that you don’t need AC here. This will shock some, but we don’t live in a bubble of cold air year round, in fact I would say that we get some pretty extreme temperature changes and people that live here love to make jokes about the the fact that the windchill can be deep in the double digits below freezing and then 6 months later have a heat index of 115. We don’t mess around. You DO need air conditioning here.  if you really want to fit in, when it’s bitterly cold make sure you say something like “it wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t for the wind”, “could be worse” applies to all seasons, and in summer throw out “it’s not the heat, it’s the humidity!” Add an “Uffda” in there and no one will be the wiser that you’re from out of state.

Tornadoes

Speaking of weather – I’ve had some surprised clients when I tell them to be prepared for tornadoes. Spring and fall are very active weather seasons in MN as cold and hot air start trading places – spinning, if you will! The twin cities area tests their tornado sirens every first wednesday of the month at 1pm. It’s good to know this so you don’t wonder what the heck is happening and why no one at Target is panicking when they hear that. Most minnesota homes have basements and that is a GOOD THING. Even if you don’t love them (and if you don’t love them, keep that to yourself, people here seem to really love basements! remember – conform conform. lol) You’ll want to have an underground lair to escape to if you hear a legit tornado siren. It seems like they only happen at night. I like that we have a comfy bed there so I can sleep while I wait for the tornadoes to potentially demolish my house. When tornado warning sounds it means that they have SEEN A TORNADO AND YOU SHOULD SEEK SHELTER. DO NOT GO STAND ON YOUR PORCH AND LOOK FOR IT!!

Other potential natural disasters are flooding, drought, blizzard and severe thunderstorm. But look at the bright side! no real earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, wild fires or hurricanes! 

Politics

OK – Here I go – I’m going to touch the third rail and tell you about the political climate here!  Minnesota has a reputation as a progressive and liberal state.  This is true in the urban areas but less so as you move out to the the rural parts of the state where it becomes quite conservative. I think this is true of most places in the united states and possibly the world. We currently have a divided government with a Democratic Governor, the State Senate is majority Republican and the State House is majority Democrat.  People have to compromise.  The state voted for Joe Biden by a significant margin in the 2020 Presidential election, but make no mistake, Republicans do have a strong voice in the state government here. 

2020 election

Progressive policies

Minnesota IS quite progressive in many ways, and the Twin Cities area even more so. The Human Rights Campaign gives both Minneapolis and St. Paul a score of 100 for LGBTQ policies and the state as a whole scores highly in pro equality laws. We aren’t perfect, but this is an inclusive place to live. 

Minneapolis passed a minimum wage increase to $15/hour which is being phased in by 2024 and is currently $13.50/hour. 

The focus on education here has been in place since the so called “Minnesota Miracle” in 1971 wherein the state government readjusted taxes to benefit the schools. This emphasis has faded a bit over time, but education remains a high priority in MN – at least as compared to the other 5 states I’ve lived in. 

Lastly on the progressive policies – while we aren’t Colorado, medical marijuana is legal in Minnesota as are low dose THC edibles. 

Wildlife and Cautions

What should you be afraid of here? Well, not all wildlife is benign in Minnesota and it’s not all confined to the northern wilderness areas of the state.  Suburbs of the Twin Cities metro area have frequently reported black bear sightings, coyotes are regular visitors (and typically harmless to humans), and we do have cougars. The cat. And probably the women too – but that’s your business. 

We don’t really have venomous insects (a few spiders that will bite and leave you with the equivalent of a bee sting) but we DO have a LOT of TICKS.  If you’re walking through high grass it’s best to have long sleeved shirts and long pants on, tucked into socks is ideal. Permethrin is a spray that you can put on your shoes and clothing to repel ticks and if you’re spending time outdoors its probably a good idea. Ticks do not jump, rather they attach as you walk by and brush against the grass. They then like to burrow in warm dark areas of your body… I’ll let you think of the possibilities here.  Ticks are mainly a problem because they spread diseases like Lyme Disease among many other illnesses. A key indicator that you may have Lyme is if you’ve been where ticks may be (everywhere) and you see a bullseye shaped inflamation on your body. Go to a dr and get treated – Lyme disease can have long lasting effects that attack your joints and make you feel miserable.

If you can’t handle these things maybe you should consider a different state? But in my opinion it’s well worth the risks to live here. We love it! 

Moving to MN from St. Louis MO
Home Buying · Living in Minneapolis · Real Life Relocation · Uncategorized

Moving to MN from St. Louis MO

MaryLeave a comment

I specialize in helping people relocate to MN from other parts of the United States and the world thanks to people finding me on my YouTube channel. It’s a niche that I love to serve, people are choosing Minnesota and I love to welcome them here.

I know that this can be a difficult thing to do – uprooting your life to make a change to a completely different everything! The climate, the people, the way that Minnesotans live – which is very much OUTDOORS. Many people make the choice for that very reason. One of the other themes that I hear often is affordability and high quality of life.

If you’re curious about the perspective of this couple, what things felt like challenges, how they overcame those, what made them choose MN, what surprised them when they got here and what they have enjoyed so far, you’ll probably enjoy this video!

If this is a move you are considering making and you have questions please don’t hesitate to ask! It’s what I do day in and day out. 🙂

The Armatage Neighborhood in SW Minneapolis!
Living in Minneapolis · Neighborhood Tours

The Armatage Neighborhood in SW Minneapolis!

MaryLeave a comment

I’m sticking closer to home today and taking you on a tour of the Armatage neighborhood in Southwest Minneapolis!  If you want to see what the homes and area look like – watch this video!

Homes in the Armatage neighborhood began to be built in the 1940s, and by 1960 most of the neighborhood was estab­lished. The homes in the area really reflect the time period, a lot of post-war (WWII!) bungalows and as the construction reached the ’60’s they began putting up what Minnesotans call “ramblers” and the rest of the country calls “ranch” homes. You still see some 1 car garages, and most garages are accessed off the alley which gives the street and yard areas of the homes a really beautiful feel because they aren’t broken up with driveways, cars and trashcans.

Easy commutes!

Prices

I did a comparison of median home prices for Armatage and the surrounding areas including Edina which is the suburb which borders the neighborhood on the west, the Kenny neighborhood to the east and the city of Minneapolis over all. You can see where Armatage stacks up and how it compares to prices in the city overall. 

The highest priced home on the market in Armatage today is a house that was originally built in 1948, but has since undergone a complete renovation and has had a second floor added. It was priced at $799,900. It has 5 bedrooms, 5 baths, a 4 car garage and nearly 3,000 sf. This is not a typical home in the area, but we have seen a lot of homes pop upward like this as people try to stay in the neighborhood but want more living space than the 1940’s or 1950’s bungalows provide. 

A more typical house for sale right now is a bungalow priced near the median at $445K, built in 1951 and still reflecting the character of the day. It has about 2000 sf and has 3 beds, 3 baths and a 2 car garage. The lowest priced home I saw currently listed is at $285, a 3 bed, 1 bath home that has been used as a rental and can probably use a bit of TLC. 

Neighborhood association

Armatage has a very active neighborhood association and they hold several events throughout the year including a chili cook off, a holiday light display competition, free movies in the park in summer, a fire-on-ice winter celebration with bonfires and ice skating at the park rink, food truck nights and a summer festival.  If you have children the park district  has after school programs through community education at Armatage Park Community Center and they also have all day programming there throughout the summer. 

children s team building on green grassland
Photo by Lukas on Pexels.com

In addition to the focus on kids, the community center also hosts events like “Tech Help for Seniors” and a community garden tool swap. 

Schools

boy in green shirt
Photo by CDC on Pexels.com

Children in the neighborhood are currently zoned for Armatage Elementary (formerly a Montessori magnet school) In 1952, the Armatage Community School was built, children move on to Susan B Anthony Middle School which is International Baccalaureate School, and then Southwest High School. 

Neighborhood Amenities

Armatage has a close community feel and has the benefit of easily accessible local favorites for restaurants including Pizzeria Lola, Red Wagon Pizza, Book Club, Colita, &  Cafe Ceres. It’s a quick ride to shopping to Edina for Southdale Mall or any of the surrounding shops and restaurants including the Galleria for more upscale shopping. Groceries are easy to find at nearby Lunds and Byerly’s or Kowalskis, or if you’re just down the street in Edina you can hit Whole Foods or Trader Joes. Costco people will find the St. Louis Park location the closest – but in my opinion it’s also the craziest one – always mobbed and worth it to drive to Eagan or Eden Prairie instead. 

cup of aromatic cappuccino on table in cafe
Photo by Maria Orlova on Pexels.com

In addition to the large community park, Armatage is well located to reach the paths around Lake Harriet or Minnehaha Creek. As with all areas of Minneapolis, there is a large focus on bicycling and public streets have bike lanes which are heavily used. The city of Minneapolis also has sidewalks lining both sides of the street so you’ll be safe if you decide to walk up to the lake or creek as well. 

white bicycle road sign
Photo by Cristiana Raluca on Pexels.com

If you’re curious about other area of the city or suburbs, check out my playlist on YouTube! I cover a bunch of them and I’m always adding more, if there is an area that you’re interested in and you don’t see a video – reach out and I may add it to the list, but can at least answer questions. 

close photography of white polar bear Walkable, Charming, White Bear Lake MN
Neighborhood Tours · small towns and exurbs · Uncategorized

Walkable, Charming, White Bear Lake MN

MaryLeave a comment

Need access to the cities but want a small town feel, White Bear Lake has it! I love where I live but every single time I go to White Bear Lake I want to move there! This suburb of Saint Paul just has a good feel to it – from the historic downtown to the lake and parks.  If you’re looking for a walkable lifestyle this should be on your list of places you consider!  Watch the video below to see what I mean – lots of footage of the downtown and the homes.

White Bear Lake sits north of St Paul (so if you’re not from around here that’s the east side of Minneapolis St. Paul), if you work in downtown Saint Paul you’re about a 15 minute commute or to downtown Minneapolis it’s about 25 minutes. Getting to the airport will take a little longer because it’s on the opposite side of the city, but if you’re only heading there periodically it shouldn’t be a problem, it’s less than 30 minutes in decent traffic. 

Downtown White Bear Lake drips CHARM from top to bottom. Most of the homes in the downtown area have a historic look and feel, but are well maintained. As you move out away from that central downtown area homes get a little newer but this is not the place to look if you want new build / subdivision feel. WBL was an old resort town and escape from the city and the rail line still runs right up to it, it retains that feeling of a lakeside vacation area today. The old downtown has a ton of options for restaurants, pubs, bakeries, shops and other services like salons or day spas.  The library is downtown as well, it’s a busy bright and modern space that is part of the Ramsey County Library System. 

panda printed paper coffee cup on table
Photo by Quang Anh Ha Nguyen on Pexels.com

In the summer and fall, Grab your morning coffee and a muffin from one of the bakeries and then enjoy the community and seeing your neighbors while you shop for locally produced eggs, honey, fruits and vegetables at the farmers market held in downtown every Friday morning from June through October. 

a person holding a purple cabbage
Photo by RODNAE Productions on Pexels.com

For a small town white bear lake has a pretty big focus on the arts and you can take classes or take in a show at the White Bear Center for the Arts, The Player’s Theater or the Children’s Performing Arts. 

HOUSING

Home prices in WBL range from the mid-$200’s for a townhouse to $1.2M for a new construction lake front home.  If you want to live directly on the lake, prices are consistently over $1M, but you can find something more moderately priced with lake front access.

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

Currently White Bear Lake has a tighter sellers market than the metro area as a whole – they are sitting at only .7 months of inventory whereas the twin cities is a little over a month on average. 

Schools

White Bear Lake Area Schools are the big cahuna in this part of the metro they serve all or parts of Birchwood, Gem Lake, Hugo, Lino Lakes, Little Canada, Maplewood, North Oaks, Vadnais Heights, White Bear Lake and White Bear Township.There are a lot of schools in the district, so do your research and see which one will work best for your kids.  You can look at sites like Great Schools or Niche.com, but schools welcome visitors that want to tour and get questions answered before making a decision.

Parks

White bear lake is home to 24 parks including access to docks at the lake, a disc golf course, and access to Bald Eagle-Otter Lakes Park which is one of 4 Ramsey County regional parks. This park has a playground, boat launch, fishing pier, access to the Tamarack Nature Center and an off-leash dog area. If you’re looking for swimming, White Bear Lake County park has a swimming beach, this park is located just north of the downtown area. 

A city in Minnesota couldn’t hold up it’s head if they didn’t have an ice arena – White Bear Lake is home to the Sports Center Ice Arena where you can participate in or watch the state sport of MN – ice hockey – or for those without the urge to body check someone simply some ice skating. You don’t have to be a member to use the ice here, it’s pay as you go!

Hey – if you have questions about anything real estate or living in the Twin Cities related, let me know! I’m happy to help!

large bison Buffalo MN
Neighborhood Tours · small towns and exurbs · Uncategorized

Buffalo MN

MaryLeave a comment

Whenever I venture out into the hinterlands for a client, I like to get some video and some information on that community for my clients but also so I can pass it along to YOU.  Today I’ll show you around Buffalo, MN.  It’s a small city in the western exurbs of Minneapolis and a great option if you like a small town feel, lake culture and yet still want to be within about a 35 mile drive of the cities.

I ended up out in Buffalo for the reason I think a lot of people may end up out in Buffalo! My clients were interested in getting a lot of house and the prices are more affordable out there, they were also excited about the prospect of being able to avoid “bidding wars” on pre-existing homes by buying new construction. Most new construction in the Twin Cities is going to be on the outer edges of the cities where buildable land is still available. 

When I went out there I met the agent representing the builder and was chatting with him about what is drawing people to Buffalo and his impression was that a lot of people discover it when they become priced out of homes in northwest suburbs like Maple Grove for the size and style of home that they are looking for.  I pulled the median prices for Buffalo and the MEDIAN price is $329k for a single family home. For comparison’s sake the median price in Maple Grove is $375K and for the twin cities REGION which I believe includes 14 counties it is $340K.  

Digging a little deeper I found that right now there are only 39 homes for sale in Buffalo, fully 30% of those are under construction or completed new builds. Prices range from the very lowest end for a townhouse at $250K up to a 120 acre horse farm with a circa 1900 farm house priced at $1.5 million.  If you’re interested in a big house with lake frontage there were a couple of these homes hovering around the million dollar plus mark as well, but MOST homes are much more reasonably priced. 

Where the in the heck is Buffalo?  Well, head about 35 miles north and west of Minneapolis on rt 55 and you’ll drive right past. If you need to be at the airport for any reason you should plan for about a 50 minute drive to get to MSP airport on the south side of Minneapolis. 

Things that I found charming about Buffalo were the shops in the historic business district right on beautiful and large Buffalo Lake. The city still has their post office, library (1 of 30 in the Great River Library District), and other city services right there in the center of town. The one that really caught my eye because I have a thing for books and coffee was the charming and aptly named Buffalo Books and Coffee. I would be a regular if I lived out there! Unfortunately I think Covid may have killed the movie theater, but there are quite a few restaurants either of the chain variety or local favorites within the city limits – not all downtown.  

https://buffalo-books.com/

If you have children they will attend the Buffalo-Hanover-Montrose schools, when I looked at Niche.com to check out the district it looked like they are rated a solid B or B+. 

The good people of Buffalo have quite a few options for grocery shopping they can choose from Cub which is a large regional chain, they also have a Walmart Supercenter, a Target, and one of the smaller local grocery stores called Coburns Market. 

No wild animals…

I like to see if cities allow fencing and chickens because I always get asked. Fences, la la la … the usual. Get a permit, 4′ facing the street and 6′ in back.  When I looked up chickens I was pretty shocked because the answer was short and sweet but the combination of animals was a little odd – Buffalo stipulates that you may not have a mountain lion or chickens and they phrase it as “no wild animals”.  I think this may need some clarification and may be contingent  on how large your lot size is at least as far as the chickens go – I can’t imagine the city having an issue with chickens on a 120 acre horse farm. 

https://www.ci.buffalo.mn.us/Facilities/Facility/Details/Airport-Arrival-Departure-Building-20

Another somewhat unusual feature of Buffalo is that they have a small municipal airport. So if your hobby is flying – this would be a really nice convenience for you.

About the airport: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Municipal_Airport_(Minnesota)

Buffalo likes to party and they have a lot of events every year including things like an Arts and Crafts show, a rodeo, the week long Buffalo Days with marching bands, a carnival and a beer garden, you can jump in the lake if you compete in the annual Buffalo Triathlon (or anytime you want to I suppose) there are free concerts in the park all summer, and in the winter they have a Kites on Ice celebration.  There were a lot of other events listed as well, for a small city they seem to have a lot going on.

The Buffalo Chamber of Commerce has a nice calendar of events!

Other things to do out this way are to go apple picking at one of the orchards or stop at Buffalo Rock WInery or the Hayes Public House and Brewery for some sips. 

I can’t leave out the parks!  Buffalo has 4 larger regional parks as well as 24 community parks. They have a golf course, a dog park, and a skate park.  The parks offer bicycle and boat rentals so you can enjoy the paths or the water and they have trails for fat tire bikes or snow shoeing for winter activites.

Check out my YouTube Channel to see more community profiles on my Neighborhoods and Suburbs or Exurbs and Small Towns playlists!  

Home Buying · Home equity · home selling · Uncategorized

What is an “appraisal gap”? and why does my agent keep talking about covering it?!?!

MaryLeave a comment

Does the phrase “appraisal gap” strike terror in your heart? Or leave you scratching your head? What about hearing tales of “appraisal guarantees” that are often needed when you’re a buyer in this seller’s market?  If you’re a buyer or seller and you’re not spending every waking (and sleeping!) moment thinking about the real estate market, you may be confused about what these terms mean for you, and they may feel a little scary. Knowledge is power, so let’s talk about what an “appraisal gap” is and what an “appraisal guarantee” means for a buyer or a seller. 

If you’ve watched any of my market update videos you’ve heard one thing reiterated and that is that we are in a historically strong sellers market.  We have a lot of buyers competing for every home and that means that we nearly always have multiple offers and those offers are often for well over list price as buyers do whatever they can to beat the competition. 

On the surface you may wonder “how can that be a problem”? if you’re paying with CASH it’s not a problem, you can pay any price you choose to pay for something as long as you can show that you have the funds available to do it. This is a big reason why cash buyers have an advantage right now, the price is the price and the seller doesn’t have to worry about the bank’s appraised value. 

However 80+% of people are NOT cash buyers, they have to get a mortgage for their home purchase and as part of that loan the bank will hire an independent appraiser to look at the property and determine if it’s worth the amount they are loaning you for it. They don’t want to be stuck with worthless collateral to sell if you default on your loan. This evaluation of value is called an “appraisal”.

Sometimes your mortgage lender’s appraiser says the house IS worth less than you agreed to pay. This is known as an appraisal gap or a low appraisal.

I sometimes hear buyers with high loan approval amounts suggest that it might be a good strategy to buy a lower priced home and just throw a large amount of money at it because they can qualify for a loan of that size, but that still doesn’t eliminate the issues around homes appraising for the value of the loan.  And really, appraisals exist for this very reason.

Options as a buyer

What are your options as the buyer if you’re worried that the appraisal will come in lower than what you have offered? after all – Sellers want to get the price you’ve offered in the contract whether or not the appraiser says it’s worth that amount as loan collateral. 

The option that has been most successful with sellers is writing appraisal gap coverage or an appraisal guarantee into the contract for the purchase of the house.  We are seeing this happen about 45% of the time now and it is getting to be more common as the market continues to be tight.  

What this essentially means is that you will put a larger down payment on the home which bridges the gap between what you’ve offered and what the bank is willing to loan and preserves your ability to finance the purchase and close on the home. 

A typical home purchase contract has an appraisal contingency: wording that says the buyer can call off the deal if the property appraises for lower than the buyer offered. But in hot real estate markets, where buyers outnumber sellers, some buyers waive the appraisal contingency. These buyers either pay cash for the home or gamble that they have money to pay the difference between the appraised value and the price, however much that may be.

rather than waiving the Appraisal contingency entirely, offering to cover the gap on a low appriasal is the middle path. You’re offering some amount that you will make up via a larger down payment.

Take the example of the $120,000 offer on the $100,000 home that has a $10,000 difference between the purchase price and the appraised value:

  • If you had offered to cover an appraisal gap up to $10,000, you would proceed with the purchase, bringing that extra $10,000 as a larger down payment.
  • If you had offered to cover an appraisal gap up to $5,000, you would be entitled to withdraw your offer and get your earnest money deposit back. That’s because the difference between the offered price and the appraised value is greater than the $5,000 appraisal gap coverage.

At this point, the seller may wish to negotiate with you to keep the transaction in tact and they may agree to lower the price by the remaining $5000.00 difference, or they may choose to go to the next buyer.

You’re more likely to succeed when offering appraisal gap coverage if you include proof of funds to do this as well.

If you’re lucky, you may not have to worry about appraisal at all. The bank may waive the required appraisal if they can see market conditions support it and that the buyer is bringing 20% or more as the down payment.  This means that they look at the market data and determine that the property is likely worth the purchase price, but you will not know this until you’re closer to closing. 

Things to think about

A couple of things to add as you consider whether or not to do this on your next purchase agreement:

Think about the home you’re buying, it’s condition, price, and location and what you’re willing to do to purchase that home. You want to be doing this for a home that will hold or appreciate in value.

Because of the market conditions, home prices nationally increased over 14% year over year. Median home prices in Minneapolis and the Twin cities went up 10.9% year over year according to the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors.

Put that into perspective with your purchase.

If you are buying a home priced at $100,000 today and prices continue on their current path, that home would be valued at $111,000 a year from now.

If you’ve agreed to make up $5000, or $10,000 in low appraisal, the likelihood that you will be “whole” in a short period of time is there.

Another consideration is whether or not you will be able to afford a home in a year or two if this continues and if interest rates continue to rise.

So, it’s a math problem. Never been a big fan of math problems, but looking at it this way really adds some clarity and perspective. 

Reach out with questions! I’m always happy to help.

close up photo of fire Minneapolis Real Estate Market Update Feb 2022
Home Buying · home selling · market updates

Minneapolis Real Estate Market Update Feb 2022

MaryLeave a comment

A month goes by in a hurry it seems, so here we are! Did a month make a difference with the real estate market? YES. It is notably busier!

Click here to watch. 🙂

I don’t think I’m telling you anything you don’t already know, but the real estate market is on fire.  Someone hit the gas pedal on the housing market in February and they have a lead foot. What does this mean specifically?  Let’s look at the twin cities housing market as of Feb 18 2022.  

signages for real property selling
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If you are a seller – LIST NOW and you’ll be partying all the way to the bank. 

Just about every listing is getting multiple offers in the first couple of days. The supply of buyers is so great and the supply of homes is so low right now – 15% fewer listings on the market than last year at this point! 

Why are sellers hesitating? I assume that it’s because they are worried about finding THEIR next home.  As an agent that represents a lot of buyers, I can tell you that sellers can not only command great prices for their homes they can still get a closing date that suits their needs. For example, if a seller is considering putting their home on the market, but are worried it will be gone in a blink, there is a great likelihood that the seller can ask for and receive a 60 close, flexible closing, or recently I’ve seen them asking for a seller’s home purchase contingency or lastly a rent back situation after closing remembering that most conventional loans require the transaction to close in 60 days on the buy side so no long term rentals this way! but this way the seller will have cash in hand and be able to buy while also have a roof over their heads while they wait for their next home to be available.  

One of the things that I really like about real estate is that EVERYTHING is negotiable – as long as the parties work it out (within the law!) and get it in a signed contract, the parties can work together to find a solution that works for everyone. Do you have a creative way to structure a contract that lets everyone get what they need?  Bring it up and there may be a way to make it work out!

This past week we had offer acceptance rates at 15%, which means that sellers are receiving 6-7 offers on average. But the average for the month is hovering around 35% according to Home Free Transaction Coordinators. I’ll give you more info on what they see in a successful offer after I take you through current market conditions. 

Absorption rate

It’s a seller’s market, but to what degree? In the past I’ve explained that the way that we determine this is based on the absorption rate or how many months worth of housing inventory we have at a given time if nothing new were added to the market.  5-6 months is considered balanced, more than that is a buyer’s market and less is a seller’s market. Obviously the more extreme the number the more it favors one or the other. That obviously varies by housing type.  

Single family homes have a .56 months (about 17 days) supply now as compared to one year ago when they were at .62 (about 19 days).  We have started this year off with available inventory down by 21% year over year. New listings this month are down by 15% from last year.  

I was looking for a bright spot and looked at new construction. Builders are responding to the need for houses and have started increasing their production too.

This image shows the big dip and now the increase starting in single family new builds between $400 & $600K. Its not dramatic, but any amount helps – if you have 50 more houses that’s 50 buyers that have found something.

If you have been thinking about selling and are curious about what your home is worth today, let me know. I’ll give you a free estimate of what your home is worth today – absolutely no obligation, just for your information if you want to know – just send me an email. We need homes and now is definitely the time to get the maximum amount of money out of your sale! mschumann@kw.com if you’re curious. I’m happy to do it.

Townhouse/ Condo properties are at .97 months (29 days) vs 1.13 a year ago (34 days). Prices on Townhouses are at a median of $267,000 which is UP 12.2%.  Average days on market for a townhouse is down 26% to 14. 

Condo prices are at a median of $195,000 up 6.6% from last year and are on the market for about 30 days. If you are a first time buyer or someone that likes condo living, this is the softest spot in the market today and your biggest opportunity. 

Single family homes in the 14 county metro area have a median price of $370,000, a gain of 12.1% year over year. They are on the market for NINE DAYS. Only about half of what we saw a year ago. And don’t fool yourself thinking you have 9 days to think about it, this is a listing going live on a Thursday, showing through the weekend, closing offers on Sunday and allowing a 5 day inspection period before heading to pending. 

The combined absorption rate (all property types) is at .67 months or 20 days of inventory as opposed to one year ago when we had a whopping .75 months or 22 days of inventory. 

What can you do if you’re a buyer?  

Here are my suggestions and strategies:

1.my office posts properties to agents internally that are off market and that sellers are willing to part with before going onto the MLS, so having that network available helps a lot!  

2. make sure you see what is available in “coming soon” and get in there quickly 

3. even better if you have the nerve-  offer “sight unseen” while in this status. if the seller will do it, you can usually negotiate an inspection this way and if there is something wrong with the property get out of the contract without losing your earnest money, this does require a good offer out the gate. It’s not a way to get a bargain, but is a way to quit losing in multiples.

4. make your offer more appealing are to offer appraisal gap coverage. This means that if you are financing you are stating that you have the ability to make a larger downpayment in order to cover the gap between your offer and what the bank is willing to loan you, having cash is a very important piece of the puzzle in this environment.  You can offer any amount of appraisal gap coverage – it doesn’t have to be 100% of the difference!

5 Look at “wallflowers” these are properties that have been on the market for longer than 4 days. This means they have made it through a weekend without getting an offer and may be more willing to negotiate or look at a reasonable but not extreme offer. These can be homes that a buyer got cold feet on, that their financing fell through or other scenarios. 

6. Don’t ignore properties that need work!  You can get a home loan that rolls a remodel into it. Not everyone can look past a dirty unfinished basement but it’s rarely a bad investment to add finished square footage to a house – especially in an in demand neighborhood. 

7. Do you have time? Offer on new construction. You eliminate multiple offers and choose your finishes.  Just be aware that contracts allow builders to cancel your contract if the price of materials goes up and you can’t cover the increase. Don’t get yourself in too deep. 

8. There aren’t a ton of these available but spec houses are a good option. They may be completed new builds OR they may be nearly completed with an estimated move in date already.  

9. my last option coming to mind to look at loans that allow you to offer as if you’re offering CASH – without a financing contingency. This seems like a HUH??! moment, but in my video next week I’ll interview a lender with a program like this that may give you a leg up and I’ll post it here, of course!

Accepted offers

OK – lets look at what’s been going on with offers per HFTC: 

Buyers are waiving inspection 46% of the time, this is a lot, but that also means that 54% of the time they are getting an inspection. 

Off market sales are at 12% – this is the “private listing network” that I mentioned where agents that have upcoming listings market them internally first.

Sales Contingent on the sale of the buyer’s home is down to 5% of the time. 

Average sale to list price is 103.2%. I don’t know where these are happening because my buyers have been offering at 15% over and losing… We would be happy with 103%!

Cash is at 17% of offers, Conventional at 69%, FHA has ticked up to 5%, VA is at 0. 

Hey! I would love to hear from you in a comment or an email or a smoke signal … reach out if you have questions! 

high rise buildings during night time Is MN affordable? Cost of Living update Minneapolis 2022
Living in Minneapolis

Is MN affordable? Cost of Living update Minneapolis 2022

MaryLeave a comment

A lot of people say that they choose to move to Minneapolis because it’s a nice sized city with an affordable cost of living. Most of the people that I work with are moving to Minnesota from out of state and are often coming from more expensive parts of the country. But not everyone is! Today I want to take a look at the cost of living in the Twin Cities and how it compares to some other areas that I see people coming from as well as other cities in the Midwest.

How is Cost of Living determined?

“Cost of living” is a term used by economists and it’s actually an INDEX, so every place in the US is compared to the national average, which is considered 100%.  If a city has a cost of living lower than the national average, it will be expressed as some percentage less than 100 and a higher than the national average cost of living will be a number that expresses HOW MUCH higher than the national average it is as in 100+ x%.

Cost of living in Minneapolis

The magic number for Minneapolis is close to 103% of the national average. This index is broken down into segments like housing, transportation, food, and entertainment and then the number given is the one that consolidates all of these.

Having a cost of living index of 103% of the national average is really a comforting number if you’re looking for an affordable city! I’m going to give you the current COL #’s for other cities in the US as well as cities specifically in the Midwest so you can see how we stack up. Remember that this is looking at ALL areas of the country and typically urban areas are much more expensive. 

Housing

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Housing is the most expensive part of nearly everyone’s budget. Minneapolis is at 117% of the national average. If you’ve ever seen one of my market update videos you’ll understand what drives that, but its a combination of low housing supply, low interest rates and a big bubble of first time buyers that are hitting the market right now.

Food

Here in Minneapolis we are right near the national average for food pricing, sitting at 101% of the national average. 

info from Numbeo 2/6/22

Transportation

For transportation costs, Minneapolis sits higher than the national average at 108%. This includes an average of cost of gasoline, car insurance and maintenance expenses, and mass transit fare for the area. I was a little surprised by this one because I just returned from a trip to NE Ohio and gas prices were consistently higher than what I have paid in MN everywhere east of us. According to AAA, auto fuel prices in MN are LOWER than the national average. 

info from AAA

Healthcare

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Healthcare is at a wonderful 75% of the national average!  The past couple of years have shown us all how important this piece is for everyone, and not only are our costs lower here, but we also have access to some of the best healthcare in the world with the Mayo Clinic being located within easy driving distance of Minneapolis and many high quality hospital systems within the twin cities area itself.

Micellaneous Costs

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Miscellaneous costs come in at 108% these include those goods and services not included in the other cost of living categories, including clothing, restaurants, repairs, entertainment, and other services.

Compared to other large metros across the US

If we compare Minneapolis to large metro areas like New York, San Diego, or Chicago we see that, no surprise, it’s more affordable here.

Housing in NYC is 441% HIGHER than Minneapolis, and cost of living there is 141% higher, San Diego is 35% higher overall with housing 110% higher, and Chicago – where I came from – is 15% higher overall but housing in particular is 54% higher than Minneapolis. 

Housing is the biggest driver of whether an area is affordable or not – we all need a roof over our heads! 

Coming from Texas

I see a lot of people coming to Minneapolis from Texas, most commonly the Austin area, but definitely from all over and Austin is actually coming in at 4% less expensive than Minneapolis. Rents are higher in Austin, but median price to purchase a home is slightly lower there. 

Other Midwestern Cities

Looking closer to home, at smaller cities in the Midwest, Madison WI is actually MORE expensive to live in than Minneapolis – housing is 8% higher, food 3% more expensive and healthcare a whopping 19% more expensive. 

Minnesotans will definitely question why anyone would pay MORE to live in Wisconsin. I mean. It just doesn’t make sense. 

Milwaukee WI (if you love your Pabst!) is the bargain area with overall costs being 2% less, but still getting you where it hurts if you need to go to the dr. 

Bargain Cities of the Midwest

Saint Louis has a 17% lower cost of living index than Minneapolis. Everything from housing, transportation, entertainment is lower – they do come in slightly higher on food and Des Moines Iowa is also a bargain, coming in with a lower cost of living on every metric and the net saving is 24%!

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If you have questions about living in or moving to Minneapolis or the twin cities reach out! I’m happy to help! If you’re curious about different neighborhoods or suburbs, check out my playlist on my YouTube channel where I talk about exactly that!