Longfellow Nokomis Real Estate Guide

Best Halloween Display in Minneapolis!

If you live in the Ericsson neighborhood, you've probably already discovered Polly and Gregg Hanson's annual Halloween display.  They (okay, mostly just Polly) have been growing and improving their "graveyard," as Polly calls it, for 10 years.

As the owner of Virginia Rose Estate Sales, the Hansons are in the perfect business for finding odd and discarded pieces add to the scenery.  Polly says that she tries to avoid store bought items, although with their reputation they often recieve gifts that do have commercial origins.  The hard work and commitment to producing something orginal that you can't simply buy at Menard's really shows.  Go check it out before the spooky season is over! 

The home is located at 4228 30th Ave S.  Enjoy the pictures:

       

   

    

October Garden Maintenance

As we've seen with the crazy ups and downs of temperatures this month, anything goes!  Here are a few garden maintenance items that can be done in October.

• Protect tomatoes, petunias, impatiens, and begonias with sheets or tarps anytime freezing temperatures are predicted.  Warm days usually follow a few freezing nights.
• Keep mowing your lawn as long as the grass is growing.  October is the best month to fertilize.  The roots continue to grow until the ground is frozen and your grass will grow thicker and green faster next spring if you fertilize now.
• Water trees, shrubs, evergreens, and perennials well before you put away your hoses for the winter.  Well-watered plants are more likely to survive the tough winter.
• Remove or compost vegetables and annuals that have been killed by frost or are no longer attractive.  Diseased plants or those with insect problems should be disposed of in your trash.  Leave tops on perennials and ornamental grasses.  They look good and provide shelter for birds, help catch snow, and insulate the crown and roots from the cold.
• Get a head start on spring by adding 4-6 inches of compost or manure to your garden soil.  This will increase fertility and the soil will be loose and easy to dig next spring.
• Protect young trees and shrubs from animal damage during the winter by installing circles of metal hardware cloth or special plastic tree guards.  Mice feed on the bark under the snow and rabbits feed on the upper part of plants.
• Plant tulip bulbs now in 6-8 inches of soil in groups of 8-12.  Water well and mulch when the ground is frozen.  You'll enjoy those in May!

(Thanks to Home Improvement Magazine)

Things That Go Bump in the Night

Your haunted house is the prefect place for a Halloween party.  Other parties have to spend lots of money creating the illusions of ghosts and ghouls.  It takes lots of wires, motors, and smoke machines.  You, however, were lucky enough to end up with a truly haunted house.  Sure the spirits keep you up at night, but all your friends say you have the best Halloween parties.  I mean, no one is willing to spend Christmas at your place.  But once a year, October 31st, it's all worth it.

But now, you decided to take a job in Salem and you have to sell your home.  Do you advertise that it's haunted?  Perhaps people will pay a premium for poltergeist.  Or do you paint over the bleeding wall and keep it all a secret? 

I'm not going to tell you what to do, but you should familiarize yourself with the law.  The state of Minnesota requires a nine page disclosure.  In which, it is necessary to disclose any material facts that would affect the normal use and enjoyment of the home by any future buyer.  But you are in luck.  There are a few exceptions to this rule.  And one of them is haunted houses.

Page 9, lines 39-42:  There is no duty to disclose the fact that the property...was the site of a suicide, accidental death, natural death, or perceived paranormal activity.

But I assure you, after the new owners move in and meet the neighbors, they'll learn all about your paranormal parties.  And expect their lawyer to come knocking, regardless of duty to disclose.

Did You Know? (More Greeness)

• The Earth receives more energy from the sun in just one hour than the world uses in a whole year.
• Minnesota has more annual solar energy potential than Houston, Texas and nearly as much as Miami.
• Even though compact fluorescent bulbs contain mercury, using them contributes less mercury to the environment than using regular incandescent bulbs.  That's because they use less electricity, and coal-fired power plants are the biggest source of mercury emissions in the air.
• CFL's save $30 or more in energy costs over each bulb's lifetime.

----Rachel A.L. Maloney, LEED AP, president, Natural Built Home, Minneapolis

Stock Market vs. Real Estate Market

Heard any news about the real estate market lately?  It’s for real. Prices are lower. Homes are being foreclosed on. The bad mortgages are affecting everything in the financial markets. But are houses really the worst investment you could have made?

Since 2001, the average price of a single-family home in Nokomis has gone from $170,066 to $222,542. In Longfellow, the average price was $155,226 in 2001 and $192,772 today. And that number doesn’t consider that many foreclosed homes in rotten condition are skewing the numbers lower. In the same time, the Dow ended up right where it started. Simply, your investment did better in the housing market than it did in the stock market.

But that’s not the whole picture. How many memories have you made in your home? How many have you made in the stock market? Remember that time that you had your entire family over to your stock portfolio for Thanksgiving? Remember your first Christmas tree in your stock portfolio? Remember watching the snow fall out the window of your stock portfolio? No matter how cold it got, your stock portfolio always kept you warm at night.

You don’t have to invest in the stock market. But you do have to live somewhere. And in the long run, it’s better to own that home than to rent it. That doesn’t mean you should buy a home you can’t afford, or buy any home before you can afford it. But the dream of owning your own home is still a valid one. But if you treat it like the stock market and think that you can buy and sell at will as you try to build your fortune, your dream will return the favor just as reliably as the stock market. But put your dream of family and love into that home, and it rarely disappoints.

I'll rent it for a year!

When I talk with homeowners about the price to list their homes, they almost always want to list it a little higher so they have "negotiating room." Unfortunately, in this market adding 5% above where you "should" be listed is enough to price you out of the market, and decrease your showings. 

I've been meeting homeowners who purchased a home 4-5 years ago, took out a line of credit on the home and spent considerable money fixing it up and want to sell it at a profit. Lately, it seems I've been the bearer of bad news. Most of the profit the homeowners where hoping to realize, is eatin up by closing costs so they won't get the profit they were hoping for, and in fact it's likely they'll need to bring $5,000-$10,000 to closing.  In response to that they say "I'll just rent it for a year!"

There are no current market indicators that show home prices in the Twin Cities will appreciate 5% in the next year so these homeowners can sell and at least break even. All this year I've been saying "it will take until the end of 2009 to even out." I'm not an economist, but I do know how much inventory there is on the market and how long it takes banks to sell foreclosed properties.

If you're a homeowner who is planning to rent your home for a year, you may want to plan on renting it for at least 2 years to make it worth waiting. 

Then, bone up on landlord requirements and save some money to fix the house up again before you put it on the market. Here's a workshop that's a "must attend" for you brave souls entering into the land of landlords:

Rental Property Owner Workshop

Sponsored by the Minneapolis Police Department and Housing Inspections

Thursday, October 23, 5-9 pm
St. Mary’s Greek Orthodox Church
3450 Irving Ave. S, Minneapolis

Pre-registration required. Cost: $20 if registered by Oct. 16; $30 thereafter. The fee covers a manual and other materials, a DVD on Housing Court and a box meal.

This 4-hour workshop includes useful information on:

• The ABC’s of property management
• Dealing with tenant behavior issues
• Tenant screening
• Effective leases
• Housing Court
• Working with the MPD and Inspections
• Much more

The workshop is particularly helpful for new owners and those owners/managers who are having problems at their properties. There are more details and a registration form at http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/safe/workshops.asp.

Your Fall Garden-Get it Ready for Spring!

Most people think spring and summer are the main gardening seasons, but fall is the most important for preparing your garden for the next year.

The cooler fall months are great for lawn maintenance.  You can seed, fertilize, and aerate.  According to Kim Gaida of Dundee Nursery, "grass seed likes to germinate in damp soil.  The cooler, consistent fall temperatures are good for it."  She recommends aeration because is breaks up hard-packed soil, so air and water can get into the roots.  Lift up a corner of the sod to see if there is more than an inch of thatch.  If so, power rake the grass to get rid of buildup.  Winterizing fertilizer has less nitrogen than that used during the spring and summer, so it doesn't promote blade growth, but does provide postassium to the soil.

If you want your spring garden to include flowering bulbs, mid-September to mid-October is the perfect time to plant.  Make sure the bulbs are in well-drained soil at at least the recommended depth.  You should also clear out and mulch flower beds so they're ready for next spring.  For perennials, leave them until after a hard frost, then cut almost to ground level.  The frost will take down the annuals - those you can pull out to prevent any diseases.

Fall is also a good time to make changes to your landscape.  As you plan for next year, you can see areas for improvement and replant those areas now.

Also, don't forget about the miscellaneous items that need to be prepared for spring:  drain and store hoses/automatic sprinkler systems; empty and store plant containers, bird baths, sculptures, etc. that won't survive the winter outdoors; and drain gas from the lawnmower and store until spring.

Thanks to Kim Gaida and twincitieshomeimprovement.com