Longfellow Nokomis Real Estate Guide

New Look, New Dog, New Pizza...same old weather (includes Pizza Joe's review)

A week of change!  We've been working on updating the look of this site and went live with it on Sunday night.  Here it is!  You're looking at it.  It's not perfect, but I think that's okay considering that we help people buy and sell houses for a living, not design websites!  Let us know what you think.  Like it? See a glaring error?  Tell us that too!

Second, my family and I adopted a new dog on Sunday.  He was formerly known as Chevy Chase, but we have fittingly renamed him Clark W. Griswold.  He's a ~7 month border collie/lab mix.

He is very exited to meet all his neighbors around Lake Nokomis and the Minnehaha Dog Park.

And lastly, news for everyone in the East Nokomis area.  I tried our new pizza joint last night.  Pizza Joe's moved in to the space formerly occupied by Ginelli's.  Ginelli's was a favorite of my neighbors and mine.  Would Pizza Joe's successfully replace it?

Well so far so good.  We tried to order on their website and ran into some errors.  When we called to follow up, they were unbelievably nice.  The manager was clearly excited at a chance to make some new customers.  We ordered two pizzas:  a build your own with peppers, onions, and mushrooms, and a sausage.  We had our choice of three different crusts and went with the "hand tossed."  Both pies were well received.  The sauce was good, the toppings fresh, the cheese gooey, and I heard from the others that the sausage was good. 

Was it as good as the late great Ginelli's?  Well...no.  But it was better than any of the chains for sure.  It held up well against the local joints too. I like the choices and flavor of Parkway Pizza better, but their bitter crust cannot be eaten alone and you end up with a plate of "pizza bones."  And Pizza Joe's was cheaper!  I'm not a huge fan of Joey D's..err...I mean Chris and Rob's pizza, but I know that others are.  I guess I could see myself order from any of the them depending on what I'm in the mood for and what crowd I'm feeding.

Welcome to the neighborhood Pizza Joe's!

Nokomis and Longfellow Are the Best!

The editors and readers of City Pages agree.  The following local favorites made the the list for City Pages best of 2008.

Buster's on 28th:  Best New Neighborhood Bar

Lake Nokomis:  Best Place to Get Away From it All Without Leaving Town

Minnehaha Dog Park:  Best Dog Park

Hiawatha Golf Club:  Best Golf Course

Sea Salt:  Best Seafood Restaurant

What?  You haven't been to all these places and you live right here in Nomokis/Longfellow?  Unless you are deathly allergic to fish, phobic of dogs, or think fun is for losers...you have some catching up to do!

Longfellow Real Estate

I've found myself working with a number of first time home buyers who want to purchase a home in Minneapolis. They've all navigated to the Longfellow area. Of course, we also look at the Nokomis real estate but it doesn't seem they can get quite as much for their money as they can in Longfellow.

Here are some statistics for 2007 by the Minneapolis Association of Realtors

Longfellow Minneapolis is a great place to look for your first home! 

Other Blog Articles:

Longfellow Real Estate Gets a Mention in the Star and Trib

Longfellow Fares Well in Real Estate Market

Longfellow and Nokomis Businesses

Article posted by Lisa Dunn, Edina Realty 612-599-3484

 

Community Gardens in Longfellow

If you're considering relocating to Minneapolis, you'll likely start your home search on the internet. You'll get a feel for the types of housing available, and how much home you can get for your money. The internet is a great way to start searching for a home. In fact, over 80% of us start our home search on the net.

Then, when it's time to get into your REALTOR'S car and start looking for homes in-person, I hope you'll choose a REALTOR who knows Minneapolis. Choose a REALTOR from the suburbs, and they likely won't know as much about the area or about the little treasure around the corner from the house you're looking at. 

For example, drive through the Longfellow neighborhood on Dowling Street and you'll drive by a few blocks of fenced-in garden plots. These plots are right in the middle of a residential neighborhood. You'd expect to see houses here!

 

Here's the story:

Located in the Howe neighborhood of the Longfellow Community in Minneapolis there's a peaceful stretch of land that has made history. The Dowling Victory Gardens broke ground in 1943 when our nation was at war. Canned foods were rationed regularly, and people were encouraged to grow their own produce. If demand on the food supply was lightened, the War Department would save money on purshasing food supplies such as potatoes and carrots to send overseas to feed the troops.

Back then, canning and preserving harvests were an everyday skill so there were very few people needed to tend the gardens along 46th Ave and Dowling Street. Let's face it with a grocery store or convenience store on every block, very few of us still can or preserve our vegetables. So naturally, the garden plots of gotten much smaller over time.

Today, there are over 175 garden plots and over 200 gardeners that tend to the Dowling Community Gardens. There are volunteers that offer some organization to the gardeners, a shared tool shed and water supply, and lots of community involvement. The gardeners are as diverse as the Minneapolis neighborhoods they serve.   The gardeners are seniors (a topic near and dear to my heart), from different countries, and with different abilities (there are raised beds for gardeners in wheelchairs). Extra produce is donated to area organizations, and above all, these gardens bring people together.

If you're relocating to Minneapolis and you're wondering how you can get a little plot and a little piece of history of your own, visit the Dowling Community Gardens Website.

Submitted by Lisa Dunn
lisadunn@edinarealty.com 

Longfellow Real Estate gets mention in the Star Trib

The Star and Trib mentions that Longfellow home prices are rising despite the housing slow down.  Other Minneapolis neighborhoods are seeing a drop in housing prices while the Minneapolis Longfellow neighborhood is seeing a .6% increase so far this year.

We won't tell them we beat them to this story. We know the amenities our neighborhood has to offer, and the Mississpi River, the growth of Lake Street, the Midtown Greenway will all lead to a high demand area for real estate.

Submitted by Lisa Dunn
lisadunn@EdinaRealty.com

Buying a home in St. Paul? Don't overlook Nokomis and Longfellow.

I promise, the river doesn't bite. I drive over it at least twice a day between Minneapolis and St. Paul's Highland Park Edina Realty office. Why do I office out of St. Paul when I work in Minneapolis? Simple. It's the closest Edina Realty office to my home, and is, in my opinion, the best Edina Realty office to belong to!

I do not have a fear of the river-and I have found I am in the minority. So many of you don't want to cross the river. You're afraid of what you might find on the other side. You all complain about finding your way around on the other side, but I am of the opinion it goes much deeper. It's the fear of the unknown.

I'm hear to tell you there are treasures to be found on BOTH sides of the river. If you're considering buying a home in St. Paul, let me show you what your dollar will buy you in the Minneapolis Nokomis and Longfellow Neighborhoods, compared to the Highland Park and Macalaster Groveland neighborhoods of St. Paul.

If you were looking to buy a 3 bedroom, 1 bath home and a double garage you would see on average homes were listed for:

• Longfellow $230,971
• Nokomis $231,377
• Highland Park $261,567
• Mac/Groveland $282,267

If you're a smart consumer and want to stretch those valuable dollars as far as you can, you'd do well to explore what the Longfellow and Nokomis areas have to offer!

These Statistics are from the Regional Multiple Listing Service, are deemed to be reliable but not guaranteed.

Nokomis Longfellow Foreclosures

It's no secret that the number of foreclosures are going up. How do you know which homes in the Minneapolis Longfellow and Nokomis neighborhoods are in foreclosure?

See them here!  This page may load slowly, give it a few minutes, it's worth it!

Longfellow fares well in real estate market

	New Listings April 2006	New Listings April 2007	Average Sale Price April 2006	Average Sale Price April 2007
Twin Cities	10864	10742	$275,171	$262,017
Minneapolis	1,265	1,210	$277,348	$248,552
Nokomis	148	152	$241,236	$240,727
Longfellow	76	61	$211,371	$223,954

	Average Days On Market (Jan-April 2007)	Total Current Inventory (April 2007)	Single-Family Detached Inventory
Twin Cities	145	31,882	21,740
Minneapolis	133	3,553	2,151
Nokomis	123	350	302
Longfellow	98	133	110

Done correctly, examining statistics for the local real estate market help to remove personal bias and give an objective view of what's happening in our Longfellow-Nokomis Neighborhood.While we can say average sale prices across the metro have decreased, Longfellow has defied the odds by increasing the average sale price of homes, and not by just a little either! In addition, compared to Nokomis, Minneapolis, and the Twin Cities as a whole, Longfellow has the shortest amount of days on the market. 

A general rule of thumb in real estate,

The shorter the amount of time on the market, the greater the sale price (as represented by percentage of the list price).

Lisa Dunn
REALTOR
Edina Realty
612-599-3484