Thursday, February 16, 2012
Whole Foods Coming to Downtown Minneapolis
What we've been waiting for my fellow downtowners, is finally coming...our very own Whole Foods Market. We've been speculating and hoping, and now has been confirmed. We will be patiently or not-so patiently awaiting completion and opening (estimated) sometime in 2013. The new location will be on the corner of Washington/Hennepin Avenues, just a few blocks from my office. The project plans to include approximately 287 apartment rentals, a beer and wine store and ample parking. Can I have a "woot-woot" people?!
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Buyer's Market, Not Quite?
Check out this article in the Star Tribune. Some say buyer's market...Some say maybe not???...CLICK HERE TO READ MORE!
Monday, August 29, 2011
Walk Score-How does Minneapolis rank?
How walkable is Minneapolis? Walk Score (http://www.walkscore.com/), a company who calculates the "walkability" of any particular address in the US, has rated the top ten walkable cities for 2011....Where does Minneapolis stand? Click here to find out: http://realestate.msn.com/10-walker-paradises#1
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Thursday, March 17, 2011
27 Condos Sold at Skyscape Auction
An interesting article regarding the recent auction to sell the remaining 27 condo units in Skyscape. The condo building is located downtown Minneapolis at 929 Portland Avenue South...read on...
Skyscape: Going, going, gone
By Jim Buchta, Star Tribune
In an unusual condo auction, nearly 90 bidders signed up to purchase 27 units in a high-rise on the edge of downtown Minneapolis.
In just 75 minutes, buyers snapped up almost all the remaining condos in a Minneapolis high-rise during an unusual auction Tuesday.
The prices were so low -- up to 45 percent off the last asking price -- that buyers outnumbered units for sale in Skyscape, a glassy high-rise condominium tower on the edge of downtown Minneapolis.
"There were a lot of happy campers," said Sue Hawkes, president of Velocity Marketing Services, which arranged the sale of 27 empty units in a "close-out auction."
Nearly 90 bidders and more than 100 observers attended the auction in a Graves 601 Hotel ballroom. Buyers spent more than $6.5 million to purchase all but one of the original 26 units up for auction. Demand was so great for certain floor plans, however, that the company decided to sell additional units not on the original sale list, Hawkes said.
With property values plummeting and inventories of unsold homes piling up, real estate auctions have become a popular way for lenders to unload properties that have gone through foreclosure. This situation was different. The Skyscape units are new, and sales of condos in the building have been relatively steady since a partnership controlled by Twin Cities-based Opportunity Advisors acquired nearly 30 percent of the building's 248 units early last year.
Many existing Skyscape homeowners were furious about what the auction might do to the value of their units.
"It's already a struggling market, and this will by no means make it better," said Andrew Branham, a Skyscape resident who didn't go to the auction, but said he will closely monitor how the sales affect values.
The partnership that owned the units saw the auction as an opportunity to liquidate the investment.
Most bidders planned to live in the units, according to several participants. One fear when the auction was announced was that bottom-feeding investors would buy the units for deeply discounted prices and rent them out.
Fritz Kroll, a downtown sales agent for Edina Realty, said he had worried that all the units might not sell, further depressing condo prices.
"I absolutely consider that a vote of confidence for the market," he said. "I think some people got good deals, and I think some people paid market prices."
'A good deal'
Kroll said he was representing a buyer who "got their first choice and I think they got a good deal."
The last asking price on the units ranged from $259,900 to $799,900. On Tuesday, those units sold for $185,000 to $650,000.
On average, the units sold for about $220 to $260 per square foot.
After 18 of the units sold, the auctioneer called off the live auction and asked people who were still interested in buying to put their names on a list. One by one they were called to a table where units were offered for prices based on the auction sales.
Brian Little, a Skyscape condo owner who attended the auction as an observer, said the mood at the auction was upbeat.
Before the auction, Little was among the homeowners who feared it would diminish the value of their investments. Though he's still concerned about the auction's effects on the broader market, units with a view and floor plan like his fetched prices comparable to what he paid 15 months ago.
Nonetheless, he watched other units sell at big discounts and knows of neighbors with comparable units who will be frustrated.
"I didn't feel I lost a significant amount of value," he said. "Others didn't do so well."
Skyscape: Going, going, gone
By Jim Buchta, Star Tribune
In an unusual condo auction, nearly 90 bidders signed up to purchase 27 units in a high-rise on the edge of downtown Minneapolis.
In just 75 minutes, buyers snapped up almost all the remaining condos in a Minneapolis high-rise during an unusual auction Tuesday.
The prices were so low -- up to 45 percent off the last asking price -- that buyers outnumbered units for sale in Skyscape, a glassy high-rise condominium tower on the edge of downtown Minneapolis.
"There were a lot of happy campers," said Sue Hawkes, president of Velocity Marketing Services, which arranged the sale of 27 empty units in a "close-out auction."
Nearly 90 bidders and more than 100 observers attended the auction in a Graves 601 Hotel ballroom. Buyers spent more than $6.5 million to purchase all but one of the original 26 units up for auction. Demand was so great for certain floor plans, however, that the company decided to sell additional units not on the original sale list, Hawkes said.
With property values plummeting and inventories of unsold homes piling up, real estate auctions have become a popular way for lenders to unload properties that have gone through foreclosure. This situation was different. The Skyscape units are new, and sales of condos in the building have been relatively steady since a partnership controlled by Twin Cities-based Opportunity Advisors acquired nearly 30 percent of the building's 248 units early last year.
Many existing Skyscape homeowners were furious about what the auction might do to the value of their units.
"It's already a struggling market, and this will by no means make it better," said Andrew Branham, a Skyscape resident who didn't go to the auction, but said he will closely monitor how the sales affect values.
The partnership that owned the units saw the auction as an opportunity to liquidate the investment.
Most bidders planned to live in the units, according to several participants. One fear when the auction was announced was that bottom-feeding investors would buy the units for deeply discounted prices and rent them out.
Fritz Kroll, a downtown sales agent for Edina Realty, said he had worried that all the units might not sell, further depressing condo prices.
"I absolutely consider that a vote of confidence for the market," he said. "I think some people got good deals, and I think some people paid market prices."
'A good deal'
Kroll said he was representing a buyer who "got their first choice and I think they got a good deal."
The last asking price on the units ranged from $259,900 to $799,900. On Tuesday, those units sold for $185,000 to $650,000.
On average, the units sold for about $220 to $260 per square foot.
After 18 of the units sold, the auctioneer called off the live auction and asked people who were still interested in buying to put their names on a list. One by one they were called to a table where units were offered for prices based on the auction sales.
Brian Little, a Skyscape condo owner who attended the auction as an observer, said the mood at the auction was upbeat.
Before the auction, Little was among the homeowners who feared it would diminish the value of their investments. Though he's still concerned about the auction's effects on the broader market, units with a view and floor plan like his fetched prices comparable to what he paid 15 months ago.
Nonetheless, he watched other units sell at big discounts and knows of neighbors with comparable units who will be frustrated.
"I didn't feel I lost a significant amount of value," he said. "Others didn't do so well."
Friday, January 28, 2011
Monster.com: Mpls. Among Hottest Job Markets!
Monster.com: Mpls. Among Hottest Job Markets
Occupations that will grow the most in 2011 are in the IT and health care sectors, according to the company.
Popular job site Monster.com recently ranked Minneapolis among the 10 hottest job markets in the United States for 2011.
The Maynard, Massachusetts-based online employment site identified the top markets based on the number of available jobs per person, ranking Minneapolis sixth. Washington, D.C., topped the list, followed by San Francisco, Boston, Baltimore, and Seattle.
Monster.com also identified the top occupations for 2011 in these 10 markets. According to the company, the hottest jobs mostly fell within the IT and health care industries.
“This is largely due to the economic recovery where communities across the nation are starting to spend more on things like IT infrastructure and other areas where they’d previously avoided spending on for as long as possible,” Jesse Harriott, senior vice president and chief knowledge officer for Monster.com, said in a statement. “Meanwhile, health care has long been immune to the economic recession, especially given the skills shortage in that industry due to Baby Boomers retiring, taking those skills with them in the process.”
According to Monster.com, occupations within the IT industry that will grow the most include IT project managers, database administrators, software engineers, computer support specialists, and computer and information research scientists.
Within the health care support market, the job postings that are most likely to increase in prevalence are for nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants; occupational therapist assistants; dental assistants; home health aides; and pharmacy aides.
Monster.com’s full list of the 10 hottest job markets in the United States is as follows:
1. Washington, D.C.
2. San Francisco
3. Boston
4. Baltimore
5. Seattle
6. Minneapolis
7. Cleveland
8. Tampa, Florida
9. Dallas
10. Kansas City, Missouri
Occupations that will grow the most in 2011 are in the IT and health care sectors, according to the company.
Popular job site Monster.com recently ranked Minneapolis among the 10 hottest job markets in the United States for 2011.
The Maynard, Massachusetts-based online employment site identified the top markets based on the number of available jobs per person, ranking Minneapolis sixth. Washington, D.C., topped the list, followed by San Francisco, Boston, Baltimore, and Seattle.
Monster.com also identified the top occupations for 2011 in these 10 markets. According to the company, the hottest jobs mostly fell within the IT and health care industries.
“This is largely due to the economic recovery where communities across the nation are starting to spend more on things like IT infrastructure and other areas where they’d previously avoided spending on for as long as possible,” Jesse Harriott, senior vice president and chief knowledge officer for Monster.com, said in a statement. “Meanwhile, health care has long been immune to the economic recession, especially given the skills shortage in that industry due to Baby Boomers retiring, taking those skills with them in the process.”
According to Monster.com, occupations within the IT industry that will grow the most include IT project managers, database administrators, software engineers, computer support specialists, and computer and information research scientists.
Within the health care support market, the job postings that are most likely to increase in prevalence are for nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants; occupational therapist assistants; dental assistants; home health aides; and pharmacy aides.
Monster.com’s full list of the 10 hottest job markets in the United States is as follows:
1. Washington, D.C.
2. San Francisco
3. Boston
4. Baltimore
5. Seattle
6. Minneapolis
7. Cleveland
8. Tampa, Florida
9. Dallas
10. Kansas City, Missouri
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Some Home Seller Take Reverse Route on Offers
Some home sellers take reverse route on offers
Tired of waiting, some sellers are making offers to seemingly interested buyers who may hold back because of "Minnesota Nice."
By JIM BUCHTA, Star Tribune
What is a reverse offer? When a seller makes an offer to a buyer. It can be written or verbal, and is usually at a price that's lower than the list price. When is it a good strategy? When someone has expressed interest in the property, or if price is the obstacle to making a deal and the prospective buyer is afraid to insult the seller. Why does it work? It can make the buyer feel like they're getting a deal no one else is getting, and it's a way to get negotiations started.
Steve Mitchell was trapped between two homes: the retirement lake home in Missouri he was eager to build and an expensive house in Apple Valley that he couldn't sell.
So when a family expressed interest in the $475,000 house, but indicated that it was beyond their budget, his agent suggested something radical: Make them an offer.
"What did we have to lose?" said Mitchell, who dropped the price to $450,000 for the family.
The prospective buyer countered, and after some back-and-forth negotiations the two parties had a deal at $456,000, which included Mitchell paying $11,000 in their closing costs. "We would have liked to have gotten more," he said. "But in the end it worked out as good as we could expect."
At a time when buyers have more choices -- and inertia -- than they've had in decades, "reverse offers" are becoming increasingly popular among exasperated homeowners eager to get a move on. It's also a way, some agents say, for sellers to make prospective buyers feel like they're getting in on a deal that no one else is going to get.
It's a last-ditch strategy in one of the most prolonged housing downtowns in decades. As 2010 draws to a close, the number of homes sold, based on a rolling 12-month average, has fallen for six straight months while median prices have stagnated with little sign of recovery.
Mitchell's agent, Kary Marpe, said he's presented prospective buyers with reverse offers four times and has been successful twice. "We're just trying to get them to swing our direction," he said. "Not every seller wants to do it, but it's a good way to get dialogue started."
Getting buyers and sellers to talk to one another is particularly difficult in the current market. Home sales during November fell more than 30 percent at a time when inventory levels have steadily risen, giving buyers lots of choices and little incentive to make an offer.
Tara-Nicholle Nelson, a national real estate expert with Trulia.com, says that reverse offers seem to be unique to the Twin Cities metro area, in large part because it's a market in which sellers tend to initially price homes aggressively, but quickly drop the price. In fact, more than 40 percent of all sellers -- consistently the highest in the nation -- in the Twin Cities metro area have offered at least one price reduction, according to Trulia.com.
Because houses in this market tend to be priced so much higher than the actual selling price, agents say that reverse offers are an effective way to give prospective buyers a better sense of a seller's bottom line. A sales manager for Edina Realty said that in one office he estimates that 10 percent of agents have tried reverse offers at least once.
For example, Dennis Guldseth, an agent with Coldwell Banker Burnet, had clients who had found the perfect house, but who couldn't close on it until they had sold the house they already owned. So when they heard that a couple who already looked at the house they were selling was coming back for a second showing, they decided to present them with a written purchase agreement that included a hefty price reduction in hopes of getting them to seriously consider the house.
"In this market you have to think outside the box to make things happen," Guldseth said.
Kathy Rauth, who sells for Edina's Chanhassen office, said that in her experience it's a strategy that works best if the only thing holding back a buyer is price, but that it can also create a sense of urgency when none exists. "I'm hearing about it more and more," she said.
She's made reverse offers for three clients, including a woman who was trying to sell a townhouse in Eden Prairie, which was similar to several others that were on the market. So when a prospective buyer looked at it several times, but didn't make an offer, Rauth asked the seller, Susan Turbis, to write up a purchase agreement that they could present to the buyer.
Turbis said that it was a brilliant way to divert the buyer's attention from all the other competition. "It was counterintuitive," she said. "But I was ready to make something happen, so I said, 'Let's try it.'"
Rauth said she thinks many prospective buyers are afraid to make a lowball offer that might offend the seller. "It's the 'Minnesota Nice' thing," she said. "This way I get my seller to do their own price reduction."
Tired of waiting, some sellers are making offers to seemingly interested buyers who may hold back because of "Minnesota Nice."
By JIM BUCHTA, Star Tribune
What is a reverse offer? When a seller makes an offer to a buyer. It can be written or verbal, and is usually at a price that's lower than the list price. When is it a good strategy? When someone has expressed interest in the property, or if price is the obstacle to making a deal and the prospective buyer is afraid to insult the seller. Why does it work? It can make the buyer feel like they're getting a deal no one else is getting, and it's a way to get negotiations started.
Steve Mitchell was trapped between two homes: the retirement lake home in Missouri he was eager to build and an expensive house in Apple Valley that he couldn't sell.
So when a family expressed interest in the $475,000 house, but indicated that it was beyond their budget, his agent suggested something radical: Make them an offer.
"What did we have to lose?" said Mitchell, who dropped the price to $450,000 for the family.
The prospective buyer countered, and after some back-and-forth negotiations the two parties had a deal at $456,000, which included Mitchell paying $11,000 in their closing costs. "We would have liked to have gotten more," he said. "But in the end it worked out as good as we could expect."
At a time when buyers have more choices -- and inertia -- than they've had in decades, "reverse offers" are becoming increasingly popular among exasperated homeowners eager to get a move on. It's also a way, some agents say, for sellers to make prospective buyers feel like they're getting in on a deal that no one else is going to get.
It's a last-ditch strategy in one of the most prolonged housing downtowns in decades. As 2010 draws to a close, the number of homes sold, based on a rolling 12-month average, has fallen for six straight months while median prices have stagnated with little sign of recovery.
Mitchell's agent, Kary Marpe, said he's presented prospective buyers with reverse offers four times and has been successful twice. "We're just trying to get them to swing our direction," he said. "Not every seller wants to do it, but it's a good way to get dialogue started."
Getting buyers and sellers to talk to one another is particularly difficult in the current market. Home sales during November fell more than 30 percent at a time when inventory levels have steadily risen, giving buyers lots of choices and little incentive to make an offer.
Tara-Nicholle Nelson, a national real estate expert with Trulia.com, says that reverse offers seem to be unique to the Twin Cities metro area, in large part because it's a market in which sellers tend to initially price homes aggressively, but quickly drop the price. In fact, more than 40 percent of all sellers -- consistently the highest in the nation -- in the Twin Cities metro area have offered at least one price reduction, according to Trulia.com.
Because houses in this market tend to be priced so much higher than the actual selling price, agents say that reverse offers are an effective way to give prospective buyers a better sense of a seller's bottom line. A sales manager for Edina Realty said that in one office he estimates that 10 percent of agents have tried reverse offers at least once.
For example, Dennis Guldseth, an agent with Coldwell Banker Burnet, had clients who had found the perfect house, but who couldn't close on it until they had sold the house they already owned. So when they heard that a couple who already looked at the house they were selling was coming back for a second showing, they decided to present them with a written purchase agreement that included a hefty price reduction in hopes of getting them to seriously consider the house.
"In this market you have to think outside the box to make things happen," Guldseth said.
Kathy Rauth, who sells for Edina's Chanhassen office, said that in her experience it's a strategy that works best if the only thing holding back a buyer is price, but that it can also create a sense of urgency when none exists. "I'm hearing about it more and more," she said.
She's made reverse offers for three clients, including a woman who was trying to sell a townhouse in Eden Prairie, which was similar to several others that were on the market. So when a prospective buyer looked at it several times, but didn't make an offer, Rauth asked the seller, Susan Turbis, to write up a purchase agreement that they could present to the buyer.
Turbis said that it was a brilliant way to divert the buyer's attention from all the other competition. "It was counterintuitive," she said. "But I was ready to make something happen, so I said, 'Let's try it.'"
Rauth said she thinks many prospective buyers are afraid to make a lowball offer that might offend the seller. "It's the 'Minnesota Nice' thing," she said. "This way I get my seller to do their own price reduction."
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