Owner: St. Paul Real Estate Blog URL:http://www.stpaulrealestateblog.com Join Date: Fri, 01 Jun 2007 19:16:36 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: All about St. Paul Minnesota and real estate. With a home search, monthly market condition reports, advice for buyers and sellers and 100's of photos. Site statistics:Click here
For Realtors Who want to Connect 2007-06-11 13:00:39 Only 4 days left before prices go up! Sign up this week and your Bloggers Connect
admission is only $99 ($129 after June 15th). If you’re interested in real estate blogging, Bloggers Connect in San Francisco will help you learn from some of the best and brightest in the biz. This is also your chance to put faces to many of the names you’ve been exposed to from the Carnival of Real Estate; Dustin Luther, Ardell DellaLoggia, Drew Meyers, Brian Brady and Teresa Boardman are just some of the bloggers who will be there. This is a great chance to meet face to face and network with some of the top real estate bloggers out there today. Also, stay tuned to the Connect SF 2007 Blog for the announcement of Bloggers Connect keynote speaker next week - a controversial figure who will surely have lots to say about real estate blogging. By Joel Burslem, Future of Real Estate Marketing
OK you can tell I didn't write this but I will be at this event, and at the Inman Connect conference that foll Read more:Realtors
It is the little things 2007-06-11 05:31:40
Picture taken in front of Tom Reid's Hockey Bar on
West 7th. Flowers hang from the light poles downtown and along the
walking paths near the river, and in public places around St. Paul. Tom Reid's is not just for hockey fans. Local real estate blog writers have been known to meet at Reid's and drink martini's. Never more than one each of course. We are easy to spot, or I should say hear.
Read more:little
, things
Gangsters of the Saintly City 2007-06-17 08:07:51 By Erik Hare
Every city in America had a serious problem with gangsters
during Prohibition. Saint Paul's
problem was somewhat unique, showing that even in our darkest times we do
things our own way. The story of is
fascinating, and one of our city's favorite tales of sleaze.
It all starts with what is usually known as "The O'Connor
System", after Police Chief John J. O'Connor. The local police would not bother criminals who came to Saint Paul as
long as they checked in with the police, promised to behave, and made a small
contribution to the Police Benevolent Association. It seems like a cozy bit of corruption.
The truth of the matter is that this system pre-dated
O'Connor, and was how the city's brothels stayed in business for many
years. This system was also far from
unusual in the Midwest as well. But up
until O'Connor's death in 1924 it secured the one thing that was important - a sense of order in the streets. The hoodl Read more:Gangsters
The Little Church 2007-06-16 20:03:20 Church
es don't have to be big to be beautiful. The St. Paul Fellowship Church. Located in the Frogtown Neighborhood, at 868 Sherburn Avenue. I can't find a history on this one but it does look Victorian and I would guess that it was build in the early 1900's. Like so many churches it has changed owners and religions over the years.
Ruins 2007-06-16 00:59:09 Ruins
in the back yard of a Summit Avenue home.
Denial 2007-06-15 06:03:05 Friday is here at last so it is time to have some fun. Before I have too much fun I would like to wish all the fathers out there a happy fathers day.
This post is about my daughter not about my father. Sarah is a brainy 20 something Ph.D candidate with a smart mouth. I get how she got to be a 20 something but I don't understand the mouth.
She teases me and is just plain bad. I would never tease her because she is smarter than I am. Yesterday she told me that I am in denial, funny I thought I was in St. Paul. We are talking about two different rivers.
We live on a a river bluff. The only direction I can walk from my home with out walking up or down a river bluff is West. West just isn't any fun, the dog doesn't like it either. So I either go down to the River or climb the stairs and walk along Summit avenue. Yesterday I may have over done it a bit and I can feel it in my back and in Read more:Denial
Busted 2007-06-20 14:33:30
This photo was just sent to me by an Irvine Park resident. Be careful what you do while you are in the park, there is a man with a camera, who has a daughter with a blog. Thanks dad.
St. Paul's mounted police
Read more:Busted
Horsin’ Around Denver, Colorado 2007-06-20 06:24:55 Horsin’ Around DenverColorado
- By Vali Wimberly
Denver attracts a
good deal of tourists every year and the most visited spot in Denver is the
16th Street Pedestrian Mall. This is the heartbeat of the city with
retail stores, restaurants and residential lofts from the stories above. This
is the main thoroughfare of Denver's foot traffic and always a great place
to grab a nice bite, shop or just some good ol’ people watching.
Filled with benches, overflowing
flower pots, chess tables and spots of trees the 16th Street Mall
invites you to sit back and take a load off for a few. No really they actually
promote hanging out, The Downtown Denver Partnership has free WiFi along the
pedestrian mall to encourage visitors to stay a little longer. So while you are
walking the mile-long stretch take advantage of the amenities provided.
Complimentary bus transportation along the walkway is provided by the Free Ma
Buy your next home on the internet 2007-06-19 06:30:08
Some of my clients buy homes on the internet. Well sort of. People planning to move to St. Paul find me. They say something exactly like "Some how I stumbled across your web site", when they call or write. I laugh every time I hear it. Next time someone says it I am going to try to find out what it means.
Typically we start by talking about the type of housing they want and which neighborhood they would like to live in. They often need a lender too so I give them some names and numbers of local lends. Then I start sending information and answering questions by email.
At some point the out of town buyers come to town and we go look at the homes they have seen on the internet. Last Winter there were a few weekends when I showed 30 or more homes to people from other states. (I know the rest of the agents out there show 50 on a weekend, I am a wimp) Sometimes I spend part of a day driving them throug
City Sidewalks 2007-06-18 12:10:12
Patrick McGovern's Pub 225 7th St W, St Paul, MN
Eagle Street Grille 174 West 7th Street, St. Paul, MN 55102
Read more:Sidewalks
Dinosaurs Roam St. Paul 2007-06-18 02:55:26
They've been prepped, primped, and polished by local artists, and now
the dinosaurs have hit the town! 2007 is the Science Museum's 100th
anniversary, and in honor of that milestone, dinosaur statues are
popping up all over the Twin Cities as part of the Diggin' Dinos summer
celebration Read more
Photos were taken along Kellogg Blvd between the River Center and Wabasha Bridge. If you are visiting St. Paul this summer be sure to stop at the Science Museum of Minnesota.
Read more:Dinosaurs
The Saintly Capitol 2007-06-24 07:21:10 By Erik Hare
The history of shenanigans in Saint Paul includes more than
just the usual sleaze. As the capitol
of the state, the legislature is another way that we can make our own fun. And they certainly do their part.
There are many strange stories that come from Capitol
Hill,
but some of the most interesting include the Capitol itself. Twice it has nearly been taken away from us,
but each time events conspired to save it.
The first time was in 1857, before Minnesota was even a
state. The Territorial Legislature
governed an area that included Minnesota and the eastern part of the
Dakotas. It was a wild place that was
developing rapidly, and nearly everything was up for grabs.
The town of Saint Peter was being laid out along the
Minnesota River in the fertile land that would later give us the Jolly Green
Giant. The streets of this frontier
town were wide and grand because they had a bold idea – they would become the
capitol. All they needed was for the
legislatur
Saturdays Church 2007-06-23 18:47:21
Central Baptist church , 420 N. Roy Street, St. Paul, MN. The building in the picture is the original church, which is currently being used as a gym. A large addition was added on and is being used as a church.
Read more:Saturdays
, Church
Happy Birthday 2007-06-23 07:06:28
This is a virtual greeting, for a fellow blogger who lives in the desert. HappyBirthday
, enjoy the lake, I wish you could spend the day sitting on the shore watching the boats go by. This is a picture of Lake Superior taken from the shore near Two Harbors Minnesota. Lake Superior is about 140 miles North of the Twin Cities. I have never been able to take a picture that will do it justice. The lake is crystal clear, with an average depth of 489 feet and a maximum depth of 1333 feet. It holds 553 billion gallons of water.
Read more:Happy Birthday
The practice Freeway 2007-06-23 02:27:14 This was taken on a Saturday morning which explains the lack of cars. Transportation is an interesting issue. When it comes to freeways everyone wants an easy commute to work but almost no one wants to live near a freeway. They removed historic homes in our neighborhood to put in this section of 35E. The neighborhood fought the freeway for 15 years.
As a result it is called a parkway, trucks are not allowed on it and the speed limit is 45. It isn't really a parkway it is a freeway with a lower speed limit. It has a design speed of 70, which makes it almost impossible to go 45. In about 10 more years no one will remember for sure why the speed limit on this stretch of freeway is 45. Did the neighborhood win the fight? The houses are gone and the speed limit on the freeway is 45.
Read more:Freeway
Heights 2007-06-22 06:37:48
Friday's are for fun and this is the first Friday of summer. The people in the picture are making repairs to the roof of our beautiful St. Paul public library. It doesn't look like fun to me. Real estate isn't always fun either and is certainly not for wimps or whiners. We work 23 hours a day 8 days a week but get to have fun on Fridays. It takes courage and stamina to have fun.
I don't like heights much. I won't say I am afraid of heights, it is the idea of falling that bothers me. The concept of gravity is easy to understand. I admire people who can climb tall ladders. When I try it the ladder shakes. I have been known to drive down the middle of the road when driving over bridges. I don't do it on purpose, my car kind of drifts away from the edge, it seems to have a self preservation instinct of it's own.
Have a great weekend, have fun, stay away from the edge and buy real estate Read more:Heights
What is Mary doing? 2007-06-21 06:18:07
I did not want to use her real name so we will just call her Mary. She lives up in Northern Minnesota on a farm with her husband. Her children are grown and live in the Twin Cities. They want to move down here and off the farm. It isn't easy moving from the country to the suburbs. Moving anywhere isn't really all that easy.
Mary has looked at 30 homes with her son. They drive by homes that are for sale, grab a brochure and if the home looks right they call the number on the sign and make an appointment to see it. That is how I met her this Past weekend. I squeezed her in between appointments because she wanted to see my listing in Eagan.
Mary doesn't need a Realtor, she told me so. She doesn't really know who to trust and her husband insists that he does not want to work with an agent. When they find the right home they will make the offer themselves and have a friend up North who will help them. The friend is n Read more:doing
Absorption rates 2007-06-27 05:41:08 How long does it take to sell a home in the twin cities? It does vary by neighborhood and price range.
Here are some local absorption rates. The numbers will not tell you how long it would take to sell your house but they show how long it would take for all the homes on the market in your area to sell, based on how many homes got offers last month. It is a snap shot of the number of homes on the market in a given month, and a snap shot of how many are sold in a given month.
According to the Minneapolis Association of Realtors the over all absorption rate for the 13 county metro area is 7.79 months. This is lower than the 10 month absorption rate that was published last December but higher than we have seen around here for most of the past five years. Here are the absorption rates for some of our local markets:
West St. Paul - 5 monthsEagan - 6.9 months, heck let's just call it 7 months.South St. Paul - 7.30 MonthsMendota Heights - 7.6 MonthsSaint
Happy Birthday 2007-06-26 21:51:29 HappyBirthday
to Larry Cragun, a blogger who likes to Undress things, or stuff, or maybe ideas, or something like that.
Everyone is special, or unique but some are more unique than others, maybe especially unique. It is times like these that I wish I could write. Larry, if that is his real name, is all of those things and more, and he can write. ( Another carnival win too!)
Please enjoy a piece of this virtual cake. I am sorry that it doesn't have more candles on it. Here in St. Paul we need a special burning permit for large fires. Mine was declined when I told them how many candles I planned on using. I thought they would issue it when I showed them the fire truck on the last post.
The friendly folks at six apart, where my blog is hosted, didn't like the idea of candles, and made me limit them. They were concerned that I would start a fire and burn my own blog down and those of my neighbors, like the number Read more:Happy Birthday
The fire department 2007-06-26 08:00:20 We live close to a fire station #1. Did you know that proximity to a fire station will lower your home owners insurance rates but that being a pyromaniac will not?
When you purchase a home your insurance company may ask where the nearest fire department is. I am not sure why they would take a home buyers word for it or why they would not look it up themselves as a service to their clients but sometimes they don't and the buyers ask me.
Here is a link to the locations of all St. Paul, MN fire stations. Enjoy
Realtor Teams 2007-06-26 00:51:16
Real estate teams have become very popular. They make sense too. Our jobs can easily be broken down into tasks and assigned to others. I tend to out source work the I don't have time to do or in some cases don't like to do.
Recently I had a client who was interested in a home I had shown her and it is listed by a team. We both had some questions about the property. I called the team.
The young man who answered the phone indicated that he did not know anything about the listing but promised to pass my message along to someone in the know. That never happened so I called the team again. My call was promptly returned by a woman who explained to me what her job is and why she was not the person to talk to about the property in question. I asked her if she could give me the name and phone number of the agent who could help.
I called someone named "Jason" and left a message. I called the next day too. Jason Read more:Realtor
City Streets 2007-06-25 19:29:30
Selby Avenue near Western. Selby Avenue was named after Jeremiah Selby who moved to St. Paul in 1849 for health reasons. Back in the 1800's people believed that living here was better for persons with health problems. The street was once part of his farm, and his home was located where the cathedral is today. He made his living by selling vegetables.
There is an excellent book, written by Don Empson, called "The Street Where You Live". He researched every street in St. Paul. So many streets, so much history. Don lived two streets from where I live many years ago. He has a passion for history, and now lives in Stillwater Minnesota.
Transparency in Blog writing 2007-06-25 10:27:05
The St. Paul real Estate blog is a companion site for my real estate web site. My main site has an excellent home search on it so it isn't a total waste of money, but a static template web site can only do so much.
Regular readers may notice that I post seven days a week. This is a business blog. I will not insult the intelligence of my readers by suggesting that they didn't already know this. The blogs of my competitors exist because they are giving, caring kind people who have a passion for writing
real estate blogs, they don't blog for business, they blog for fun. The target audience for my blog are people interested in buying or selling real estate in St. Paul, MN. It is alright to read my blog or look at the pictures, without feeling obligated to hire me, or even if you have no interest in real estate. I can not provide real estate services for all of my readers, there are too many, and not all of my read Read more:Transparency
Johnny Catalpaseed 2007-07-01 05:47:13
By Erik Hare
I am hunting for a Catalpa tree. This should be easy, since they don’t exactly move – and there is
one in my font yard. But this hunt
isn’t just across Saint Paul, but across time.
The Northern Catalpa, Catalpa speciosa, is a scraggly tree
that grows crooked and uneven. It looks
as if it has been somewhere and is a bit wiser for the trip. The broad leaves hang down as though they
are tired, but have an iridescent shine when the sun hits them. It drops branches thoughtlessly and has bean
seed-pods that hang down from it, making it a dirty old tree to have around. It
is considered undesirable for many reasons.
This was all noticed by the Catawba Indians of Upstate New
York, where the Catalpa is native. To
them, it has the wizened look of an old spirit and is regarded as sacred. When the fragrant orchid-like blossoms fall,
it marks the Summer Solstice and a new season of life.
Many of the early pioneers of Minnesota came from Upstate
New York. Some s Read more:Johnny
Saturdays Church 2007-06-30 15:14:11 The Virginia Street Swedenborgian Church
, located on the corner of Selby Avneune and Virginia Street. Also knows around here as the Virginia Street Church. Built in 1886, the church was designed by Cass Gilbert, the famous architect of the Minnesota State Capitol building, other local churches, and the Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C. The church building is included in the Minnesota Historical Society's Inventory of Historical Properties.
Read more:Saturdays
The Jonathan padleford 2007-06-30 10:47:11
I have taken many rides on the Mississippi River on the Padleford boats. Kind of a tourist thing to do. Often we are not even aware of tourist attractions in our own town. They are fun and the kids love it, everyone does. Take a long cruise or a short one, a dinner cruise or a moonlight cruise. The Minnesota centennial showboat is fun too. Details from the Padleford Packet boat company
Pictures taken from Harriet Island regional Park.
Read more:Jonathan
Upper Town Prepares for the 4th 2007-06-30 05:23:16
A sure sign that July 4th is near. These barricades were dropped off, on our lawns, and they will be put into service tonight. There are fireworks every night on Harriet Island. We have a great view from up on the bluff. Cars park up and down the street, which is fine but when they run out of room they park down the middle, making it impossible for emergency personnel to get through if needed. There are still many great spots to watch the fireworks from.
The 25th Annual Taste of Minnesota includes six
days of entertainment, Market Place with more than 100 vendors, and a
KidZone for family entertainment. For more information, please visit www.tasteofmn.org.
For those visiting from other parts of the state, like Minneapolis, Harriet Island is easy to find. Once you get within a mile or two just look up and see all the news helicopters hovering above downtown reporting on this important new breaking event.
Read more:Upper
Real Estate Web sites 2007-06-29 01:38:10 It is Friday again and Fridays are for fun. I have already had plenty of fun this week, but am always willing to have more. I wrote this post a couple of months and published it on my other blog. I was looking at it and decided that it would make a perfect Friday post because it is either making fun of real estate company web sites or the obituaries, I can't remember which. Like I said I wrote it a couple of months ago.
Real estate company web sites and the obituaries
When
I read the Sunday paper I always take a peak at the obituaries. Mostly
to see if I am listed. This past Sunday I got to thinking about how
similar the obituary section of the paper is to real estate company web
sites.
Real estate company web sites usually include a page with pictures
of agents a brief bio, and maybe some details about the services they
provide. There is a banner across the top, with the name of the real
estate company on it. Read more:Estate
, Real Estate
Photo Envy 2007-06-28 20:02:13
I am speechless. Most of you have never talked with me so you don't understand how profound that statement is. I have just received a tremendous compliment from a mighty fine blogger, and photographer in Tuscon, who wears a red shirt, and sells real estate. The photo is from a series I posted earlier this month, St. Paul Treasure.
Read photo envy not a pretty thing by David Smith on his most excellent Real Estate Blog Lab.
Thanks Dave!
Read more:Photo
The Republicans are coming, and my neighbors are leaving 2007-06-28 18:24:37 Not really leaving, kind of but not forever. I thought it would make a nice headline considering good old Minnesota, the very BLUE state of Minnesota is holding the 2008 Republican national convention. The news media likes to say it is being held in Minneapolis or Minneapolis/St. Paul, but it is being held at the Xcel Energy Center in the Heart of St. Paul. For the record there is no such city as Minneapolis/St. Paul, the term was created by the news media. Part of the reason I have this blog is so I can educate the general public and help put St. Paul on the map.
Last March I wrote about a post, The Republicans
Are Coming and have been getting email and phone calls for months because of it. I know what you are thinking, and no I did not write anything bad this time.
It seems that some of my neighbors are renting their homes out during the event. I get why, we do live close to the Xcel center, and some want to avoid the hassle and make
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