Color Me Amused...or something

[gerisullivan]

Toad Hall, my old house in Minneapolis, went on the market in early July. It's now late October, and 3444 Blaisdell Ave is still waiting for a buyer. The asking price is now less than what I got for it 4 years ago. Even more remarkably, they're now asking $44,000 less than the assessed value the city gives the house.

Thanks to comments galacticvoyeur posted, I've now read the Truth In Housing statement from the inspection done in early May (in preparation for putting the house on the market). It sounds like the concrete laundry sink has some drainage problems, and I think the inspections department has cracked down a bit more on a few other things, too.

Mostly, I'm feeling like I really did sell at the right time -- not just in terms of my personal desires to move then, but the right time financially, too. Even with the new owner's decorating work (some of which looked great), the house just isn't updated enough to pull the kind of prices other houses in the neighborhood do. Instead, it's taken a few more steps back.

There's also the fact that they don't have Realtor Bob on their side, either.

Comments

[jamesb.livejournal.com]

what an amazing looking house, and so big and cheap!
wow, ye yanks have it good.

YOu did well to sell.

do you have any pics of the current toadery

J

[maruad.livejournal.com]

Toadhall often seemed like the Last Homely House to weary travellers from the north. I will always think of it with great fondness.

On the issue of prices, could it be part of a general trend to lower real estate prices in the USA? Our prices up here started the big escalation a few years after yours, it seemed to me. Ours are still going up. We are a long way from catching Minneapolis/St Paul prices though the skyrocketing loonie (>$1.00 US) is part of the reason.

I suspect the Bhigg House would sell for considerably less even though it is considered a fairly spiffy neighbourhood. My current address would fare even worse.

[sethb.livejournal.com]

Housing prices in Mpls are dropping. It doesn't bother me too much; sure, my place is worth about 25% less than I paid for it, but the only actual effect on me is lower real estate taxes. (It will be different when I sell, but my experience (based on one other place and now this) is that prices drop precipitously when I buy, and rise to well above what I paid shortly before I sell.)

[maruad.livejournal.com]

I figure our current place to be worth about twice what we paid for it 12 years ago between rising real estate and the rising loonie. About 50% of this increase is due to the loonie. This is a fairly modest increase by some standards but quite good as far as I am concerned.

It is an early 60s 3 bdrm bungalow in a good neighbourhood. Boring but functional.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

And I don't even pay real estate taxes. These are selling for the city's assessment now, but most of the condo owners trying to sell are still aiming at what they were at the high point. We have to keep telling them that we're being nice letting them put a sign on their balcony or landing (instead of the required one in a window) and they can't put up three or four signs or the stick-in-the-ground arrow kind, either.

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

I was thinking the same thing regarding the general bust in the real estate market in the US because of the subprime lending catastrophe. But it varies regionally, so who knows.

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

The real estate market in the Twin Cities has gone very squishy since the subprime lending scandal. Sad to say, there was a lot of that nastiness going on in Minnesota, especially North Minneapolis. There are neighborhoods on the north side where 25% of the non-rental properties are now in default.

This makes lenders very skittish about granting new mortgages, especially for housing in the price range where the people making the purchase are not millionaires. And, of course, there are some amazing bargains on the market now, if you're not too particular about the neighborhood, which generally depresses prices. I saw some numbers in the paper yesterday or today. I think that home purchases were down about 14% in all price ranges except the tippy top, where they were actually UP slightly.

So yes, you were lucky to make your sale when you did.