St. Paul Real Estate

Be Thankful

We all have something to be thankful for, even though for many it has been a tough year.  If you are reading this then you can be thankful that you are not blind and that you can read.

No time to write, need to cook.  We do this thing on thanksgiving where we all sit down and eat, pretty much the same every year no surprises.  We have turkey, and stuffing and pumpkin pie. There is more and wine and left overs too. It is a great day to turn off the computer and disconnect.

Have a great day, don't eat too much, we do that every day.

Sleepy Saint Paul? Hardly.

by G. Sax (@gsax)

Last weekend I did a bouncing thing at The Roy before the RollerGirls. I loved writing that sentence. Let's break it down.

Bouncing: If you don't know your 100-year history of the city, "bouncing" is a weirdo activity some of us do in Saint Paul at parades and other special events. It involves 14 guys holding onto the handles of a circular canvas blanket and pulling it taut while a smallish girl is sitting in the middle of it. Depending on the bounce, girls go 15, 20, 25, and even 30 feet straight into the air. People seem to like it.

You can learn more about bouncing at stpaulbouncingteam.org. We hold our tryouts each year in January as part of the annual Winter Carnival festivities. We'll be at the Landmark Center in a couple of months. We're looking for a few new good men and women to carry on this random but rich tradition. I'm the 2010 President of the team, so I have a special interest in attracting more people to the fold.

The Roy: Short for Roy Wilkins Auditorium, the venerable venue known for hosting various professional teams and concerts over the past 80 years. In fact, it's name is now officially prefaced with the word "Legendary." I may not have been there for Minneapolis Lakers and University of Minnesota hockey games, but I've seen The Replacements and Cypress Hill there, and that's legendary enough in my book of tricks.

The Roy is located downtown, wedged between The Ordway and The X, which are really called The Ordway Center of Performing Arts and The Xcel Energy Center (where the Minnesota Wild NHL team plays), but we like to shorten things in Minnesota when we can, especially in winter when words are often swept away in freezing winds and muffled in scarfery.

Coolest of all, The Roy is named for the man Roy Wilkins, a titan of American history, a civil rights activist of great merit, and long-time Executive Director of the NAACP.

The RollerGirls: The Minnesota RollerGirls are part of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association, a women-only, skater-owned series of leagues. Since 2004, participation and fandom has grown exponentially. Whenever I'm at a bout, I marvel at the popularity and energy of this sport being played in my humble city by the 'sippi. All participants are unpaid amateurs and league proceeds are donated to charity. Plus Pabst Blue Ribbon is a major sponsor. You can't beat that. Why would you even try?

Saint Paul has been the little sister to Minneapolis for as long as I can remember, but with cool things like bouncing, RollerGirls, and The Roy, we got game. And if I'm to believe all the "best of" lists that come out in various magazines and on various websites, we're gaining hard on our big brother, like a RollerGirls jammer. It's a subculture subterfuge!

The Library on George Street

This is the Riverview Library over on George street  it was built in 1917 and there is another that looks just like it in the St. Anthony Park neighborhood.  Libraries can not replace the kindle, but I don't think the Kindle will replace the library either because anyone can use a library and borrow a book for free but the same can not be said about the kindle.  Some of the best things in life are free, and photogenic.

George street was named after George W.H. Bell who was one of the first to settle on the west side of St. Paul  back in 1851, and George street was one of the first streets in the area.  There might be more information about him at the library. There is some on Google but the information I found is in a book.

The Gilbert Building

The Gilbert building is named after Cass Gilbert. He designed it in 1893, it is a five story building and was built for the Boston and Northwest realty Company. It is located at 413 Wacouta street and is on the national register of historic places.

Even more important than that Saint Paul Home Realty just moved into suite 250. I am excited about the downtown lowertown location because . . well it is lowertown! I will share photos of the inside as soon as I can get some.

I mostly work at home, and in my car and in coffee shops but in the winter it is nice to have an office to go to and the building has skyway access and there may even be parking. :)

The Hall Decking Has Begun

 

I was downtown a couple of hours ago taking some photos when I ran into some tourists in Rice Park.  They said they live in a place called St. Louis Park.  I have heard of it, next to Minneapolis I think.  I explained the holiday decorations to them and that they need to stop by after dark when all the trees in Rice park are lit up and to stop by Mears park to see the reindeer and to drive along Kellogg Boulevard to see the beautiful holiday decorations there too.  I told them all about the library, the one in the bottom photo behind the nutcracker and I explained the Ordway and the landmark center too because both have holiday events. 

Downtown is a fun place to go during the holidays and we welcome tourists from exotic places like St. Louis park, MN.

If you were expecting to see snow in this photo there is none now and it is still warm and the grass is green but there will be snow soon enough . . too soon.

More Valves

It all started when I was out with my nephews wife showing her how to use her new Canon DLSR camera.  I saw this red valve downtown and took a photo of it.  I found some nice valves and pipes in Minneapolis too. That was last winter and now I have a collection of valves, fire hydrants . . which are also valves and a few faucets from around the country.  I have no use for these photos other than to put them on this blog now and then.  I have apparently inspired others to take photos like these. They send them to me from all over the country. 

 

Mayor of the grocery store

It is Friday and Fridays are for fun.  This photo was taken last Saturday in San Diego where I attended the National Association of Realtors conference and spoke on a panel.

As you can see from the photo it wasn't really a vacation.  I have never been to San Diego before. It was nice to see my friends and be in such a lovely place. I spent a day and most of a night taking pictures.I may have gone some other places and done some other things too but no one wants to read about that.

Then I came back home, where I work a zillion hours a week and for excitement I go to the grocery store. I have been using foursquare, it is like a game where players check in by text message or via smart phone when they go out and have fun.

The person who has the most check-ins in a single location becomes the mayor of that venue. Yup you guessed it, I am the mayor of the local super market, Cooper's Supervalue on W7th street.  I am also the mayor of coopers supervalue, also on W7th street. Funny after all these years I never noticed that there are two grocery stores at the same address with similar names. I need to slow down and pay more attention, maybe I have been working too hard.Erik Hare thinks I should take advantage of my mayor ship and in Erik speak "affect meaningful change". 

My apologies if I was slow to answer your phone calls last weekend. I think I got sand in my blackberry.  I will be around this weekend. Working and getting ready for that all important thanksgiving dinner.   It is nice to have the photos so I can remind myself that there is more to life than being the mayor of the local grocery stores. 

 

Vacant houses and Mail Fraud

A couple of years ago I got a call from a postal inspector regarding a vacant property I had listed.  He was not interested in buying the home but called the number on the sign as a way to get in touch with the sellers.

It seems that people leave their homes vacant and forget to have their mail forwarded or stopped.  In this case someone had used a stolen credit card, to order merchandise which he had sent to the home.  He also had mail and bills sent to the same address.  He would wait until it got dark and go grab his stuff.

The mail box was a country style box sitting out on the road.  The seller later installed a lock on the box and had mail delivery to the home stopped, he picked it up from the post office on his way home from work.  Mail can also be forwarded.  At any rate if a home is vacant the mail needs to be stopped.  This can be handled on-line at the USPS web site,  or in person at the post office.

Your neighbors should be asked to keep an eye on the house and should be told that mail and packages will not be delivered to the home.  You local police department should also be notified that the property is vacant.   If the home is for sale make sure that none of the marketing materials mention that the home is vacant.