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.

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.

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. 

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. 

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. 

by G. Sax (@gsax)

I am not a REALTOR®, but I work with a lot of them. And what many of them are all gussied up about is the extension and expansion of the federal first-time home buyer tax credit. If you haven't heard, it's an $8,000 coupon for buyers moving into their first house to live in or $6,500 for those who are tired of the house they currently own and want something harder, better, faster, stronger.

It's more involved than all that, but there's a REALTOR® somewhere around here who can explain the dull details. I know these details and other topics of real estate interest because 1) I'm paid to know this stuff, and 2) I have a mortgage to pay.

Yep, I'm a first-time home buyer. Well, honorary first-time home buyer. I'm up to two years in my unique (old), spacious (many small rooms), conveniently located (centralized urban core with public schools that can't compete with suburbs in most high school sports), North End (decidedly not Summit Avenue) home.

Two years go by fast. All the fresh-faced, first-timer things I thought I would accomplish are nowhere near done. My yard still looks like a scabby, balding head. Every room in my house is still painted toupearrhea. Tree branches still dangle dangerously over a never-used phone line still connected to my home.

Alright, I suppose I've gotten a few things done. My front porch has a nicer floor (considering that it was chipboard for 18 months). I made a closet room (does it still count as a 5th bedroom?). And yesterday was a big one: I got all the ducts cleaned and my furnace serviced!

Prior to purchase, the home inspector said we had a fantastic furnace but that it desperately needed to be cleaned. All we heard was "fantastic furnace" and ran that baby hot for two years without so much as changing the filter. Probably because I didn't know there was a such thing as a furnace filter. I'd been renting for 20 years. What did I need to know about a filter?

You should have heard all the weird crap being sucked out of my vents. Cutlery? Decomposing mice? A sack of Spanish pesetas? I could feel my nasal passages clearing as the furnace guys worked their magic. They also cleaned my dryer vent and my carpets. Proud! Exciting! Progress!

They don't tell you how sad and dull you're about to become at closing. Like baby's first poop or smile or tooth or word, homebaby's first painted room or framed artwork or granite countertop is remembered forever. Homeownership ain't for the faint of heart, but it's a lifelong heart tugger once you're in.

Now go put those government coupons to good use and join me in learning the finer points of sump pumps, exterior light fixtures, chain-link fencing, weatherproofing, cabinetry, overhead light wiring, pest control, roofing and siding, drainage, foundation repair, …

P.S. – If you click that teddy bear image, there's a contest from local company, 3M, to win said teddy bear.

It is unusual for me to skip a day of posting on this blog but I have been out of town and although I had internet access the entire time I didn't have any time to write and I still don't because of the number of meetings and appointments I have today to get caught up from being gone.  It was a business trip combined with a little time off as I attended the annual National Association of Realtors convention. I spoke on a panel, went to some meetings and attended some educational type sessions.  

One hot topic of discussion was the impending wave of foreclosures that we all believe will hit the housing market in 2010, many will be caused by ARM resets and job loss.  

The "meetings" were mostly at bars and one was kind of on the beach but they still count. Today meetings will be in coffee shops and over the internet via skype which isn't quite as much fun but it gets the job done.

Even though I was in sunny San Diego and when I woke up yesterday morning it was about thirty degrees warmer than it is here I would rather be here in Minnesota.

It would be nice though if we had flowers like these blooming in November.