I was reading some real estate advice on one of those big national real estate web sites.   I thought that some of the advice was good but who ever wrote it doesn't know much about Minnesota real estate.  Real estate is heavily regulated at the state level and the rules and laws are different in each state.  Some of the differences are huge.

Minnesota real estate is regulated by the Minnesota Department of Commerce.  The Minnesota attorney generals web site had excellent consumer information for persons who want to buy, sell or rent property in Minnesota.  These guides are far better than the generic information I have seen on the big real estate web sites that sell homes and advertise refrigerators all on the same page.  

Even the terminology used during a real estate transaction is different in say California than it is in Minnesota.   

The Attorney General's office  doesn't sell anything not even refrigerators.  

Check on these guides for Minnesota real estate information:

Home Buyers Handbook

Home Sellers Handbook

Landlord and Tenant Rights

If you still have questions send me an email or call.  I can probably answer them.  

 I hang my head in shame for putting the word recovery in the title of a blog post.  As near as I can tell the housing market has been recovering since 2008.  There have been many articles about recovery and I hear it on the news almost every time new numbers are published.  The housing market is great for first time home buyers with good jobs.  Interest rates are still very low giving first time buyers great opportunities. 

The housing market isn't so great for the large group of people who owe more on their homes than they are worth.  Short sales are becoming very popular.  People who owe more on their homes that they can get for them are allowed to sell for less than what is owed on them and the banks take the loss as does the home owner.

There isn't a week that goes by that I don't see some article about housing market recovery.  There won't be any recovery because recovery implies that it will get back to what it was and that can not happen.  However the housing market could heal if all of the foreclosures and short sales were sold or if banks could do loan modifications and let people stay in their homes and keep paying.  I suspect in the long run some reductions in interest and even in principle would be better for all parties than a foreclosure.  

Just my two cents worth but . . there is no housing market recovery, that is my story and I am sticking with it and it is what it is. 

Tomorrow I 'll publish some real numbers because data is even better than opinion. 

 Small dogs that come out of nowhere and alarm systems that I can not disarm fast enough are occupational hazards. 

I have set off quite a few alarms in homes over the years.  I am not proud of it and I do the best I can to deactivate the alarm but just finding the keypad fast enough can be a challenge. If I can find the keypad I only find it fast enough about half the time.  

Even if I find the keypad as hard as I try I don't always press the right buttons fast enough. Last time I messed up because there were actually two keypads and I found the wrong one. Go figure.  It used to worry about setting off alarms now I don't let if bother me.   The noise can be painful but it is all just part of the job and I suck it up.

When I trip the alarm the noise may prevent my buyers from staying in the home long enough to really have a good look.   Setting off a home security system almost never results in anyone investigating why the alarm was tripped.  

I guess I don't understand the point of security systems.   Buyers get the message that the neighborhood is so unsafe that the home can never be left without the security system set even though the security system doesn't do anything except make a lot of noise.  

It is nice to see homes being fixed up.  There is a low interest loan program through Historic Saint Paul for people who want to fix up homes built before 1940.  There are guidelines and rules but it is worth a look.  

fixer upper

There are also some city Living home improvement loans available through the City of St. Paul.  They like to move the links so if you are reading this six months or so from when it was written follow the link and it will take you to the city web site where you will need to do another search for the loan program because the page will say that there is no page matching your entry.  They even use the word "sorry" which they could not possibly mean.   I  think the city has one full-time employee responsible for moving things around on the web sites so the links won't work anymore.  I would be good at a job like that and next time they have an opening I plan to apply. 

There are targeted loan programs available to home owners in parts of the city. The Targeted home rehab loan program.  There is also an emergency repair loan program that is 0% and does not have to be paid back for 30 years or until the home owner moves or the home is sold which ever comes first.  

These programs have geographic and income restrictions. 

In St. Paul we tend to want to save houses instead of demolishing them.  Most of the time that is a good idea but not always.  

porch

If you are buying a home you need to make your offer inspection contingent and have a complete home inspection.  If the inspector finds a major problem it can be dealt with before the purchase or the buyer can cancel the agreement with no penalty.Lenders and Realtors have to be licensed to do business in Minnesota but home inspectors do not.  They can belong to ASHI, the American Society of Home Inspectors.  When looking for an inspector consider hiring one who is a member of ASHI. 

How do you find a good inspector?  Ask for a recommendation from friends or Realtors.  I like to use the City of St. Paul list of Truth-in-Housing list of inspectors.  I know many of the inspectors, most of them do home buyer inspections and they know there way around older homes.

Sometimes buyers hire the wrong inspector.  The job takes experience and the older the house the more experience it takes.  

Usually buyers wait until they have made an offer on a house before they look for an inspector.  The inspector that is available or the only one who answered the phone on the first call may not be the best person for the job.  Do some research ahead of time and know who to call when it is time to have a inspection.

Home sellers need to understand that the home that they raised their children in and took care of will suddenly become a hazard and a death trap in the eyes of the home buyers.  Try not to take it personally. 

A couple of nights ago I added  some pictures to my Perfect family pin board on Pinterest.  It got re-pinned 229 times before I woke up the next morning and a 100 more the next day and 80 "likes" and it continues to spread which made me re-think the laundry room.

If your home is on the market and it has a laundry room, give it a fresh coat of paint and put some art work on the wall and some fresh flowers on or above

the washer and neatly fold some towels and leave them on the folding table.   The fresh flowers in particular are always a crowd pleaser. 

In case you have been on Mars or something Pinterest is a social site for collecting stuff mostly in the form of pictures, uploaded or pinned from the internet.  I wrote about it a while back.  

View of St. Paul

People looking for homes to buy or rentals complain about wanting to see more photographs and better photographs.  What could be easier than marketing property on the internet with photographs? 

Many of the photographs of homes for sale are of very poor quality. Pictures of apartments are often poor and there are few of them.   It is hard to photograph an apartment occupied by a tennant and even though the iPhone has a great built in camera most people can not get a really great interior shot with their phone.  

Interior photographs are the hardest kind to take.  Personally i like to use a wide angle lens, a tripod some on camera and off camera lighting and then use a little tone mapping or HDR when I process them. 

Photographs of the outside of the building, lobbies, mailrooms, party rooms, patios and nearby parks can also help potential tenants.  It is also a good idea to include views from the windows and even photographs taken at night if the view includes city lights and local landmarks. 

A couple of weeks ago I found several of my own photographs being used to market apartments.  They were on various web sites and some even had my water mark on them.   I went ahead and sent out some invoices. 

If you have an apartment to rent you need photographs.  You can steal them or you can hire me to take them for you. 

In recent months I have been taking photographs of apartments and apartment buildings for owners and property management companies.  I love photography and would be happy to do it for free but I have bills to pay.  

The interent is a visual kind of place.  Advertising anything on the internet without photos just doesn't make sense . .neither does stealing mine.