Future housing

I wouldn’t mind living here. This is vacant retail space in downtown St. Paul. There are no current plans to covert the spaces in the picture to housing but we need more housing and the space has been vacant for a few years. Workers have returned to downtown but there are far fewer of them and few businesses too.

The spaces in the picture could be converted into lofts, taking advantage of the sunny southern exposure.

Vacant retail and office space downtown St. Paul

The dues are high but are they more than what you already pay?

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Before deciding that the monthly association dues for a condo or townhouse are too high, find out what they cover and do some comparisons.

I don’t pay association dues, but it costs about $110 a month for homeowners insurance and another $25 for trash pick-up but that doesn’t include the part we pay through our property taxes. Water is about $53 a month. Add that up and we are already at $188 a month for items that are typically included in association dues.

We had the place reroofed a few years ago that cost several thousand dollars and is typically paid for with association dues. There are other items that are covered like snow removal and lawn care.

Some associations cover heating, cooling, cable and internet which can easily add up to another $300 a month.

People who live in condo buildings with underground heated garages pay for it through their association dues.

Some condos owners enjoy shared amenities like balconies, decks, swimming pools, party rooms, and exercise rooms with equipment. There might also be a library, a craft room and maybe a guest apartment.

Owners also pay for security access, professional management, mail rooms, laundry rooms and elevators. It all adds up.

People who do not want to pay for all of the amenities might be able to find a condo with fewer amenities and lower dues. Either way it is important to understand what the dues are paying for and to make some comparisons before deciding that association dues are too high. It is even possible that living in an association will be less costly than owning a house or renting an apartment.

Hidden association fees

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view from a River Park Loft

ICondo buyers receive disclosures and financial statements from the homeowners association before they buy a condo. It is a state law. When they go to sell the condo and request condo documents for the buyer they will have to pay hundreds of dollars for them. If they want the documents in a few days they will pay fees to expedite them.

Owners will pay fees at closing for documents from the association needed for the closing. They may also pay more to have those documents expedited.

These fees are a surprise to the owners because they don’t find out about them until they go to sell.  The fees are not negotiable and owners are forced to pay if they want to sell, so they pay and move on.

Are they junk fees? Often the documents are all electronic and accessible through the Internet. Back in the bad old days, they were printed documents. Sometimes many pages in large plastic three-ring binders. Charges for paper documents make sense.

Condo owners should have a plan for getting all of these documents so that they do not have to pay even more to expedite the process.

Buyers have ten days to review the documents before committing to buying the condo. The ten-day recession period doesn’t start until the buyer gets the documents.

How expensive are your condo documents? How easy is your association or management company to work with when it is time to sell?

Minnesota home sales for November 2022

This just in from Minnesota Realtors:

Housing Market Cools as Closed Sales Decline

The cooling trend in Minnesota’s housing market continued in November as closed sales fell 35.3% statewide compared to a year ago. New listings were down 17% below last year with 4,735 properties coming on the market. The median sales price was up nearly 2% to $310,000. As seen in recent months, sellers were receiving a little under their asking price, down 2.5% over November 2021.”
November of 2019 there were 6819 home sales in Minnesota and 7898 in November 2020 and 7,761 in 2021.  Home prices contineu to rise as demands remains greater than supply.
The average days on market for the state is around 40 but still less than 30 days in St. Paul.
Home sales November 2022
Home sales in Minnesota November 2022

Inaccurate information might be slowing your condo sale

While looking for a condo for one of our clients I encountered several with pet restrictions. Pet restrictions are common and variable. Some condos prohibit pets and some allow cats but not dogs and some will allow cats and dogs with height, weight, and or breed restrictions.  There are number limits too.

In one building the only pets that are allowed are fish. I also know of some townhouses that allow any kind of animal except for birds.

When there are height and weight limits for dogs I generally call the association or the listing agent or both and do my best to determine what those limits are.  More often than not those limits do not even exist, yet they remain in the MLS as restrictions.

That means some interested buyers with pets won’t even consider the unit which makes the pool of buyers smaller and ultimately means the unit will take longer to sell and sell for less money.

People who are selling units that are part of an association should find out exactly what the rules are and make sure that the information for Realtors and buyers is accurate and up-to-date.

Recently I have seen more associations that have “breed” restrictions for dogs. So far no one has been able to tell me which breeds are not allowed which could be problematic if it is on a case-by-case basis.

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Downtown St. Paul in 2022

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Rice Park and Landmark Center

Downtown St. Paul was very quiet during most of the pandemic. It is a bit more lively partly because of hockey and baseball. Some downtown workers have come back too.  Right now 20% of all homes on the market in St. Paul are downtown condos. In most of the city, there is less than a two-month supply of homes for sale but in downtown St. Paul there is a four-month supply.

It is a seller’s market but less so than in many other parts of the metro area.  The prices of condos that are currently for sale start at 80K and go up to one million with a median list price of $218,000, which is about 70K less than what it is for the rest of the city.  There are definitely opportunities for homeownership in downtown St. Paul.