As a lifelong gardener, I have observed changes in the climate. Plants that used to die off over the winter sometimes survive and grow again in the spring. St. Paul, Minnesota used to be in growing zone 4. The USDA just updated hardiness zones for the first time since 2012 and St. Paul is in Zone 5.
A warming climate is going to kill off some of the native plants including trees. There isn’t time for plants to evolve. They will die and with them insects, birds, fish, and mammals.
At the same time, various fungi and plant diseases that used to die out over the winter will survive as will invasive species of plants. None of this is good and sadly at this point, it will only get worse.
I wrote this for Thanksgiving 2020. I am posting it today because one of the many things I am thankful for is that it isn’t 2020.
Happy Thanksgiving! This Thanksgiving will be very different for many of us who are used to hosting family and friends.
Since it is just two of us this year there may be enough pie for three meals. There is plenty of wine too and I may need to drink a little extra so that I am not tempted to whine. I buy wine throughout the year and store it in my wine cellar (basement) for the holidays.
There is always something to be thankful for. Please stay safe and remember that your actions today will have an impact on those around you and on the community.
During Thanksgiving week we don’t see as many new listings. That makes sense. If your house is already on the market and you would like some peace and quiet this week, ask your agent about making your home “temporarily not available). That is a kind of time-out for a few days or even a couple of weeks. No one will ask to see your home and “days on market” will stop accumulating.
I voted last week. I voted no for the 1% sales tax. The money is going to be used for roads and parks. Sales tax is regressive. Sales taxes are highly regressive, with poor families in the U.S. paying nearly eight times more of their income in sales taxes than the wealthiest families due to spending more of their smaller paychecks on buying goods and having less left over to save and invest.
Our tax code favors income from wealth over income from working. A 1% sales tax means that a greater percentage of a person’s income will go to pay taxes. The lower the income the greater the impact.
In recent years St. Paul has lost most big box stores. Target and Menards are all that remain. Higher sales tax isn’t going to attract businesses to the area. As for retail maybe it only works in the suburbs.
Supposedly the tax will spread some of the expense of roadwork and park maintenance to people who live outside of St.Paul but who use the roads and parks. The services are currently funded by property taxes. and trust me we pay plenty of those.
I remain skeptical. I know that people from all over come to St. Paul for sports and beer and possibly for jobs with government agencies.
The tax system could be used to help reduce poverty and inequality instead of being used to make it worse and a 1% sales tax would mean that St. Paul has the highest sales tax in the state.
Yes, the roads are horrible and need repair. We need to figure out where to find the money for that without raising the taxes of those who can least afford it.l
Happy Halloween. If you are a Minnesotan of a certain age you will remember the Halloween blizzard of 1991. I was handing out candy that night and kept sweeping the snow off the front steps. It snowed all night and as I recall it snowed all day the next day too.
That storm dropped a little over 28 inches of snow and still holds the record for the largest snowfall from a single storm. That was the scariest Halloween in my lifetime. . . so far.
Yes, it is true real estate commissions are negotiable.
Agents are independent contractors who set their own rates. Some agents will not negotiate. Even though commissions are negotiable agents do not have to negotiate.
There are many real estate agents to choose from. In fact, there are more agents than there are houses to sell. If one agent charges too much and won’t come down in price find an agent who will.
Real estate agents are salespeople taught how to sell themselves and negotiate fees and commissions. Real estate agents do not get paid until after a sale closes and most work on a 100% commission basis. There are no paid vacations and there is no group health insurance.
Real estate commissions and fees are spelled out in the contracts home buyers and sellers sign. It is a good idea to read the contract before signing it.
It is true that real estate agents can make a lot of money but most do not.
