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I haven’t been posting, but I want to speak out against the ICE invasion in Minnesota. We don’t know how long the masked and heavily armed federal agents will be here terrorizing our community.  The Department of Homeland Security states that it is arresting the worst of the worst in an effort to keep us safe. At the same time, crime rates here in St. Paul have been trending down for years.

We don’t know who they are arresting. They don’t have to prove that they have arrested and deported “the worst of the worst”. We see the damage done by tear gas inside a car. US citizens have been shot. Some have been detained and questioned because they have accents or brown skin. Renee Good was murdered while trying to get away from ICE.

The Murder of Renee Good looks like a hate crime. She wasn’t afraid of the ICE agent. She even smiled at him, which sent him into such a rage that he shot her 4 times. After he shot her dead, he called her a “fing Bxxx”.

It was safe here until ICE arrived.

I stand with my immigrant neighbors. I especially stand with the Somali women and children. Many are afraid to go to work or school, or even to the grocery store. Most are law-abiding US citizens.

There are many business owners, large and small,l who will not comment on anything “political” for fear they will lose business. I am not one of those business owners. Some people are “staying out of it”.  Much like the Germans, who saw the smoke and ash but had no idea what was going on. They helped make the murder of millions of Jews possible.  The silence from the leaders of large businesses in the area is deafening.

Businesses are closing. Our economy is suffering. We don’t know how long the occupation of Minnesota by the Federal government will last. It could be hours or years.

ICE should get the F##k out of Minnesota!

Season’s Greetings, Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas. Pick one.

The month of August was pretty unspectacular. The number of homes for sale is up slightly, as are home prices. homes sit on the market longer than they did in July, but the average is around 30 days. We all remember when it took six months or more to sell a house.

Sale prices, on average, were higher than asking prices in August, indicating that prices are still rising and demand remains high, despite higher interest rates.

The trend of fewer homeowners wanting to sell continues and will likely ease up when interest rates go down. People who bought houses when interest rates were below 4% do not want to pay today’s much higher rates.

Downtown St. Paul condos continue to become more affordable as demand is lower and supply is higher than in the rest of the city.

Looking ahead to the fall and winter, we can expect the market to be similar to what it was last year or maybe a bit slower due to uncertainty about tariffs and general economic uncertainty.

I lost count of how many bikes we have had stolen over the years. Over the weekend, I saw a video of someone stealing a bike right out of a garage. The owner got video, but the chances of getting that bike back are very slim.

Some neighbors had bikes locked on a fenced-in patio. Those bikes are history.

The best practice for keeping your bike safe it to keep it in a locked shed or garage or in your house and lock the bike to something with a heavy-duty bike lock.

Someone may break into the shed or garage, or into your house. They can still get the bike if given enough time, but they probably won’t risk taking the time trying to break a high-quality lock. Those things can not be broken into quickly and quietly as required by thieves.

If you live in St. Paul and own a bike, it will eventually get stolen. It doesn’t matter if the thief is caught on video or if you have the serial number for the bike. You won’t see that bike again, but I suppose if you have video, you will at least have something to remember your bike by.

I know a few people who want to manage residential real estate for others for a fee. They don’t know that they might need to work under a real estate broker or be licensed to perform those services.

So no, you can’t just go into the property management business. You can be paid to make repairs or to do maintenance or for shoveling the walk or mow the lawn etc.

Sometimes, a picture is worth more than a thousand words.