Ham Lake, MN

As Ham Lake, Minnesota is a community without a hometown water tower, it could be easily overlooked by some traveling through Anoka County along Hwy 65. The approximately 13,000 residents of Ham Lake have always relied on private wells and septic systems, rather than city utilities. This is a plus to Ham Lakers as it helps to keep property taxes in check. Ham Lake is served by four school districts (Anoka Hennepin Dist 11, Forest Lake Dist 831, Centennial Dist 12 and St. Francis Dist 15). The suburb is a quick commute to either downtown via Lexington Avenue or Hwy 65 to 35W. Shopping is minutes away whether you head south to Blaine, East to Forest Lake and Lino Lakes, West to Andover or stay in town to shop at Soderquist's. Ham Lake residents enjoy Minnesota's many natural amenities with places like Coon Lake, Ham Lake and Carlos Avery Nature Preserve, there are many opportunities for outdoor sporting activities. Whether one is looking to hunt, fish, hike, snowmobile or just spend time enjoying natural beauty, Ham Lake offers abundant choices. It is a wonderful place to call home.

With three quarters of 2008 under our belts, some price points in the existing single family home sales in Ham Lake, Minnesota still are struggling but there have been sales and inventory reduction. The overall Days on Market (DOM) statistic has stayed pretty consistent with 210 days as compared to 214 in the first quarter and 217 in the second.

Specifically, homes in the under $300,000 price category show very good activity and at the current pace, we are looking at under a year's worth of inventory. The numbers look similar in the $400,000-$500,000 category. But these numbers can be deceiving. The $300,000-$400,000 category showed great promise at the end of the second quarter with a reasonable 17 months of inventory but with few sales in the past three months, that pace has changed to well over 3 years!

There is a stormy outlook for sales of homes in the half million plus category. Now, three quarters through 2008, with a total of four homes sold, the forecast is grim. The only bright spot for the upper bracket price point is that inventory is down. At the end of June there were 67 active homes priced over half a million in Ham Lake. Today there are only 30 but with only 3 closed transactions this quarter it is apparent that a significant number of homeowners opted to take their listings off of the market. Even with the number of currently listed upper bracket homes cut in half, we are looking at several years before the entire inventory will be sold if sales continue at this snail's pace.

New construction really suffered in the third quarter as only one new home was sold. At the beginning of the quarter there were 18 active new homes. Now that number has been cut in half but only one home sold. It appears that builders could be opting to use alternative sales methods to the MLS as these homes are no longer listed.

The excellent opportunity remains for the move up buyer. If you have a starter home in good condition and well priced, it should sell in a decent time frame. These buyers then have quite a selection of homes to choose from in the higher price categories. After 300+ days on the market, many homeowners and builders are ready to negotiate with a strong, non-contingent buyer!

Mid-Year Ham Lake residential real estate statistics for single family homes:

Under $300,000~ 47 Active Listings, 4 Pending Listings, 16 Sold Listings, DOM 113 (New Construction Subgroup ~ 0 Active, 0 Pending, 0 Sold)

$300,000-400,000 ~ 31 Active Listings, 3 Pending Listings, 2 Sold Listings, DOM 206 (New Construction Subgroup ~ 2 Active, 1 Pending, 0 Sold)

$400,000-500,000 ~ 11 Active Listings, 2 Pending Listings, 5 Sold Listings, DOM 187 (New Construction Subgroup ~ 2 Active, 1 Pending, 0 Sold)

$500,000 and Up~ 30 Active Listings, 1 Pending Listings, 3 Sold Listings, DOM 379 (New Construction Subgroup ~ 5 Active, 1 Pending, 1 Sold)

Lakeshore available in the City of Ham Lake
7 Active Listings

Ham Lake lakeshore price range: $299,900-$945,000

2 Home on Coon Lake
2 Home on Lake Amelia
3 Home on Little Coon Lake

**All Statistical information based on information from the REGIONAL MULTIPLE LISTING SERVICE of MINNESOTA, INC. for the period of 7/1/08 through 9/30/08.

Photo Featured Listing in Ham Lake Minnesota: 15139 E Vermillion Circle NE, 55304

Other Anoka and Chisago County Listings:
401 Village Parkway, Circle Pines, MN 55014
25797 Freeport Avenue, Wyoming, MN 55092

Articles on Ham Lake, Lakeshore and Minnesota that might be of interest:

• Where's the Playground? A Key to Parks in Ham Lake Minnesota
  
• What Makes a House a Home-Ham Lake, MN
  
• Dreaming of Life on MN Acreage?--What YOU Need to Know Before YOUR Move!
  
• EXTREMELY Affordable Minnesota Lakeshore!

If you are buying, selling or relocating to Minnesota and need help from a professional REALTOR®, give me a call or visit my website for a FREE Relocation Packet. I specialize in acreage and lakeshore properties in the north and east Twin Cities metro area including Ham Lake, Lino Lakes and all communities in the Forest Lake School District! Serving Anoka, Chisago, Ramsey and Washington Counties in Minnesota.

Copyright 2008 Teri Eckholm http://www.terieckholm.com/

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Based on information from the REGIONAL MULTIPLE LISTING SERVICE OF MINNESOTA, INC
for the period of July 1, 1007 through July 31, 2008.

Participant in the *National Real Estate Stimulus Program*

Buyers: Receive a CASH BONUS of 2% of the sale price up to a maximum of $10,000.00 after closing when you purchase a home with Patti Ann Kasper.

Sellers: Your home SOLD in 39 days or less GUARANTEED, or I'll pay you up to $10,000 after closing!

That's right, a tax free cashiers check is mailed after closing, upon receipt of proof of purchase, and verification of identity. Could you or someone you know do something with that?

If you are thinking of buying or selling a home, call Patti Ann Kasper to find out how
you can receive your own National Real Estate Stimulus Program CASH BONUS!

For more information about my services, guarantees, or how I can help you
find your next home, sell your home, buy a business or investment property.
Just call Patti Ann Kasper today at 763-548-1418!

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© Copyright Patti Ann Kasper 2008 All Right Reserved.

Associates of Science Degree in Geographic Information Systems and Cartography
from Anoka Ramsey Community College in Coon Rapids, Minnesota.


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Equal Housing Opportunity

Fireworks are not limited to celebrations in July. The City of Ham Lake's Mayor was at the center of a hullabaloo due to a misused metaphor that was construed as bigoted. The spark of controversy was amplified by local media last week when Mayor, Paul Meuiner as voiced his frustration as the only one on the bandwagon for development proposal including a town center and city water and sewer.

Read the full story of Mayor Meunier's controversial racial comment HERE.

That situation aside, the real news is that city water and sewer and the town center appears to be off the table in Ham Lake's comprehensive plan that will be presented to the Met Council later this year. The Ham Lake Planning Task Force has completed its mission and the proposed comprehensive plan will be available for community review on May 13, 2008. It appears that the tremulous and emotional meetings filled with Ham Lake residents are at an end.

Residents that are unavailable on May 13, will have a final opportunity to review the plan at another open house on June 9 when the public hearing will be held. Information and maps are also posted on the Ham Lake City Website.

Highlights of the plan include:

• Residential lot size will remain at one unit per acre.
  
• Individual septic systems will be used for waste water treatment.
  
• No centralized or municipal sewer system.

The city council is open to the possibility of batched systems paid for by direct users for the businesses at Hwy 65 and Crosstown and residents in the Coon Lake/Hiawatha Beach area to address concerns noted and discussed in the task force meetings.

If you are buying, selling or relocating to Minnesota and  need help from a professional Realtor, give me a call or visit my website for a FREE Relocation Packet.  I specialize in acreage and lakeshore properties in the north and east Twin Cities metro area including Ham Lake, Lino Lakes and all communities in the Forest Lake School District! Serving Anoka, Chisago, Ramsey and Washington Counties in Minnesota.

Copyright 2008 Teri Eckholm  http://www.terieckholm.com/

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Even though existing single family home sales in Ham Lake, Minnesota remained sluggish during the first quarter of 2008, there were some indications of better days ahead. The Days on Market (DOM) statistic was reduced slightly from 220 to 214. Conversely, homes in the higher price categories have been worse than stagnant. There is a complete lack of any sales at all! Only 2 in pending and one sold in the over $400,000 price category all quarter. With over 60 listings currently on the market, Ham Lake is over saturated with high end homes.

Under $400,000 there is some good activity. Currently there is about 10 months of inventory in this price category which is similar to other communities in the north and east suburbs of the Twin Cities. And if you look just at the homes under $300,000 the inventory level is even more promising with approximately 8 months of inventory on the market.

This presents a great opportunity for the move up buyer. If you have a starter home in good condition and well priced, it should sell in a decent time frame. These buyers then have quite a selection of homes to chose from in the higher price categories. After 300+ days on the market, many sellers are waiting to negotiate with a strong, non-contingent buyer!

Additional 1st Quarter Ham Lake residential real estate statistics for single family homes:

Under $300,000~ 35 Active Listings, 2 Pending Listings, 13 Sold Listings, DOM 195 (All existing homes)

$300,000-400,000 ~ 27 Active Listings, 5 Pending Listings, 5 Sold Listings, DOM 301 (New Construction Subgroup ~ 3 Active, 0 Pending, 0 Sold)

$400,000-$500,000 ~ 27 Active Listings, 0 Pending Listings, 1 Sold Listings, DOM 163 (New Construction Subgroup ~ 4 Active, 2 Pending, 0 Sold)

$500,000 and Up~ 36 Active Listings, 0 Pending Listings, 0 Sold Listings, DOM n/a (New Construction Subgroup ~ 7 Active, 0 Pending, 0 Sold)

Lakeshore available in the City of Ham Lake
5 Active Listings

Ham Lake lakeshore price range: $699,900-$1,450,000

2 Homes on Coon Lake
3 Homes on Lake Amelia

**All Statistical information based on information from the REGIONAL MULTIPLE LISTING SERVICE of MINNESOTA, INC. for the period of 1/1/08 through 3/31/08.

Featured Listing in Ham Lake Minnesota: 15139 E Vermillion Circle NE

Articles on Ham Lake, Lakeshore and Minnesota that might be of interest:

Where's the Playground? A Key to Parks in Ham Lake Minnesota
What Makes a House a Home-Ham Lake, MN
Does "Minnesota Nice" Affect the Real Estate Market? "Yah, You Betcha!"
Dreaming of Life on MN Acreage?--What YOU Need to Know Before YOUR Move!
Affordable Minnesota Lakeshore

If you are buying, selling or relocating to Ham Lake, Minnesota and need help from a professional Realtor, give me a call or visit my website for a FREE Relocation Packet. I specialize in acreage and lakeshore properties in the north and east Twin Cities metro area including Ham Lake, Lino Lakes and all communities in the Forest Lake School District! Serving Anoka, Chisago, Ramsey and Washington Counties in Minnesota.

Subscribe to Teri's Notes & Anecdotes on Twin Cities Real Estate by Email

Last Monday, the Ham Lake Chamber of Commerce hosted a discussion on the proposed Ham Lake development. The discussion was lead by Ham Lake's Mayor Paul Meunier along with East Bethel's Mayor, Greg Hunter. Several commercial Realtors and developers were invited and on hand for the discussion. Though not widely publicized, several dozen members of the public were in attendance at the informal discussion as well.

The two hour Q&A event on February 25 was held in the Ham Lake Senior Center just downstairs from City Hall. Mayor Meunier gave a brief introduction to East Bethel's Mayor Hunter and then proceeded with an overview of the five proposed plans from the task force. View the Five Visions of Ham Lake Development HERE.

During the overview, Mayor Hunter did interrupt the discussion to clarify that East Bethel does not yet have a wastewater treatment system or pipe to connect to and at this time just has designated areas along Highway 65 that would be for proposed development. According to Mayor Hunter this area includes two major intersections at County Rd 22 and 65 and another intersection to the north. It would extend approximately three quarters of a mile in either direction from Highway 65. The City of East Bethel has been working on this development project for four years and is continuing on the research and development stage of the project. The Met Council has committed $30 million dollars to the development of a wastewater treatment facility but as of yet, no developers have stepped forward to pay for the infrastructure to connect. Until that happens there is no plant for Ham Lake to connect to.

This prompted questions and soon hands started popping up in the crowd, mainly belonging to members of the public. The questions were specific. One resident questioned why the amount of connection changed from $37,000 down to $22,000-$25,000 on the Ham Lake proposal, Mayor Meunier answered that the numbers had not changed. "These are the exact numbers presented at the Town Hall meeting," was the Mayor's response.

Mayor Meunier is correct that the numbers are the same as presented at the meeting. But earlier meetings and in an online Powerpoint Presentation documentation dated December 11, 2007, the price range was listed as $32,500-$37,500 per REC Residential Equivalent Connection (One REC per Acre) for this option. View documentation HERE. When I personally reviewed all of the documentation of what I had posted previously, I notice changing numbers and a lot of fuzzy math.

No matter what the number, with foreclosures up considerably in Anoka County, is it fair to add an additional concern to any residents of Ham Lake...Even if it only encompasses 7% of the community? Read StarTribune's Article "Housing Crisis Hits Hardest in Anoka County" HERE. Many people are struggling to make current house payments, is it realistic to think that ANY homeowner can absorb even a $20,000 assessment?
When asked about what East Bethel residents would be required to pay, Mayor Greg Hunter said that it was very difficult to put a price tag on something that may or may not happen. He further recommended to Mayor Meunier that Ham Lake use caution when putting price tags on something so far in the future. He reiterated that there is no pipe yet and no developers. Link to Update on East Bethel's Plan.

When asked specifically about Coon Lake as it is several miles out from the 65 corridor, East Bethel's Mayor Hunter did admit that there are some issues with failing septic systems and small lots that could possibly be addressed in the Hiawatha Beach neighborhood. Though no one pointed it out at the meeting, this area is not within the designated ¾ mile city water and sewer area of East Bethel but several miles away. He additionally made a point of saying that the water quality of Coon Lake continues to be monitored and it is as good as it has ever been.

Ham Lake Mayor Meunier did make a statement that he did not want to see the rural aspect of Ham Lake changed. He knows that many residents live in five acre developments as he does himself and he has no intention of having city water and sewer brought to every street in Ham Lake. The city sewer and water area encompasses only 7% of the community. It is obvious that neither he, nor his neighbors, are in the proposed Coon Lake city sewer and water district. But the unvoiced question remains as within that 7% area there are several 2, 3 and 5 acre parcels as well larger and smaller lot sizes. Why is it ok to force ANY Ham Lake resident to connect to city water and sewer?

Questions were asked of both mayors regarding whether residents will be forced to connect. The mayors were in agreement on this that if the pipe came down the street, it is not the intention of the CURRENT city councils to force residents of either community to connect. But they went on to further say this could be as many as 10-20 years out and that they cannot control what the Met Council or FUTURE city councils might require.

At this point, a developer stood and offered that it was his belief that whenever utilities are offered to a community it is best to connect no matter what the cost. A resident questioned this logic considering the plight of the neighboring community of Ramsey facing bankruptcy. The developer called the Ramsey situation an "anomaly" but few in the audience were convinced as several other town center developments in Burnsville, Lake Elmo and Apple Valley are also struggling and restructuring.

Another resident who has some experience in the city utilities spoke his distrust of the statements that connection will be an option or choice to the homeowner. He remembered a few years back when people in Blaine were forced to connect and the assessments were so high several homeowners were forced to sell. He went on to further tell of signs along the roads in house after house of people who could not afford to pay.

Toward the end of the meeting, Mayor Paul Meunier did state that 84% of the Task Force was in favor of moving ahead with Option 2, the Town Center with a Coon Lake Water and Sewer District. He pointed out that every Ham Lake resident was given the option of participating in the task force. This is true. But had the task force been presented as "Ham Lake is considering City Sewer and Water" rather than being organized to look into a trail system, I am certain that more than 34 residents would have signed up.

It is interesting to note that of the 34 listed on the Task Force, I could only verify 22 as Ham Lake residents in the Anoka County tax records. So, that 84% of the task force is roughly 28 people. When there are over 12,000 citizens in the Ham Lake area, this means that less than 0.2% of Ham Lake residents agree that this is the best option.

With something as big as city water and sewer being considered which will in some way affect all Ham Lake residents, doesn't it make sense to poll all Ham Lakers?

Additional Articles on the City Water and Sewer in Ham Lake:

• Ham Lake Sewer District: $75 Million...Plus Interest
  
• Mike's Musings "Sewergate"
  
• Tale of Two Headlines-City Water and Sewer for Ham Lake?
  
• Price tag in the millions for Ham Lake sewer
  
• Ham Lake Residents Town Hall Meeting-View City Water and Sewer Plans
  
• Town Hall Meeting Update-More Questions than Answers as the City Water/Sewer Debate in Ham Lake Continues

If you are buying, selling or relocating to Minnesota and need help from a professional Realtor, give me a call or visit my website for a FREE Relocation Packet. I specialize in acreage and lakeshore properties in the north and east Twin Cities metro area including Ham Lake, Lino Lakes and all communities in the Forest Lake School District! Serving Anoka, Chisago, Ramsey and Washington Counties in Minnesota.

Copyright 2008 Teri Eckholm http://www.terieckholm.com/

Subscribe to Teri's Notes & Anecdotes on Twin Cities Real Estate by Email