Lakes Sotheby's International Realty SHIPMAN + KOLKMAN PARTNERS

Fulton Neighborhood Association

In the southwest corner of Minneapolis, Fulton's boundaries are West 47th Street to the north, Penn Avenue South to the east, West 54th Street to the south, and France Avenue South to the west. Nearby neighborhoods include Linden Hills to the north, Lynnhurst to the east and Armatage to the south and Edina lies to the south and west. Lake Harriet sits in Fulton's northeast corner and Minnehaha Creek runs through it. The neighborhood takes its name from Robert Fulton, the engineer and artist who invented the steamboat in the 19th century.

At the intersection of 50th St & France Ave exists a commercial district, which lies along the border between Minneapolis and Edina. Home to many small upscale boutiques, eateries it has been referred to as "Minnesota's Rodeo Drive". A largely residential neighborhood, houses were built here mostly in the 1920s, 30s, and 1940s.

Fulton, has seen a large amount of replacement housing, tear downs and whole house renovations. When remodeling in Fulton care should be taken to consider the new market dynamic these new homes have created. Tear down home sites have sold recently from $150,000 to $1.5 million based on the location and size of the lot. Some very fine home are actually tear down potential, while other poor quality homes are not worth building on at today's land prices. In any event Fulton is in high demand, and home values are quite strong, however, renovations should be done with a careful eye toward resale. The style, size, quality, and price of Fulton's housing stock is evolving rapidly.

East Harriet Farmstead Neighborhood Association

East Harriet Farmstead Neighborhood takes its name from both Lake Harriet, and Farmstead Park. The neighborhood is bordered by 36th Street on the north and 46th Street to the south. Lyndale Avenue is the eastern boundary; Lake Harriet and Lakewood Cemetery largely make up the western border of the neighborhood. In addition to these Minneapolis landmarks, the Lyndale Park Rose Garden, Clara Barton Open School, Theodore Wirth House and the Thomas Sadler Roberts Bird Sanctuary are located within East Harriet. A great deal East Harriet is open green space, with four gardens, a bird sanctuary, and an arboretum. One of the neighborhood's more famous residents, Theodore Wirth designed the cities park system just after the turn of the century.

Many of the area's homes were built from 1900 through the 1930's. Grand estates line many of the neighborhoods streets like the "Kings Highway" boulevard along Dupont Ave. Remodeling takes on many forms here, from small projects over many periods, to the whole house remodel. With it's proximity to the Lake and parks, and to Uptown, East Harriet is a in high demand, and always has been. The neighborhood is split almost evenly between apartments and single-family homes. East Harriet is home to affluent families, college-age students, professionals and first-time homeowners, as well as a significant population of senior citizens living at the Walker Methodist Center.

East Harriet's culinary delights are tucked in neatly up and down Bryant Avenue. Food just like you mother made can be found at Our Kitchen while, at Gigi's Cafe more eclectic offerings are served up. Java Jacks and My-T-Fine Bakery are also local staples.

Armatage Neighborhood Association

Minneapolis Neighborhood Profile: Armatage

Armatage holds down the southwest corner of the city. It is bounded on the north by 54th Street West, on the east by Logan Avenue South, and on the south and west by the city limits at Highway 62 and Xerxes Avenue South.

Originally part of Richfield, Armatage was annexed to Minneapolis in the 1920's. The great majority of housing was built between 1949 and 1969, while about 5 percent of the dwellings were built before World War II.

Home values are rising in this area, in spite of the general market, and homeowners continue to invest in the homes. The most common renovations in this Armatage are finished basements and attics, and addition off the kitchen into the back yard. There are a handful of tear downs in the area, but not as many as in near by neighborhoods.

Armatage is made up of mostly single-family housing and some multifamily buildings. Highly regard by many lifelong residents Armatage is a safe, park centered, neighborhood. There is a skateboard park, ball diamonds, and ice rink at the Armatage Park for year round enjoyment.

The neighborhood grew around the school named for Maude Armatage, a distinguished community leader. There is a even a trendy new restaurant bearing her name, Cafe Maude, which has been met with rave reviews. The Armatage Park and Community School are buzzing with activity year round with children learning and playing, sports and recreation, community groups, and special events. Retail and commercial space in the neighborhood consists of individual neighborhood stores and is mostly located along Penn Avenue South.

Get Out Your Sold Signs!

We saw a tremendously positive sign in the past weeks stats, Pending Sales, or the number of new deals, are up 11% percent! Buyers are taking advantage of this market, and are starting to buy homes. This trend will continue as long as mortgage rates remain attractive.

Buying activity was strongest in the three micro-markets:

• Single family detached home in the SW Metro from $700,000-$900,000
• Residential investment property under $200,000
• South/Southwest Minneapolis, and Edina/St. Louis Park from $250,000-350,000

The number of new listings in this period out paced sales, result; the total number of homes available rose, slightly.

Anecdotally, in my dealings with bank owned properties, and short sales, the banks are starting to "deal" a little more fluidly. They have been paralyzed as of late, with the overload of foreclosures. Could the big bank bosses be giving more leeway to their minions? Let's hope so!

Buying a fixer-upper in Southwest has been a popular and proven strategy for ages. But if you're not careful it can be also be a big mistake. There are new "rules" in play today that determine what will pay off and what won't.

Many are attracted to the "fixer-upper in the nice area" as way of getting into an otherwise unaffordable neighborhood. With the age of homes, and the variety within neighborhoods South and Southwest are ripe with fixer upper opportunities.

To buyers comfortable with remodeling putting in some sweat equity seems like a "no brainer". But it's not as easy as it looks on HG TV, plan on going over budget, and taking longer than expected. Many relationships have dissolved over renovation projects.

With the down turn in the market, and the prevalence of tear downs, the real estate market has a new dynamic determining value.

Teardowns are fairly common place throughout the southwest metro. These low value homes on high value lots should only be considered for new construction sites, remodeling a teardown, you might as well flush money down the drain.

Whole house remodeling might make sense in a case where a quality home just needs a total make over. However, the relationship between size and quality has been come paramount. For every dollar that goes into the home, you're typically taking something else out. The new $50,000 kitchen replaced an old $20,000 kitchen the net value increased just $30,000, but it cost $50,000.

In order to vault you home into the next tier of home values, you've got to add finished square footage. Finishing basements and attics is the easiest, and cheapest option, but if the space is uncomfortable, (i.e. poor headroom, poor heat circulation, musty) it's never going to be a high quality space.

Size and quality have a unique relationship in the Southwest. Biggest is not necessarily best. Quality finishing, and details are valued. The character of the original homes was typically cozy, high quality, detailed, craftsmanship. The buyers in Southwest happily pay a premium for these high quality homes that mirror the building style and ethic of the neighborhood.

Size must be added, but not too much, spend your money on the details, not the square footage.

Many professional builders and remodelers have lost more than their shirts trying to do this. Others make a very nice profit. The challenge today is in understanding the market.

There are clear opportunities, looking at absorption rates in comparison to available properties, there are price points and levels of quality that are absent in the available inventory, but show clearly reliable sales history. Building in that price range and at that quality level is almost a sure bet. But it requires understanding the market, finding the "holes" or finding where demand exists, then determining what you can do with the homes for sale to get them into that "hole" in the market, and lastly and most importantly, buying the property at the right price so you can get the project in on budget.

The buy is the single most important decision; it's the highest single expense, and the first expense. If you mess that one up the project is doomed to failure.

In a booming market, mistakes were corrected by the rising appreciation. Poor choices resulted in lower returns. Today, poor choices, like over paying and over improving may result in negative equity positions.

People are still winning with fixer-uppers. It's a game for investors, builders, remodelers who know the risks, and are willing to take them.

Buyers looking for their perfect home, sometimes find that the best deal on the market is the remodeled home that someone else finished, and now has to sell for less than they put into it.