Minneapolis Home Inspections - Reuben Saltzman

While real estate web sites give the most important information about homes for potential buyers in the area, there are many other free, easy to use web sites that give additional information about properties. Before I inspect houses in the Twin Cities for potential buyers, I typically do a little research on the property so I can pay special attention to certain areas. Here are a few of my favorite web sites - if you love looking at properties online, or maybe just snooping on your neighbors, bookmark these sites.

• Minneapolis One Stop - Minneapolis properties have the most detailed property information available. You can view Minneapolis Truth in Housing reports performed after 2/26/07, and any open repair items. If you're buying a foreclosure in Minneapolis, this is a great way to find out what repair items you'll be responsible for! Permit history is available for properties going back about 20 years - at the permit page, clicking the blue "i" will give you detailed permit information. You can also use this site to look up taxes, owner information, rental and business licenses, and more.

• Saint Paul Property Info - This is a great site for property information on Saint Paul homes, but not as detailed as Minneapolis. This site is not quite as easy to use, but you can use it to look up permit history, Saint Paul Truth in Housing history, rental and animal license history (have pets lived at this house?), and citizen complaint information about properties, among many other things.

• Plymouth My Property Information - For properties in Plymouth, you can view permit details, appraisal history, owner information, and even a photo of the front of the home.

• Hennepin County Property Information Search - Great information on Hennepin County properties. This site gives owner information, information on the last sale of a property, and decent aerial photos (click on "View Map", and then on the right, click on "2) Click For Oblique Aerials"). I frequently use this feature if I can't find a photo of a home I'm going to inspect and I want to know if I need to bring my extension ladder to get on the roof.

*One word of caution for this site - this information is not as reliable as information given by specific cities. I recently inspected a home that was listed by the Realtor and by Hennepin County as a tri-plex, but it had been illegally converted, and would not qualify for a rental license. The City of Minneapolis had the property listed as a duplex, and I was told that Hennepin County just publishes the information they're given - their information is not verified.

• Anoka County, Carver County, Dakota County, Ramsey County, Scott County, and Washington County - Similar information to Hennepin County.

• Zillow - Gives a surprising amount of information about properties whether they're listed for sale or not. This gives property estimates for all of the properties in neighborhoods, which is somewhat accurate. The web site claims to be within 20% of the sale price of 68% of homes sold in the Minneapolis/ Saint Paul area. This site also gives sale history, the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, aerial photos, and Google Street Views when available. Try looking up your own home to see how accurate it is (or isn't).

Reuben Saltzman, Structure Tech Home Inspections - Email - Minneapolis Home Inspections

We recently inspected a new construction, custom built home in Edina. We did a team inspection at this property, where Neil, Duane, and I all inspected the house at the same time. We really went over this house with a fine tooth comb, but we didn't come up with much that was wrong - it was a very well built home. Towards the end of the inspection, we asked the buyer if they would mind us opening up the attic access panel, which had been sprayed shut. The buyer was fine with that, as most buyers are. What we found was quite surprising.

The builder had taken all of the necessary steps to seal all of the bypasses to the attic, by doing something most builders never do. Before blowing in loose-fill fiberglass insulation, he had a company spray foam the ‘lid' to really make sure that any potential bypasses to the attic would be completely sealed. This isn't required, but it's a great idea. Unfortunately, the person doing the insulation had missed a few areas, and this allowed a ton of frost in to the attic!

The builder was very glad we found this, and quickly had the insulation company back out to re-insulate the areas that were missed. This is a great example of why it's so important to break the attic access seal, and why it's so important to have even new construction homes inspected, no matter how good the builder is.

The best builders will encourage their buyers to have private home inspections performed, and they'll welcome any feedback from home inspectors. This will not only prove to the buyer what a good house they're buying, but can also save the builder from major potential problems in the future.

Reuben Saltzman, Structure Tech Home Inspections - Email - Edina Home Inspections

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• Break Seal At The Attic Access Panel? Yes.
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I've been getting a number of calls from potential home buyers asking about Saint Paul's recent changes to the way vacant buildings are handled. The Star Tribune ran an article a couple weeks ago about the woes of a person who bought a Category III Registered vacant building in Saint Paul, and I can't understand what the big deal is... but I digress (I'll come back to this). The reason I'm writing this is to help Saint Paul Realtors and home buyers. The biggest question I'm getting is whether homes that I've done Truth in Sale of Housing Evaluations on need code compliance, or if they are registered vacant buildings. These are important questions to ask if you're buying a vacant building in Saint Paul.

To help understand the issue, here's a quick summary:

• Saint Paul has three official categories of registered vacant buildings - I, II, and III.
  • Category I - vacant buildings with no big problems, although buyers are responsible for paying any outstanding fees and complying with any outstanding or existing orders for legal occupancy.
  • Category II - vacant buildings that are condemned or have multiple housing violations - condemned doesn't mean it has to be torn down though. The seller must obtain a code compliance report, and the buyer must complete the repairs.
  • Category III - vacant buildings with big time problems; these may be dangerous or condemned. They're the worst of the worst. These properties cannot be sold until the seller obtains a Certificate of Occupancy, Certificate of Code Compliance, or a Fire Certificate of Occupancy. This means the bank has to do repairs!
    
• The requirements for Cat III buildings was recently passed on to the seller this November, under a new ordinance which is referred to as the Bostrom Ordinance, named after Saint Paul Council Member Dan Bostrom.
• Truth-in-Housing reports have a large area on the front page where I (the evaluator) need to specify if the property is a Registered Vacant Building, and I need to indicate the Category - I, II, or III.
• Truth-in-Housing reports are static - a report I did 11 months ago is still valid today, but nothing on the report changes, even if the status of the property changes (IE - a property might have been a Cat II when I did the report, and might change to a Cat III two months later, but the report will still show it's a Cat II).

Obviously, it's extremely important to get the most up to date information when buying a vacant building in Saint Paul. You can't go by the Truth in Housing report. Here's how to do it: Go to https://www.stpaulonestop.com/AMANDA5/eNtraprise/StPaul/menu/menu.jsp . Click on "Property info and Permits by Address" and look up the property in question. Try 120 Elizabeth. You'll see right at the top of the screen under "Zoning/Use", this is a Vacant Building Category I. That's it, that's all.

As for the Star Tribune article, I can't understand what the big deal is. A guy bought a vacant building and thought it was a Category II, but it turns out that it changed to a Category III before he bought it. So what? He had to complete a code compliance inspection either way. Now that he owns the property, what's different? Comments are welcome!

Click here for a printer friendly pdf of Saint Paul's Requirements for the Sale of Registered Vacant Buildings.

Reuben Saltzman, Structure Tech Home Inspections - Email - Saint Paul Truth in Housing Evaluator