Feel free to visit the website below.  More information to follow!

http://www.lakeminnetonkahalfmarathon.com/

Duffy Development is the lead developer on this project and is asking the city for up to $1 million on tax increment financing.  This request has already been approved by the Minnetonka Economic Development Advisory Committee.  The project is also requesting financing from Hennepin County because the apartments would be located next to Two Metro Transit bus routes that would allow the residents to ride the bus to work, increase ridership and decreasing traffic.  These units would help Minnetonka toward its goal of creating 383 affordable housing units by 2020.

The City of Minnetonka officials are pushing to have 48 of the 64 units reserved for low to moderate-income households.  This would translate into about 60% of the area’s media household yearly income.  The building would be made up of 11 one-bedrooms, 32 two-bedrooms, and 21 three-bedroom units.  Additionally, 4 of the units would be set aside exclusively for families coming out of homeless shelters with assistance from the Salvation Army.  Some of the energy needs for the building will be supplied by 24 solar panels on the roof which will heat the water for the resident’s use.

At the May 2 City Council meeting, the project was granted a change to the City’s comprehensive plan to accommodate the land-use change for this project.  The council is expected to approve the building plans and master development plans at its next meeting with Final approvals to occur the meeting after that.  Duffy will need to finalize its financing and plans before breaking ground.

The large price tag is mostly for the land as the house sits on 3 acres and has 1,600 feet of lake shore on Lake Minnetonka.  It includes two sandy beaches, almost a 360 degree view of the water and a very private location.

This home was bought by the previous owners,  in 2009 for $5,250,00.  It came on the market in March 2011 at $6.5M, but then quickly dropped to $5,200,000 and ultimately sold at $4,350,000.

The home sat on almost a 1/2 acre in Greenwood, which is south of Excelsior.  The home featured 4 bedrooms, but 8 bathrooms.  It was on the tax records as worth $3.8 million, giving it an annual tax of $49,000 (or more than $4000 per month!).  It featured about 140 feet of lakeshore and was turned so just about every room in the house faced the lake with large mature oak trees on the lake side.  This unassuming house had a 3 car garage and 4 fire places and featured all the bedrooms on one level.

It was on the market for only 107 days and started at $2.75m.  It closed march 17 for $2.4M to an unspecified buyer.

See this beautiful Lake Minnetonka property here.

Make It Move in Ready
People do not like to think about improvements they will need to make in home buying. Thus if there are noticeable problems with your home, you need to get them taken care of so your property is turnkey ready. Repair any holes in the walls or damage you have to the exterior of the home, and then slap some paint on areas that need a new look. This is an affordable way to instantly refresh your home. If you want, you could also get a home inspector out to look over the property because your buyers will likely have one come out before they sign a contract. You can catch problems before their inspector would.  In Minnesota, pay close attention to the exterior in the spring once the snow melts.

List It Logically
When you decide the price of your home, you cannot just make it the price you think it is worth. You have to figure out what the logical value of the property would be in today’s market for your area. That may not be as high of a price as what you want it to be, but you have to make it so that other people will be able to afford the price. You can mark it up a few grand because people will likely try to talk you down in pricing, but do not go so high that you are way above the other properties in the Lake Minnetonka area. You want to beat the competition, not make them look better.

Stage Your Home
If you can setup your house so people could see themselves in there, you will make it sell faster. This sounds odd, but you can actually manipulate a sale just by having your home set up right. Get rid of any kid’s toys you have lying around, at least when someone is coming for a tour. Make every room have a purpose, and put furniture in there that fits the purpose. If you do not need the furniture when you leave, you could even think about offering it as part of the home. That is up to you.

Other stats are not looking so great either.  In February, the average number of days on the market jumped 16.1% to 157 days, which is the highest number since the data has been kept (2003).  In 2010, homes sold on average in 135 days, but in 2005, homes would sell in 30 days.

The news agencies always report the median sales price.  I am not really a big fan of that number because it simply says that more or less homes of higher or lower price sold.  If the median sales prices goes from the $142,500 last year to the $159,000 this February, it simply tells us that more homes over $159,000 sold this year than last.  Not sure how that information is important or actionable.

Surprisingly, foreclosure sales were up 40% from 2010 with increased listings of foreclosures jumping 5.5% year over year.  I think that many buyers are seeing the amazing opportunities, even in Lake Minnetonka homes out there and are buying their dream homes.

True, most Lake Minnetonka homeowner are in the middle to upper middle income brackets.  Many single family homes will run $400-800k.  The families that live in these houses are not immune to the changes in the economy.  They are not sitting around eating caviar and sipping champagne while the rest of us go to work.  They can be affected by job loss, business failure, divorce, and other problems just like you and me.  In fact, I have seen more than a few Lake Minnetonka homes for sale where it was clear that the previous owners were simply trying to keep up with the Joneses and overextended their credit and burned their money faster than they made it.

So where or how do you find foreclosures on the lake?  You can try to search by the individual cities that are on the lake such as Wayzata, Excelsior, Mound, and others.  This can be clunky using the public Minnesota MLS as most of these don’t have enough control to filter out just the foreclosures.  Find an active real estate agent that works in those areas.  Have him or her set up a geographic search by simply circling the entire lake in the MLS and then setting the criteria for both Lake Front and for foreclosure.  That should get it done.

Keep one additional thought in mind.  Filtering by just what is marketed as a foreclosure may make you miss some other great deals.  Short sales can be as cheap as foreclosure and often they are in better condition because the homeowner is still living in the property.  To avoid missing anything, remove the foreclosure criteria from the search and have your agent simply put a price range on the search.  This may yield a much larger number of property results, but you should be able to see everything out there this way.  Nothing should slip through your fingers.

With interest rates still at historic lows, inventory levels of homes for sale still at higher levels, buyers here in our Twin Cities real estate market are being given a great chance to find the home of their dreams.

Lake Minnetonka has always presented so much allure for real estate buyers over the years. Not only is this lake a shorter drive to the downtown of Minneapolis, but it presents so much attraction with its sheer beauty, size, and dramatic homes for sale.

In order for buyers and sellers to make an “informed” decision on their Lake Minnetonka home, we also wanted to share some quick market update numbers for the Lake Minnetonka real estate market as well.

In 2010, the Lake Minnetonka real estate market saw 673 properties close, an increase of 4.7% over 2009. The average sales price also increased from 2009 to 2010, going from $513,220 to $529,290. This was a 3.1% year over year increase.

If you are looking to sell a home on Lake Minnetonka, average market time in 2010 was 196 days. This was down from 203 days in 2009. The percent of original list price received at the time of sale did in fact increase from 88.6% to 88.7% in 2010.

The number of homes for sale in and around Lake Minnetonka saw a decrease in November of 2010, with 619 mls listings for sale. In November of 2009, there were 644 properties for sale. This presents a year over year decrease of 3.9%.

Though the Lake Minntonka real estate market is known for its homes boasting massive amounts of square footage as well as expensive “bells and whistles,” there are most definitely affordable homes for sale as well. With that being said, if a real estate buyer definitely wants to purchase lakeshore, you will certainly pay a premium. If you are ok with a propery that is perhaps a block or two off the lake or within range of boating access, you will find prices to be much more affordable.

For those buyers that have the ability to purchase homes at a higher price point, our team has been finding many homes for sale around Lake Minnetonka with massive discounts. Perhaps the property is a bank owned listing, perhaps a short sale. In any case, some of these higher end properties have seen more aggressive discounts: definitely a benefit to those buyers who are able to take advantage of interest rates and pricing.

1. The MLS listing may say something about the lake, but only once you drive out and see the home can you determine if the home has lakefront, lake access, dock rights, or can you even seen the lake from the home?  Just because the listing says that it is on Lake Minnetonka, it may or may not be.  Some homes have lake front, but you are looking at your neighbors dock or house probably more than you are looking at the water.  Surprisingly, many developers built houses that are well off the lake that may actually have dock rights at a neighborhood access point down the street.  If being on the lake is not critical, other houses may have great views of the lake, but not actually have lake frontage (which can save you a lot of money).  Make sure to do you homework.
2. Lake Minnetonka homes for sale are very diverse in their size, age and price.  They can range from a $100k townhouse with community access to the Pillsbury mansion that was recently on sale for $53 million!  Homes can range in age from ones that were built in the 1900s for wealthy city dwellers to come out during the summer on the train to new construction that was just built this year.  There has been a constant demolishing of older smaller homes with lake access to be replaced with much larger modern homes with all the amenities.
3. Most home buyers don’t know that Lake Minnetonka is actually made up of 12 different communities.  These cities have very big differences in culture and amenities.  You can go from the small town, almost farming community feel of Mound on the Western edge of Lake Minnetonka to the upscale neighborhoods in Wayzata or Excelsior.  School districts, taxes and shopping are also very different in each town, so make sure to spend some quality time, when looking at Lake Minnetonka homes for sale, in each area before making your final decision.

If you are in the market, now is an excellent time to look at buying Lake Minnetonka homes.  With the recent price decreases and interest rates at historic lows, there has never been a better time to buy that dream home on the lake.

The Metropolitan Mosquito Control (MMCD) is actually out already also.  They report that this is 14 days ahead of the typical spring start up.  Surprisingly they actually treat mosquitoes all year around, taking off only October to January.  I can’t imagine how the treat them in February, but they do!  There are 53 permanent employees and 180 seasonal ones.   During the winter they work on setting up plans for the coming season.

The MMCD is funded by property taxes. In 2009, their programs are expected to cost the owner of a typical $250,000 home about $12.25 per year.  They are actually a local government agency that serves the entire metro area and collect property taxes via a special taxing district within their service area.

The choppers will be in the air this week and they will begin to spray the area around Lake Minnetonka Homes.  Initially they are treating 1000 acres in Southern Hennepin County in the cities of:  Minneapolis, Minnetonka, Wayzata, Medina, Orono, Shorewood, Maple Plain, Minnetrista, Mound, Eden Prairie and Woodland.   The helicopters fly about 50 feet above the ground to release a dry, grain like poison that kills mosquitoes in their larva state.  The poison does not kill or affect adult mosquitoes.    It is simply to kill them off before they can fly.

Areas around Lake Minnetonka homes get extra attention because of the large expanses of wetlands and marshy areas that are perfect breading grounds for the little nasties.  The dry weather this year has kept the population down so far.  But lots of rain in a short period of time, plus warm temperatures, can change that quickly as it generally means more mosquitoes.