This is one of those statistics that I just don’t really know what it means…however, it seems like a lot, but I can’t related it to prior year’s data. Currently there are 747 homes for sales that are listed at more than $1 million. Check out Minneapolis-St. Paul Area Million Dollar Homes.
How Many Million Dollar Homes are For Sale in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Area? Over 700
November 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment
The Best New Home Products 2011
November 17, 2011 By Leave a Comment
This Old House has a fantastic list of The Best 100 New Home Products for 2011. For example, for many people, the laminate counter tops that look like granite are an excellent example of a terrific product for many homeowners today.
Want to do something different with the lighting over your center island? Check out these very classy and unique 19th-century Holophane-style glass by capping it with a gleaming metal hemisphere.
Check out the story. There are 100 great product ideas to help you update your home and have some fun!
10 Tips on Getting the Most Value from Your Home Improvement Projects – Preparing Your Home for Sale
November 9, 2011 By Leave a Comment
This is a great list of home improvement projects produced on Seeking Alpha where they used the Home Gain Home Sale calculator. That calculator is pretty cool. I recommend you check it out.
Many sellers will ask what they should do to get their home ready for sale in this marketplace. Not everyone has $5,10,$15k to do some of the repairs this article talks about; however, the best things you can do don’t necessarily cost a lot of money. Eliminate clutter, thoroughly clean your home, depersonalize it, clean up and spruce up the yard and paint where needed. That won’t cost a lot but they really are bare minimums that you will need to do to sell your home.
Check out the list. It’s excellent.
1. Clean / de-clutter – 973% Average Return on Investment: Remove clutter by storing items in basement, attic or friend’s home. Rent a storage space or sell excess items, if needed. Keep every room very clean during open homes. Do pre-open house cleanliness inspections.
2. Lighten and brighten – 865% Average Return on Investment: Replace any burnt-out bulbs and use higher wattage bulbs, if possible. Have defective electrical components repaired or replaced. Make sure skylights are clear and keep drapes open during the day.
3. Yard – 426% Average Return on Investment: Store away personal effects from front yard. Hire gardener or landscaper to trim back the overgrowth and maintain yard. Make sure that your lawn has a healthy green appearance.
4. Plumbing and electrical – 260% Average Return on Investment: Consider repairing or replacing any defective plumbing or electrical items in your home. Make sure you have the right person for the job by getting several estimates.
5. Staging – 251% Average Return on Investment: Buy some fresh flowers, live plants and other decorations to liven up the home. Dispose of old furniture or other large items. Consider renting furniture or hiring a staging consultant.
6. Update kitchen and bath – 168% Average Return on Investment: Update kitchen and baths by resurfacing cabinets or painting with neutral color. Replace toilet seats, dated fixtures and drawer/cabinet handles. Freshly caulk and redo grout in countertops, sinks, tubs and showers.
7. Paint interior – 148% Average Return on Investment: Repair any damaged interior walls by patching all chips, holes and cracks; then touch up or repaint interior walls with neutral color.
8. Carpeting = 104% Average Return on Investment: If carpets are only lightly soiled, shampooing and/or spot removal should suffice. If there are rips, fading, heavy wear, smells or deep stains, replace with neutral color.
9. Flooring – 101% Average Return on Investment: Repair and refinish damaged floors, or cover with neutral-colored wall to wall carpet and note damage in your disclosure.
10. Paint exterior – 76% Average Return on Investment: Repaint or resurface the outside walls of house, as needed. Patch and repair any damaged areas.
Color Trends for 2012 – Interior Design
November 8, 2011 By 1 Comment
As 2011 starts to wind down, what do we have to look forward to in terms of colors for interior design of homes? Susan over at Your Home Only Better has an excellent post on the latest color trends for 2012. She makes an interesting like to the current economic conditions as many people are operating in a “preservation” state right now. That affects design, colors, materials etc.
If you’re wondering where to start with paint colors, a great blue chip site would be Benjamin Moore.
Reclaimed Wood – Beautiful, Old World Charm and Environmentally Friendly – Minneapolis Home Remodel by Nate Jurmu’s Meadow Creek Building Corp.
November 2, 2011 By Leave a Comment
When it comes to home remodeling and improvement projects, many contractors, home improvement stores and consumers are demanding more green building technology and materials. Perhaps there is no better material that exemplifies this than the use of reclaimed wood. In addition to being environmentally conscious, the material adds beauty and old world charm to virtually every project. Reclaimed wood is being used quite a lot in remodeling and renovation in many homes throughout Minneapolis as well as across the state of Minnesota. Just check out the number of web sites and pages dedicated to reclaimed wood Minnesota.
Nate Jurmu is a licensed general contractor and owner of Meadow Creek Building Corp which specializes in quality home remodeling projects. I had the opportunity to catch up with Nate yesterday to discuss some of the work he is doing.
Below are some pictures of a couple of projects he recently completed where he used reclaimed wood beams. One project involved the complete remodel of a basement while the other was a beautiful great room addition complete withvaulted ceilings, hard wood floors and a gorgeous, custom fireplace.
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- Reclaimed Wood Beams Basement Remodel
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- Reclaimed Wood Beams Basement Remodel
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- Reclaimed Wood Beams Vaulted Ceiling Great Room
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- Reclaimed Wood Fireplace Mantel
10 Garage Door Makeovers
October 29, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Garage Door Makeover: Before and After
From Better Homes and Gardens – 10 garage doors with before and after photos.
[Video] How to Install Undercabinet LED Lighting by Hera Lighting
October 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Here’s a nice 5 minute video on how to install LED lighting to dress up your kitchen cabinets. The video is from Hera Lighting.
7 Maintenance Items to Prepare Your Home for Winter
October 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment
We have been very blessed with beautiful fall weather here in the Twin Cities the past few weeks but at some point, winter is going to get here. With that in mind, there are a few things every homeowner should do before it gets too cold!
1) If you have an irrigation system, blow it out or pay a service to blow it out. That usually costs between $50-$75.
2) Check windows and doors for gaps – both for air and water. It’s still warm enough to run a bead of caulk. This is a simple but very important maintenance item. Unfortunately few do it.
3) Trim trees that need trimming. Fall is a great time to do this. If you have large trees encroaching upon the house or power lines, make sure those are cut back. If you’re dealing with power lines, be extremely careful. That may be best left for a licensed contractor.
4) Make sure your gutters are clear of debris.
5) Detach exterior houses on outside spigots. Shut off the water lines to those exterior spigots and drain that water line so that it won’t freeze in the winter.
6) Make sure the weather stripping is properly in place around your doors and windows.
7) Check your furnace…you may not have run it yet for several month. Fire it up and make sure it cranks out the heat. If you haven’t had it checked in a few years, it’s not a bad idea to have a licensed HVAC contractor come out to inspect it.
I’m sure there are other items to be done to prepare for winter, but those are the key ones that I could think of as I prepare my home for winter each year.
Congress Proposes SAVE ACT – Energy Audits, Efficiency, and Improvements
October 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment
This will become a very big deal if you are a home owner. For more information, visit my blog post regarding the SAVE ACT at John Murphy Reports.
Homes by Tradition Wins Two Reggie Awards for Spirit of Brandtjen Homes in Lakeville
October 20, 2011 By Leave a Comment
The following article was originally published by Craig Kamman of Edina Realty. It is reprinted with permission.
The Fall Parade of Homes has finished a successful year. Many areas have reported great traffic at their model homes showing positive signs that we have rounded the corner on the market. With the close of the Parade of Homes comes the announcement of the winners of the Reggie Awards.
From the Builders Association of the Twin Cities (BATC):
For more than 40 years, local builders have coveted the Reggie Award statue more than any other. And for 20 years Associates and Builders have entered the Trillium Awards together to showcase their successful partnerships. Winners are selected by judging teams of builders, associates and consumers who visit homes within their category and meet together to select the best example of excellence in design, construction quality and value. Reggie Awards are given to the Builder.
The Trillium Awards were established to honor our associates for their partnership with builders. As Reggie winning homes are judged the very best, so now the Trillium Awards will be given to all entered participating associates in a Reggie-winning home. The winners of this Falls Parade of Homes were announced.
I wanted to focus on one builder in particular, Homes By Tradition. The reason I want to focus on them is because they won not just one Reggie Award but they won 2 Reggie Awards in this Fall Parade of Homes. In my opinion, they design and build some of the nicest new homes in the Twin Cities.
click on image to enlargeThe first award they won was for their model at Spirit of Brandtjen Farms in Lakeville, MN. The model is at 18641 Draft Horse Blvd. Lakeville.
This home is a beautiful “farmhouse” style in the superb setting of their Spirit of Brandtjen Farm community.
This home won the Reggie Award is the $355,000 – $384,999 class. The Trillum Winners for this home were won by Aspen Electric Inc, Glowing Hearth & Home, and Southern Lights.
click on image to enlargeHomes By Traditions second Reggie Award was also at Spirit of Brandtjen Farms in Lakeville for their model home at 5075 167th Street Lakeville, MN. This home won the Reggie Award for the $575,000 – $749,999 class.
click on image to enlargeThe Trillium Winners for this home were Aspen Electric Inc., Glowing Hearth & Home, and JJ Vanderson & Co.
This home was a featured model in the Parade for being one of the first to earn the Minnesota Green Path Certification . Another reason I believe Homes by Tradition is a market leader.
How does one win a Reggie Award? It is quite simple, but not very easy. To win a Trillium Award a Home Builder needs to stand out of the crowd in excellence. This is done by superior design, attention to detail and value. The Reggie Award winners are the home builders that are leading the trends and stand out from the rest.
What I think sets Homes By Tradition apart from the crowd is their ability to create warm feeling home designs reminiscent of the traditional homes we all know and love while incorporating all of today’s lifestyle needs and technology creating a New Traditional home. They are able to implement this feeling effectively as they also design and create neighborhood communities with this same feeling of Home.
Spirit of Brandtjen Farms in Lakeville, MN is a perfect example of the community neighborhood they are able to create and design. Spirit of Brandtjen Farms is in Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan School District #196.
Check out Spirit of Brandtjen Farms website.
They offer these great neighborhoods throughout the Twin Cities ; Hampton Hills in Plymouth, Dancing Waters in Woodbury, Heritage Landing in Prior Lake, Cobbelstone Lake in Prior Lake, Argenta Hills in Inver Grove Heights, and Territory in Credit River.
If you have not seen Homes By Tradition homes or neighborhoods, I encourage you to go check at their great designs and home at their models from 12:00 – 5:00 daily.
One of their new neighborhoods that I think is really exciting is Hampton Hills in Plymouth, MN. They are currently under construction on a second model home, but you can still see their first model home. I believe we might see the next Reggie Award come from this new neighborhood. They have a great model there open daily from 12:00-5:00.
Congratulations to everyone at Homes By Tradition. You earned these awards.
Homes By Tradition President, Dean Nelson Accepting both Reggie AwardsRelated articles
- 2011 Trillium Award Winner (brushmasters.wordpress.com)
- 2011 Builders Association of the Twin Cities Awards of Excellence (brushmasters.wordpress.com)
