Barker and Hedges Real Estate Blog 
Edina High School a Silver Medal School - Again!
Thursday, February 4th, 2010 at 11:13pm. 64 Views, 0 Comments.
U.S. News and World Report magazine recently named Edina High School a silver medalist school based on students' performance on state assessment tests and readiness for college. This is the second consecutive year Edina has been named a silver medalist school. High schools that receive a silver medal ranking are in the top 2% nationwide.
Edina High School was just out of reach of the gold medalist category, which includes schools with the top 100 scores in the nation. However, the school had a college readiness score of 58.2, the highest of any Minnesota school. Minnesota did not have any schools representing the gold category.
U.S. News and World Report considered 21,786 high schools in 48 states plus the District of Columbia. To determine it's list of…
Strange But True: Home to be Raffled Off for Charity
Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 at 5:54pm. 158 Views, 0 Comments.
For $50, a raffle ticket, and a little bit of luck, a 7,400-square-foot, 7 bedroom mansion in Athens, Ohio, could be yours. And a new car, and utility and taxes paid for 5 years.
Sometimes referred to as "the castle house," the 80-year-old estate is being raffled off by owners, Dr. Ernest de Bourbon and his wife, Jennifer, to raise money for local nonprofit May the World Dance, which helps poor children with obesity and related health problems. The contest, billed as the "Ultimate Life Makeover," is designed to revolutionize the life of the winner, who will be announced July 4.
The winner -- to be chosen through a drawing -- will receive the title to the house, a new car valued at less than $20,000 and money to pay the income tax on the house. In addition,…
Eagan Takes a Preemptive Strike Against Emerald Ash Borer
Monday, February 1st, 2010 at 10:02pm. 73 Views, 0 Comments.
Eagan is striking a preemptive blow against the emerald ash borer. The city's weapons of choice? An $89,000 grant and some chainsaws.
Come spring time, Eagan city workers will be evaluating boulevard trees and removing any that have defects which could make them attractive to the emerald ash borer. If a tree is deemed vulnerable, the resident will get an offer for a city worker to remove it to help stave off the nasty beetle. Residents with vulnerable trees on their property, provided they're on boulevards where the city has the right-of-way, will be able to get replacement trees free. The types of trees to be offered are hackberry, honeylocust, bicolor oaks and Kentucky coffee trees.
Minneapolis, Saint Louis Park, and Eagan received the 3 largest of 15…
Greening Minnesota ~ January 2010
Friday, January 29th, 2010 at 5:54pm. 68 Views, 0 Comments.
There are a lot of environmentally friendly projects getting underway in the Twin Cities and throughout Minnesota. And we're even saving all the rail news for a separate, future post!
Amid rising concern over the effects that road salt has on Minnesota's lakes, streams and groundwater, public works officials around the state are trying out new methods to spread salt on pavement, moistening rock salt so it sticks better, and working to establish a less-is-more culture, while also keeping motorists safe. The impacts are salt run rampant statewide after decades of dropping a pound of salt onto every 10 feet of highway without much thought. In addition to the environmental impact, money has also become a key motivator. The new techniques use less salt, costing…
Strange But True: You Could Own the School... Literally!
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 at 9:51pm. 59 Views, 0 Comments.
The Robbinsdale School District has to determine what to do with 7 expendable buildings. Members of the district's Divestiture Plan Advisory" Committee will meet with the public on Thursday to solicit ideas on how to put them to better use or sell them. The buildings include an elementary school in Plymouth that was shut down to save money.
Committee chairwoman and Robbinsdale school board member Sherry Tyrrell said possibilities include selling the buildings, putting them to some kind of new use for the district, or even razing them and holding on to the property until the commercial real estate market improves. Leasing them is unlikely because the district would still have to maintain the buildings.
In addition to the Pilgrim Lane elementary school in…
Twin Cities Home Builders Optimistic About 2010
Monday, January 25th, 2010 at 1:26pm. 71 Views, 0 Comments.
As mentioned in an earlier blog post, there has been some activity in the local home building industry in 2009, making home builders more optimistic about the industry’s recovery. Though the uptick in activity is moving slowly, it could pick up some speed in 2010.
According to the Keystone Report, which tracks permit activity in the 13-county metro area, residential construction in the Twin Cities declined for the sixth year in a row in 2009 as measured by planned housing units. Metro area cities doled out 2,599 permits for 4,405 new housing units, a far cry from the peak of 11,472 permits for 19,000 units in 2003.
But builders are encouraged by 2009's strong finish. In the last two months of 2009, the Twin Cities saw 523 homebuilding permits for 997…
Battling the Emerald Ash Borer
Wednesday, January 20th, 2010 at 1:15pm. 79 Views, 2 Comments.
The Minnesota Department of Agriculture has awarded $1.9 million in grants to cities and organizations to arm themselves in the fight against the destructive emerald ash borer.
The emerald ash borer was first found in May in the St. Anthony Park neighborhood of Saint Paul. It has since been discovered in Falcon Heights and on the University of Minnesota's St. Paul campus. More than 100 infested ash trees have been destroyed so far.
St. Paul will get $723,000 to help manage infestation in the city. The University of Minnesota will get $200,000, and Falcon Heights will get $77,400 to fight the pest. The Agriculture Department also awarded $875,000 in grants to 15 cities and agencies to prepare for infestation, including Minneapolis, Minnetonka, Roseville and…
Twin Cities Real Estate Figures Through December 2009
Monday, January 18th, 2010 at 6:02pm. 85 Views, 2 Comments.
A few real estate reports have come out recently for the Twin Cities area. They may all paint slightly different aspects of the picture, but together they give great perspective.
We'll start with the first report to come out. The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price index released at the end of December indicated that the Twin Cities home prices declined by .5% from September to October, which followed a 1.9% increase during the previous month. Overall, the report found that home prices in the Twin Cities metro area had dropped 8.4% in a year.
However, a separate report issued earlier in December by the Twin Cities Realtors association painted a slightly brighter picture of the local housing market. Their survey found that the metro area's $170,000…
Minneapolis & Saint Paul Home Tour Application Deadline Looms
Wednesday, January 13th, 2010 at 7:00pm. 88 Views, 1 Comments.
The application deadline to recruit or nominate a home for the Minneapolis & Saint Paul Home Tour is January 21. Already 30 homeowners, neighborhood representatives, contractors and architects, have signed on and tour organizers have a goal of 50 homes. The Tour, in its 23rd year, takes place April 24 and 25, 2010.
The show exists to display what people can do to adapt and expand existing homes, so they can stay in the city rather than moving out to gain more space. It is a nice way for home remodelers to get feedback on what they've done to improve their homes. And it's a good way for enthusiastic homeowners to promote their neighborhoods in case people are looking to move into the city.
Need ideas for remodeling? Many of the participating homeowners on…
Strange-But-True: Minneapolis Assessor Contests His Home's Valuation
Monday, January 11th, 2010 at 11:58pm. 75 Views, 0 Comments.
Many people were upset with their home's assessed values last year. Even Minneapolis' tax assessor wasn't satisfied with his property tax statement.
Minneapolis City Assessor Patrick J. Todd maintains his northeast Minneapolis fixer-upper was valued at far more than it was worth when he bought it. He appealing to the Minnesota Tax Court to contest the value of his home, which was set by the office he heads. You read that right.
"It's one of those properties where the owner never called [the assessor's office] to say the value was too high," he said.
That's an understatement. He bought the 2-bedroom, 1-bathroom home as investment property in July 2008 for $90,000. On January 1, 2008, the home had been assessed at $166,500 with a tax bill for payable 2009 of…
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