Barker and Hedges Real Estate Blog

Greening Minnesota ~ May / June 2011

May and June are great for undertaking activities in the green movement. Read on to find out about how Minnesota communities are working towards creating a more environmentally-friendly world.

First of all, businesses along University Avenue could use your patronage. Construction on the light-rail track installation for the Central Corridor is taking its toll on businesses left struggling. In some cases, revenues have decreased by half as customers forgo trying to get to their favorite places due to the mess. The construction zone stretches from Emerald Avenue on the Minneapolis border to Syndicate Street N. Go have a bite to eat, have some coffee or shop at local businesses as our Twin Cities try to make more public transportation options available to residents.

Melissa Rappaport Schifman and her husband, Jim Schifman, bought a 1950s rambler on a corner lot across from Cedar Lake in Minneapolis with plans to remodel it using green methods and materials. When they discovered...

Strange-But-True: Into the Snake Pit

The Sessions' thought the 5-bedroom house on nearly two acres would be their dream home. Little did they know, the home’s current reptilian residents had other plans.

They slithered behind the walls at night and released foul-smelling musk into the drinking water. And they were so numerous that Ben Sessions once killed 42 in a single day.

Shortly after buying their dream home, Sessions and his wife discovered it was infested with thousands of garter snakes. For the next three months, their growing family lived as if in a horror movie. More than a year after they abandoned the property, the home briefly went back on the market, and they fear it could someday attract another unsuspecting buyer.

garter_snake_400That's when they realized their home was probably sitting atop a hibernaculum, a place...

Celebrate Home Safety Month in June

During the month of June, the Home Safety Council celebrates Home Safety Month! The theme for this year’s Home Safety Month campaign is "Hands on Home Safety."

Home safety is of particular concern to people who are trying to sell a home. If a potential buyer is hurt on your property, instead of unloading a house you might gain a lawsuit!

The Home Safety Council (HSC) is an organization which encourages people to take easy steps toward making their homes safer for people and pets. For this year's Home Safety Month, HSC suggests simple hands-on steps to create a safer home environment from the five leading causes of home injury: falls, poisonings, fires and burns, choking or suffocation, and drowning.  Many household accidents like these can be avoided with precautionary measures!

Falls are the leading cause of injury at home, according to the HSC. Steps that can be take to prevent falls include:

  • Make sure that stairwells and hallways are well-lit...

The streets of the Twin Cities are lined with green gold

Those who live in or visit the Twin Cities probably have seen how many trees we have along our streets, avenues and boulevards. 

Recently, a first-of-its-kind study was completed that used high-resolution satellite technology to analyze the tree canopy of the Twin Cities. The study was carried out by a team of University of Minnesota researchers. High-resolution satellite technology was used to examine Minneapolis from above on a clear and cloudless day, recording and analyzing how much tree cover there, down to each individual property.

They study estimated Minneapolis' overall tree coverage to be 31.5%, higher than previous estimates using less precise methods. In St. Paul, the canopy cover rate was 32.5%.

Minneapolis' estimated 979,000 trees offer many benefits, including:

  • Cleaning the air
  • Sucking up water that would otherwise flood stormwater pipes
  • Increase the attractiveness of homes
  • Drive up property...

Twin Cities are the Healthiest, Fittest in the U.S.

Minneapolis and St. Paul are the healthiest, fittest cities in the country, according to a new examination of the 50 most populous United States metro areas.

The annual American Fitness Index, from the American College of Sports Medicine, is based on health factors, including obesity rates, percentage of people who exercise, and the availability of parks, walking trails and farmers' markets.

Some of the reasons the Twin Cities achieved its high rank is due to a lower-than-average obesity rate, an above-average percentage of residents who exercise, a relatively low smoking rate and moderate-to-low rates of chronic health problems likes asthma, heart disease and diabetes. Oh, and Minneapolis and St. Paul have some of the best and most extensive parks and recreational facilities in the country. Almost 16% of land in the city is park land vs. an average...