What's Selling . . . East Edina

Where: 4617 Tower St.
What: 5 BR/5 Bath new construction by Elevation (division of Streeter)
How much: $1.2 million asking price
When: sold in one day earlier this month (with more buyers reportedly waiting in the wings).
Who: listed by Marian Peterson and Noelle Varecka of Edina Realty

It's not hard to tell what the Buyer liked about this home: an exceptionally open, flowing floor plan; a state-of-the-art Kitchen; and wide halls, tall ceilings and oversize windows that make the actual square footage (just under 4,400 FSF) feel even bigger -- all on a big (.25 acre) lot.

The East Edina location, east of Highway 100 and south of Country Club, is attracting lots of attention from builders and remodelers because of the combination of large lots and older, modestly-sized (and priced) existing housing stock.

My New Favorite Neighborhood

Real Estate Guessing Game

OK, which Twin Cities neighborhood am I describing?

--It's in Edina, east of Highway 100;
--With its blend of rolling hills, wetlands, and manor-like homes on big lots (rules out Country Club), it feels like Minnetonka;
--It's an easy, five minute walk to both the Convention Grill and 50th & France.

Give up?

Edina's White Oaks neighborhood.

With all of 60 homes and its tucked-away location and numerous cul-de-sac's, it can be easy to miss.

However, once you've found it -- it's a revelation.

P.S.: the home pictured above, 4703 Townes Road, is one of the most impressive homes I've seen in White Oaks -- or anywhere else in the Twin Cities.

The listing agent is Edina Realty's Sue Wahman; it will be on the market after Labor Day. Asking price is $2.849 million.

Big Weekend for Country Club Open Houses

Country Club Extravaganza

Country Club is one of the premiere neighborhoods in Edina -- indeed, in the entire Twin Cities.

Mostly built in the '20's and '30's, Country Club homes are historically registered, and include some of the most impressive Tudors and Colonials around.

There are currently 44 Country Club homes on the market ranging in price from around $600k (smaller homes needing lots of work) to more than $4 million; more than half will be open this Sunday (that's quite unusual for upper bracket homes).

One example: 4620 Drexel Avenue South (pictured above).

Built in 1928, this Tudor has been completely renovated, and has five Bedrooms and Baths, and 5,600 FSF. List price is $1.75M.

If you are looking for a great home in a fabulous neighborhood, but didn't think you could afford Country Club, come take a look.

You might just be surprised!

Edina's Country Club for $200/sq. ft.

Discounting for an Achilles Heel

Normally, homes in Edina's tony Country Club neighborhood fetch anywhere from $300 - $400-plus per square feet.

The home pictured above, located at 49xx Sunnyside, is selling for $200 a square foot (divide the $850k asking price by 4,233 square feet).

What gives?

It's located just east of Highway 100, and has a highway sound barrier wall running the length of the (back of the) lot.

Enticing Discount

While that's certainly a drawback, the 40% discount also represents an opportunity for the right Buyer (I was just in the home, and the freeway actually isn't much of a factor).

The fact is, every home is a trade-off between multiple, competing factors: price, location, size, condition, and floor plan.

Someone who wants a bigger home in Country Club -- on a cul-de-sac yet! -- but doesn't have $1.5M just might find it intriguing.

Amy Deckas and MaryBeth Goulett of Edina Realty have the listing.

Realtor Visual Aids

Real Estate Marketing 101

Realtors use "sign tents" in a variety of situations (it's a called a "tent" because it's in the shape of a triangle, and looks tent-like).

The standard sign, of course, is "Please Remove Shoes."

But custom signs are a great way to call attention to hidden home features.

So, I've had them made up to alert prospective Buyers to a Kitchen warming drawer that would have otherwise gone unnoticed; draw attention to an especially large entry closet that was covered with paneling (and therefore camoflauged); and helpfully label a "Butler Bell" that people at my open houses had been puzzling over.

But another great use for a sign tent is the one I saw today at 4904 Sunnyslope*, in a lower level utility room that would have otherwise fallen through the cracks.

The sign tent read:

Enjoy this Room as:

--Storage
--Arts & Crafts
--Dark Room
--File Room
--Office

Nice touch!

*Listing agents are Amy Deckas and Marybeth Goulett of Edina Realty.

Urban Planning - Edina Style

Keeping Country Club . . . Country Club

My law-practicing days (in the early '90's) are fading fast, but I do recall a basic principle about constitutional (vs. unconstitutional) zoning restrictions: general rules with a strong public policy component work, overly specific ones don't.

So, cities that don't want Wal-Mart's can't simply pass an ordinance saying, "no Wal-Mart's." Rather, they have to pass an ordinance prohibiting "retail buildings bigger than 200,000 square feet within city limits."

What makes me think of this is various local cities' efforts to control tear-down's, and specficially, McMansion's.

The city's goal may very well be to ban tacky, lot-devouring McMansion's. However, for legal reasons, the city's tack has to be more general.

Like, "no tear-downs of historically significant, pre-1944 residential structures in the Country Club neighborhood" (my paraphrase).

That's how Edina does it, anyways.

Is it effective?

Take a drive through Country Club, and you'll have your answer.

Homes as Investments

WSJ: 'Homes are Poor Long-Term Investments'

Today's Wall Street Journal is running the latest in what has become a perennial real estate subject: how do homes fare as investments? ("Is Your Home a Good Investment?").

Its (non-groundbreaking) conclusion: long-term, homes barely beat inflation.

In fact, depending on your starting point, statistics indicate that annual home appreciation nationally averages just 4%-5%.

Of course, that assumes you paid cash for your home. Factor in leverage, which is what putting down 10% and borrowing 90% is, and those returns go up dramatically.

Such articles also typically omit:

--the tax savings associated with deducting mortgage interest;
--if you're an investor, the benefit of depreciation and other deductible expenses;
--if you're not an investor, what economists call "imputed rent" -- the benefit homeowners get from, well, living in their homes ("except for that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play . . . ?").
--the tax-free status of long-term capital gains when it comes time to sell (up to $500k for couples, $250k for individuals)
--the fact that renting and owning are not perfect substitutes: at least in the Midwest, renters simply don't have the same breadth or quality of housing choices that owners do (to pick just one example, I'm aware of very few homes for rent in Edina's tony Country Club neighborhood).

Of course, given what's happened to stocks -- the last year, the last 10 years, etc. -- homes' investment returns recalls Churchill's line about democracy: 'the worst form of government . . . except for all the others.'