Open House Today(!), 2:45 p.m. to 3:45 p.m.

2:45 p.m. to 3:45 p.m.??

Where: 1340 Fairlawn, in Golden Valley's South Tyrol Hills neighborhood
What: 4 BR/3 Bath '50's split-level with almost 3,600 FSF; built like a tank and very quiet! Set on a pretty, .33 acre lot.
How (much): $387,500
Who: listed by Ross Kaplan; broker is is Edina Realty
When: 2:45 p.m. to 3:45 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 2

What gives with the odd time?

That's when the Minneapolis Jewish Day School -- just down the street from Fairlawn -- lets out.

Not coincidentally, that's when about 300 cars go past on Cedar Lake Rd, just to the south.

This well-maintained home is a great candidate for families who send their kids to the school, and want a shorter commute.

Or anyone who wants a great deal on a well-built, family-sized home in a terrific, close-in neighborhood (about 8 minutes to Downtown Minneapolis; less to the Lakes).

P.S.: And no, holding an open between 7:45 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. (the school's drop-off window) didn't seem very appealing.

Parking Meters & President's Day

Looking (in vain) for a Parking Spot

In today's post-crash, Alice-in-Wonderland financial world (zero percent interest rates, the biggest financial culprits commandeer the most government aid, etc.), it's nice to see that not all economic laws have been repealed.

Like supply and demand.

Headed to a downtown appointment yesterday -- President's Day, a holiday for many businesses --I figured it would be a slow business day, and therefore parking would be ample.

Wrong.

On block after block, the spaces alongside every single parking meter were taken.

Then I realized: free parking! All day!

If you want to stimulate demand for something . . . lower the price.

It doesn't get any cheaper than free.

High-Tech Servants' Entrance

High-End Trend?

Wouldn't it be nice to be able to let the furnace contractor in* without waiting for them to show up during their seemingly days-long "window"? Or, once they got there, if they could proceed directly to the utility room, without traipsing through your front hall (and past your messy Kitchen)?

The (very high-end) new home just being finished at the south end of Minneapolis' Lake Calhoun has that one solved: the utilities room has its own contractors' entrance. That's where the mechanicals, plus the "central nervous system" that runs this high-tech home, are located.

Like to see it (or partake of the view)?

You'd better know the owners (or perhaps, be a big sponsor of the major league sports team they own): the home isn't on the market.

*The rest of us will just have to rely on lockboxes, drop cloths, etc.

Downtown Mpls. Retail Bust

Recession Casualty . . . or Something Else?

I made the rare foray into downtown Minneapolis for some retail shopping the other day, and what I found reminded me of an old skit from The Chris Rock Show.

An African-American man is shown trying, unsuccessfully, to hail a cab. Naked. As each cab passes him by, he grows increasingly angry and indignant, railing that the cab drivers are blatant racists, that an African-American "can't get a break," etc. (yeah, you have to be an African-American comedian to safely traffic in this kind of humor -- and this is one of Rock's more politically correct skits).

Back to downtown Minneapolis.

I would be shocked if retail sales haven't cratered. I don't think I saw 20 shoppers in the 30 minutes or so I was walking around.

However, as tempting as it would be to blame the recession, there's a much more obvious explanation: road construction and parking.

Virtually every downtown street within a 6 block radius of the IDS (the epicenter of downtown) is torn up and restricted to one, v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y moving lane of traffic. Parking was nowhere to be found, and when I finally did find a spot, the meter informed me that an hour would require 16 quarters (or something like that).

I don't think I carried around that much change when I used to use laundromats.

Somewhere in between waiting for interminable traffic lights to change and looking for a merchant who could make some change, it occurred to me that shopping in the 'burbs was a whole lot more convenient.

Which is where I headed.

Downtown Minneapolis Condo Deal?

Deep Discount

Where: Grant Park Condominiums
What: #2710 (penthouse)
Key Stats: 2,017 sq. ft.; 3BR/3BA
How much: $749,900
Originally Listed: 7/26/2005
Original List Price: $1.195M

Even in a slow market, 3 1/2 years is a long time to wait for a Buyer. And eleven(!) price cuts, totaling almost half a million, is a lot of ground to yield.

What gives?

While I've been in the building, I haven't seen this specific unit, nor have I looked at the "comp's" ("comparable sold properties").

With those caveats, you'd guess the owner is suffering from some combination of a too-high initial asking price (they listed just before the peak in 2006); a weak downtown condo market, with lots of upper bracket competition; and a "B" location on the Southeast corner of downtown (the most expensive condos are concentrated further north, on either side of the Mississippi).

So is the price right now?

Without doing more digging, about all you can confidently say is, "it's getting closer . . ."