The Saint Paul Condo Blog

Nothing frustrates me more in today's real estate market than the "Short Sale" listed home.  First a little history...

A Short Sale is defined as a sale when the homeowner does not have enough equity in their property to sell at the desired price.  When the transaction closes, the mortgage company (bank) must make up that difference. This is usually tens of thousands of dollars the bank must accept as a loss.  There are a few reasons this is happening. Either the owners refinanced and stripped all of the equity out of the home, or they bought at the peak of the market with little or no money down, and now the value of their home has declined.

The issues with short sales usually arise with the bank.  Most banks will not pre-negotiate a short sale in advance of an actual offer (frustration #1).  So the home owner and their agent are left to guess what price to list the home for that will be acceptable to the bank.  What usually ends up happening, is the advertised price is several thousand dollars lower than what the bank is willing to accept, ending in a counter offer from the bank at or above the listed price (frustration #2).  Normally, a counter offer from a seller takes less than 48 hours.  With a bank, that could be 48 days or 48 weeks (frustration #3).

Not knowing how a bank does their business, it almost seems that the banks want nothing to do with short sales. Once they have actually gone through the foreclosure process, the home gets priced right, and they will usually respond within a week (better than before, but still not great).

As a realtor, it is incredibly frustrating to deal with short sales.  It's hard on both the seller and the buyer.  The seller is trying to get out of a home they typically can no longer afford, and as realtors we feel it's our job to at least try to help them avoid foreclosure.

And with buyers, especially with first-time buyers, the process can scar you for life.  Giving you a bad opinion of the process, and the people working the transaction (realtors, banks, etc.).

I think it's time we, as realtors need to band together and change the way we allow short sale listings into the MLS, as the MLS is owned and operated by the Realtors Association.  I don't think it's right or fair to allow short sales to have an actual price in the MLS.  They should use the same set up as auctions do.  List the home for $1 and just say submit your offer.  At least this way, everyone would know in advance, that they should expect a counter from the bank.  It would also help identify those listing in the MLS.  If you are a buyer who's looking to move in 30-60 days, stay away from short sales.

OK, I think I've said enough, it's time to get off my soap box and return to selling condos and lofts.

With federal stimulus money on the line, it's a full court press to get this project rolling.  All of the big movers and shakers are trying to get funding for a high speed rail line between St Paul and Chicago.  At the press conference, Mayor Coleman noted that it would likely be a race to see who would be operational first, light rail to Minneapolis or high speed to Chicago.

I think this is a great addition and could help attract a little more tourism to our neck of the woods (we would be a stop on the way to the Mall of America).  And heck, I wouldn't mind grabbing steak in Chicago then heading home for the night.

I do have one condition though if this happens.  No Chicago accents taking over Lowertown!

For more information about OnBoard Midwest, visit the website at
www.OnboardMidwest.org

It's with great pleasure I get to bring you this news, the Pointe of Saint Paul, has been fully approved for FHA financing by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)!  This has been a long project of nearly 6 months, but worth every ounce of effort that went into it.

What does this mean for buyers or sellers? 

For buyers, you now will have an easier time qualifying as the down payment requirement drops from 10% down to 3.5%.  Also, the credit requirements are a little easier than what a conventional loan sets.

For sellers at the Pointe, this will open up your home to potentially many more buyers who previously could not qualify for the property because of that higher down payment requirement.

I ran a search of all properties in downtown that are FHA (HUD) approved and the list is small.  MarketHouse, Mississippi Flats, Panama Flats and now the Pointe of St Paul are the only ones out of 27 possible buildings.

If you live in a condo building in Downtown and want to get your condo association FHA approved, I am putting proposals together for others to get you through and approved.  Just give me a call or shoot me a email.

The Minneapolis St Paul Business Journal has reported today that part of the $3.8 Million dollars dolled out by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development is going to help the "blighted" Penfield project.  The developer is looking to get $550,000 as long as the City of Saint Paul matches the funds.

What's this mean for the development?  Hopefully it will mean it will be easier for the developer to find financing for the project now that there is more financial support (on top of the nearly $10 Million in TIF it is already approved for).  Even thought the condo portion is gone in favor of apartments, I do hope this project can get off the ground.

Hopefully, we will see a press release in the coming days from the partners of the Penfield giving us an construction update.

The Pointe of St Paul is more than half way complete with the elevator modernization, and I must say, they turned out great!  The run at about 450 feet per second, compared to 300fps with the old ones (these will give City Walk's elevators a run for their money!).  The company working on the modernization estimates that all three will be up and running by July.

There was a little bit of a tough spot when the building was running one old elevator and one new one.  As a resident of the Pointe, it was hell.  It was like we really only had one elevator, as both would respond to hall calls, regardless if the other elevator car has already been there.  But the pain was worth it, with the two new elevators, it's like we have our old three back.  The new ones "learn" the behavior of the building, and will adjust where they park.  Are old ones where on a program that called the car idling the longest (not the closest).  Also, with the new elevators, they recalculate which car can get to the call fastest 7 times a second.  The old system had a one track mind.

From the St. Paul Art Collective Press Release:
Where else can you see art by over 300 resident, guest and gallery artists? And, in such beautiful and historic buildings? And, best of all, it’s free! Come and visit with the artists and performers who have made this grassroots event into such a success. Art lovers of all ages are invited to visit artists’ working spaces to view a wide range of art and the historic architecture of Saint Paul. Special events, music and more, as well as always surprising unexpected entertainments add to the weekend’s ambiance.

This Spring will be the 27th Saint Paul Art Crawl! One of the largest events of its type in the Twin Cities and the country, the St. Paul Art Crawl is a self-guided tour of over 260 artists' studios and galleries in more than 25 buildings in St. Paul neighborhoods. The Art Crawl continues to be based in Lowertown and downtown St. Paul, but is now extending all the way up to University Avenue/Raymond Avenue to encompass the former Arts Off Raymond area, to Grand Avenue, Selby Avenue, and to Harriet Island and other locations which house artists. New this year will be the Everest Building, which has recently been developed in the old Hamm Brewery complex on Minnehaha Ave., only a mile from Lowertown. Details on artists, buildings and special events will be available soon.

Area galleries that will be open for the Art Crawl include The Grand Hand Gallery on Grand Avenue, and the Artist Mercantile, Salon du Nord, Master Framers, the American Association of Woodturners, and the 9th Street Gallery in the Rossmor Building in downtown (featuring student work from Bethel University) will also be participating. Restaurants and coffee shops, including the Black Dog Cafe, Sawatdee Saint Paul, CAMP Bar and others will be featuring Art Crawl art, artists, performances and more.

Art in all media and prices ranges is available for sale, with something for everyone. Fine arts, crafts, music and performance, photography, printmaking, textile arts, painting, bookbinding, pottery, sculpture, jewelry, computer arts, ceramics, textiles and fashion accessories, digital and multi-media arts, and more will be available; with artists ranging from students from the Creative Arts High School to professionals. Questions about the art and the artists’ work and process are always welcome. Most artwork will be for sale.

What better way to fight the recession than to support the small businesses and artists of the Twin Cities?? Come to the improved and expanded Art Crawl and find home and garden furnishings, art for your walls or gifts for every member of the family!! And it’s Free!

For more information, visit
www.StPaulArtCrawl.org

News these days for Farmers Market Flats doesn't sound good.  I hear the City is trying to get the "eye sore" construction site filled in.  And on top of that, there's a new proposal for an indoor market in the Gillette building as part of the new LRT maintenance facility.

It's really too bad to watch this site go, especially since the site was excavated and the foundation was set.  I guess the good news is the next developer to work on this site will have an easier time building than the last try at it.  Until an idea/developer steps forward, the site will likely return to a gravel parking lot.

So if the Farmers' Market finds a new indoor home, what should be built on the current site?  It's actually kind of a small parcel of land, since there are easements on both sides of the lot for alleys, one of them being a historic alley.

Looking for some amazing live/work space, or want your own 3500sf condo that has a private entrance?  Then this might be the space for you!  Personally, I think this space is less live and more work, but that's just me.  I'm not sure if it's enough space for a restaurant or not, but the Rossmor seems to be the hot spot lately for restaurants making it work.  Even a coffee shop would do well in the space.

It's currently being marketed as a residential space, but when it sells, I bet it will go to a commercial entity.  Let's keep our fingers crossed for something cool!

I heard today that both Cray (the supercomputer company) and Microsoft are close to putting offices in Downtown!  Cray is looking at space in the Galtier building, while Mircosoft is looking at a space in the Wells Fargo building.

It's interesting to think of Saint Paul as tech capital, and personally I love the idea.  As a tech oriented realtor, I would guess most the employees of these companies would find my site if they decided they wanted to walk to work.

UPDATE (5/13/2009) - http://kstp.com/news/stories/S929679.shtml?cat=206

UPDATE (6/5/2009) - http://www.twincities.com/allheadlines/ci_12511706

I bumped into the building owner who was in town from Texas today and chatted with him about their plans for the building.  With the improvements they have made, they are planning on adding a high-end boutique condo project on the upper 9 floors of the building.  The condos, First National Condominium, will be immediately taking reservations at their new website for the project.

Floorplans will range from 1,500sf to over 6,000sf for the Penthouse unit.  Other neat features of the project include two outdoor terraces 4 floors from the top of the building.  With the elevator modernization under full swing, the condo portion will get two elevators all to themselves.  The top floor penthouse unit has the elevators opening directly into the home, pretty cool!

Prices range from $400,000 to over $3,000,000.

www.FirstNationalCondo.com