Recently Saint Paul has acquired two sizable plots of land. Hillcrest Golf Course and Boy’s Totem town both lie within the Eastside and measure between 70 to 120 acres each. The pipefitters union acquired the Hillcrest Golf Course in 2011 for 4.3 million dollars. Initially purchased as an investment for union members retirement funds, the golf was a nightmare for the union and it was bought earlier this year by the Port Authority. The golf course spans 120 acres and is prime for future development aside from one pitfall, there is mercury contamination in the soil.
Boy’s Totem Town
Boy’s Totem Town was a juvenile correctional facility for young boys. In 2016 it was decided that the facility would be shut down as it was becoming too costly to keep up. The site officially closed this summer and there are 72 acres of land up for development. With the current demand for homes and the lack of housing stock within the city, these two sites are promising prospects for future development.
Hillcrest Golf Course
How do you think the city should handle these two sites? What do you want to see developed in the future?
Hello and Happy Indigenous People’s day! Today is the day we celebrate the original inhabitants of this land we call the United States of America. For those who do not know what Indigenous People’s day is, this day, October 14th, formally hosted Colombus day. For years there was upheaval over the celebration of an individual that led to the death of millions of indigenous persons. In 2016 Minneapolis became the first city in Minnesota to celebrate Indigenous People’s Day. Two years later Governor Dayton issued a statewide recognition of Indigenous People’s Day.
This Year ABC Realty attended the Saint Paul celebration at Indian Mounds Park. Indian Mounds Park is a sacred burial ground for the ancestors of the Dakota people who inhabit Minnesota. During Saint Paul’s expansion a sacred site, known a Wakan Tepee, was demolished. Wakan Tepee was a cave that contained ancient pictographs and an underground lake. Most of the burial mounds were also dug up to make the current park. Although the Indigenous Peoples faced dire situations at the hands of settlers they are still here today.
This week ABC Realty will be exploring the current dilemma facing the elderly in today’s Real Estate Market in Saint Paul: limited supply of affordable housing. Among those aging out of the workforce, many cannot afford to live in a retirement home due to the high cost of living in those communities. Lack of access to fair and affordable housing is in part due to the cuts in affordable housing, welfare, and other subsidies. Along with the lack of federal assistance the housing market has shifted dramatically in recent years. Many of the homes that the elderly bought decades ago are not worth enough to cover the cost of overinflated retirement care. Additionally, another dilemma is that the aging population cannot afford to take care of the house, further depreciating its value. This phenomenon leads to a huge portion of housing stock staying locked up and literally rotting away. This problem has become so rampant that we are seeing a spike in homelessness among the 65 and older population! It is estimated that by 2040 the 65 and overpopulation will grow by over 90%! During an era with such uncertainty facing the elderly, how can we tackle this burgeoning problem?
If you’re looking for a home in the Twin Cities ABC Realty has something on the horizon for buyers. Phase three of Village on Rivoli has broke ground and will be completed by next summer. Phase three will feature boxcar style homes designed by famed Duluth architect David Salmela. These contemporary homes will feature a tuck under garage, 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. These homes are energy efficient and green-certified, not only ethical but will also save you money! Starting at under $300,000 these homes are perfect for both first time home buyers and those looking to move!
view from the site
floor plans
floor plans
floor plans
Meet our operations managers Ben Werner and Ismail Khadar. Ben is from south Minneapolis and when not ensuring the office sails smoothly, he’s biking, writing poetry, or working on cars. Ben enjoys spending time in the community on the East Side and helping more East Siders own their own homes and find housing. Fun fact: a Dark ‘N’ Stormy is Ben’s favorite drink!
Ismail works with Ben to run the office and put together our community and neighborhood engagement events. Ismail grew up in East Saint Paul from a family steeped in Real Estate experience. He’s one of the creative minds behind ABC’s marketing and event planning. Fun Fact: Ismail’s favorite food is fried calamari.
#ABCRealty #RootedinCommunity #RealEstate #SaintPaul #Neighborhood
This upcoming November ABC Realty along with our partners will be holing an Eastside housing summit! The goal of this summit is to create a housing movement based and focused in East St. Paul. We will be hosting this summit in collaboration with our community partners. As a real estate brokerage, we strive to help buyers in our community to buy homes for their families! Don’t forget the date, November 12th, and please let us know in the comments what you’d like to see come out of this.
We know we’ve been gone for a while but we’ve been busy! This summer we held our very first film series in partnership with the East Side Freedom Library. Focusing on housing and labor rights we showed three documentaries, Sold Out, Jim Crow in the North, and Detroit 48202. We finished off the film series with a community conversation where we had Jennifer Ho, the Minnesota Housing and Financing Agency Commissioner, and Kristin Guild, the Deputy Director of St.Paul’s Planning and Economic Development Department, speak. Overall, the film series was a huge success and we had as many as 140 people come to our films! If you missed out don’t worry because there are more events on the horizon. We also brought the DBNHS scattered sites to market and they are just a taste of what’s to come. We are excited to announce that we are joining with our partners in hosting a housing summit this fall. As always we are committed to serving you and the community through our work!
Knowledge is power and early knowledge can offer you a powerful advantage, especially in tight real estate markets. Those who find properties first gain an edge by being the first have a chance to see new properties and thus the first to make offers. More often than not, this first to market knowledge pays off.
This post will review how you can leverage the property search on this website to quickly access the newest properties on the market and how to setup email alerts when new properties match your criteria.
It’s important to first point out that this website offers you the most current, up-to-date property information available. In fact, the listing inventory on this site comes directly from the local MLS and is updated multiple times throughout the day. Having access to current and accurate information means another advantage for you.
These tools give you fast access to new listings as soon as they become available. Enjoy the first to market advantage and happy house hunting!
Buying a home is generally the single largest purchase that we make in our lifetimes and most of us are interested in not only the value of our properties, but also the general value of like properties in our neighborhoods. Whether you have just moved into a new home or have lived there for years, tracking the market value of your property is essential for any informed homeowner.
This website’s property search provides an excellent platform to track property values and market trends in your area. In this post, you will learn strategies for tracking the value of your home by researching similar homes in your area.
The goal is to track for sale and sold properties that closely resemble your own. The asking price (or sold price, if available) on similar properties will give you a better idea of the value of your own home at different points in time.
To begin, navigate to the property search on this site and fill in the search criteria and property characteristics that closely match your home, while setting the price ranges at “Minimum” for the low range and “Maximum” for the high range. Remember that you are trying to find other properties that are as similar as possible to your own. Thus, be sure to include location, property type, beds, baths, square feet, and garage spaces. If you live in a newer home, you may also wish to include a year in the “Built After” field to filter our older homes.
As you continue to select criteria, you will notice that the number of matching properties will continue to decrease. When you are done entering your property criteria, there should be a reasonable number of similar homes matching the criteria you selected. If not, you may wish to remove some of the less important amenities or add geography to your search in order to establish a better pool of similar properties.
Once you have selected all criteria, run your search to view homes similar to yours. Reviewing the prices of these homes will begin to help you develop a sense of your own property’s value. You may also wish to save your work by saving your searches for future reference. You can also elect to receive email notifications when new ‘like properties’ hit the market.
To use these tools, simply save your search and give it name such as “Comparisons to my home.” You can save your search on the main search page after selecting your criteria by clicking the “Save Search” button. Alternatively, you can save your search on the search results pages by clicking the button “Email Me When New Listings Match This Search.” Both links will take you to the same screen where you will set up your saved search name and email notification preferences.
As you track home values in your area over time, you will also begin to develop a sense of market trends in your area. For instance, if you notice that the selling price of homes similar to your own are increasing, you can typically conclude that the value of your property may be on the rise. If homes similar to yours are on the market for longer lengths of time and have a lower selling price, you could infer that the market value of your property may be decreasing. But, please remember the results of these searches are indicators–not hard science.
These easy, but important steps will empower you to stay informed regarding the value of your home and on the changing marketing trends in your neighborhood.
For many families, schools are an essential consideration when searching for a new home. However, most property searches only offer property related criteria such as price, beds, baths, and square feet. As such, locating properties that meet the criteria for your family and your child’s education can be challenging, especially when you are less familiar with an area.
For this very reason, this website provides you with the ability to incorporate school ratings directly into your property search as a primary criteria. Additionally, you’ll have access to detailed information and statistics on local schools and neighborhoods on every listing detail page.
In this post, you will learn how to:
When you first start a property search on this site, you will see a menu of search criteria. The Lifestyle section on the right side of the search tool bar allows you to select criteria that reflect your lifestyle preferences. The first option is “Highly Rated Schools.” Simply select the value that best matches your requirements and the results will instantly update to show only the matches that fit your preferences.
If you are using the map search, hover over any home for summary info; click directly on a property to go to the details page. If you are using the form-based search, click “Search Results” once you are done selecting search criteria. You can then click on any property from the search results page to go to the respective listing detail pages.
To access school information from any listing detail page, just click the “Schools” link on the right side of the tool bar.
You will have access to detailed information on all nearby schools as well educational statistics such as expenditures per student, students per teacher, and much more.
As you scroll through this page, a great deal of valuable school data can be viewed. To research individual schools, simply click on the school name.
These tools will help you match your ideal home with the educational path of your children. By following these steps and thoroughly researching schools near any potential home, you will be able to pair two of your most vital investments: your new home–and the education of your children.
