Americans celebrate Labor Day by avoiding any scant whiff of work. Yah! Good for us.

And one of the best ways to avoid work is being a garden variety couch potato. From a real estate point of view there is plenty of good watching. Even with the downturn in the market, shows about decorating, remodeling, flipping and staging have remained extremely popular.

Here is an article about just that from Time magazine on the web. It’s about a new and kinda desperate sounding show on TLC called Date My House. On the new show, anxious sellers stage overnight “dates,” in which potential buyers spend the night at the house, the better to “seduce” them into making a “long-term commitment.” It runs on Saturday Nights 8:30/7:30 central time.

Here is a list of other television shows for the Real Estate enthusiast. I can’t take credit for the list myself as it was put together by Elizabeth McMeans at Move Trends. I post it here with gratitude.

Flip This House on A & E: Join various flip teams battle the construction zone in San Antonio, Los Angeles, New Haven and Atlanta repairing and revamping homes for a profit. Upcoming airing: Saturday September 6th, 9am/8c

Sell This House on A & E:Ever wonder what goes through a buyers mind during walk throughs? Sell This House answers this and more under the guidance of hosts Tanya Memme and Roger Hazard.Upcoming airing: Saturday September 6th, 10:30am/9:30c

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition on ABC:The Emmy-award winning home makeover show crosses the country yet again with host Ty Pennington. This year will feature a more eco-friendly approach to its remodeling techniques, along with other surprises.This fall: Sundays at 8pm/7c

Million Dollar Listing on Bravo: Josh, Madison and Chad give you the inside scoop on the million dollar real estate business in Los Angeles. Peek in on some of Southern California’s most gorgeous homes and revel in this real estate team’s love for drama. Every Tuesday at 10pm/9c.

Flipping Out on Bravo: Join Jeff Lewis a prominent house flipper with a unique personality and impeccable taste.Catch the reunion show this coming Sunday, August 31st at 12:30pm.

Flip That House on TLC: Yet another house flipping show that allows viewers to see the ins, outs and results of various projects. See homes being transformed and the renovations that deliver the biggest returns. Airs Saturdays at 9pm/8c

Hope For Your Home on TLC: A new series based on the mortgage crisis. Host Kirsten Kemp Becker helps owners in distress add value to their homes on the way toward refinancing or selling their homes. Airs Saturdays at 8:30pm/7:30c.

See you Tuesday!

The idea of “fences making good neighbors” seemed like a crusty, by-gone idea from my New England childhood. In the Midwest everyone is nice (or does such a good job of faking it) that defining your borders seems a little unnecessary – discourteous even.

But when we lived in NE Mpls, the little old lady in the duplex next door passed away. Sheleft her home to her son. While it is uncouth (and certainly politically incorrect) to judge anyone by his or her occupation, that our new neighbor was a carnival worker was not an image enhancer.

He spent evenings on his back stoop drinking beer and smoking cigarettes while “maintaining” the guns of his midway “Shoot the Star” game with a hammer. This was all well and good and mildly amusing - until the squirrel.

Our carni-neighbor set elaborate rodent traps late at night and laid in wait. In the morning, he appeared bleary-eyed on the lawn between our houses to show off his catch.

“Want me to show your little girl how I ‘give’em a little bath?’” he said with an eerie laugh of anticipation. In his other hand was a large bucket clearly used for immersing the cage. We begged off, loaded up the child and raced to the big box home center. There we purchased the highest privacy barrier legally erectable by zoning ordinances.

While it was clear that building a fence would be good for our neighborly relations, we didn’t anticipate it being so hard on our martial one. Apparently, I am “overly helpful” when it comes to handyman advice and my spouse does not require guidance from instructions manuals or professionals.

To add to our discouragement, we hit an amazingly thick tree root while digging postholes; a discovery that delayed our progress by hours as we worked through it with a shape spade. When we finally cut through it, a number of streetlights never lit on our side of the street again.

But when the neighbor came by to investigate our progress and bemoan that he was denied, AGAIN, for a “conceal and carry” handgun permit by the State – we pulled ourselves out of funk and set to work double time. “Wow, that’s terrible,” we sympathized bobbing our heads agreeably as we hammered away. “Yes, a travesty of your civil rights,” we echoed as we placed a 6′ panel between our properties.

Later in a different house on a toy-strewn yard, an infant boy joined the toddler. We were muddling by fence-free, telling ourselves such a barrier would discourage meeting our new neighbors. Actually we were plain daunted by the size of the corner lot.

And just as we placed the backyard on the back burner, the National Guard called in chits on my husband. He was to be stationed out of town for a little over a year, which had me surveying the bleak December landscape, the baby, the child and the big Rottweiler mix.

“We’ll have to get rid of the dog,” I said emphatically. “I’ve done the math and I can’t take him on a walk twice-a-day with the kids in snow buntings and remain anything near sane.” My pronouncement spurred a flurry of activity on the Internet and phone, ending with the Premier Fence boys tumble rolling in and installing 500 ft. of cedar in just under two days. And remember, it was December. While I’m certain money does not buy happiness, I’ve learned a good credit score can solve a lot of problems.

During our hasty buying process, I learned that fences come with many personalities. Beyond the “talk to the hand” attitude of high privacy styles and the “we’ve got a dog that will surely bite you” vibe of chain link are what I call “friendly fences.”

We selected a style with generous open spaces between each cedar slat giving openness to our yard. It’s also the perfect height to converse over as people walk the side street to Diary Queen.

And we wouldn’t want to miss out on that.

What are your rights when it comes to a fence? There’s a really good outline of just that on Findlaw.com available here. It answers questions like how high can you build a fence, what to do if your neighbor is building an illegal fence and more. I can’t stress enough how important it is to check how far back from your property line your fence must go. You do that at your local city office where you pull permits.

Okay - this is not an earth shattering post or anything. It’s just a freebe.

But do you think it is pushing the season to have fall decor out already? (This photo was taken this week.)

I’m thinking it is the shamelessly early marketing of Christmas that is the underlying problem. It’s starting to crowd Halloween and has completely stomped on Thanksgiving.

Obviously this is not a crisis, but I would like the holidays to have a little cushion around them so we can celebrate them in their due time.

And if you’re hosting a real estate sign in your yard, keeping the decor to a tasteful minimum is a staging must. No political signs and no scarecrows guarding the doors.

I’m a little geeky when it comes to politics. I enjoy watching the big convention speeches on television - for both parties - and usually listen to the radio coverage all day long. I know, I’m an odd duck that way.

You may remember that last presidential election there was much ado about lawn signs – and their vandalism or outright theft. This was viewed as “harmless antics” of small time pranksters or the “stampeding of one’s rights”, depending on your outlook –and whether it was your sign that was ruined or the other guys.

In 2004 my husband was home for a few days from his Homeland Security deployment when he trudged down to the campaign headquarters, shelled out his five bucks and planted a sign in the yard.

A few days later I noticed, with small annoyance, that our sign had been trampled and left in a sad little heap. My children were already strapped in their car seats, so I made a mental note to tend to it later - adding it to the already long list I had as a part-time single parent.

When I returned with a mini-van full of groceries, I found the sign had been tended and straightened. It still listed a bit, like my newly walking toddler, but it was definitely up and standing. I felt heartened. So much so, that when it was run over later with a bicycle, I didn’t feel too bad about it. Within hours it was again repaired, and this time with duct tape.

This little drama played outside of my door for a few weeks. The last act featured the disappearance of the sign altogether and its subsequent replacement with a fresh, sturdier one. I was far more buoyed by the kindness of strangers than disheartened by the minor vandalism. It is good to think that someone was living out the democratic ideals that each party claimed exclusive rights to.

This inspired me to look for signs that need some attention in my neighborhood, even ones for the other guy. It was good for my little children to see their mother be the “sign fairy.”

It was good for me, too. It helped me remember that come the day after the election, and all the signs go to the recycle bin, these people are still my neighbors.

With gas prices what they are, people are looking to be closer to where they work, shop and play. This makes the timing perfect for the Excelsior and Grand redevelopment of St. Louis Park.

Located less than 15-minutes from downtown, St. Louis Park has a hot spot adding a little sparkle to an old-school suburb. Excelsior & Grand is a mixed-use project with condos, apartments and lofts - and high-end retail shopping including Trader Joe’s (3-buck Chuck has arrived!) and Panera Bread. (Rumor has it that the idea of Webdigs was born at a coffee shop there.)

But what makes the project special is its proximity toWolfe Park. It has biking trails, fishing pond and ball courts. For feeling very close to the city of Minneapolis the amount of green space is remarkable. Every June the park hosts the popular Parktacular Street Dance and Carnival .

Also handy is the Rec Center. The facility has indoor swimming pools, two ice arenas and rooms for nearly every community classes and lessons imaginable. But hands down the most popular feature is the outdoor Aquatic Slide Park with jumbo slides and a sandy play area.

Good friends, Chris and Kelly, left their cramped home in NorthEast Mpls for St. Louis Park when they were expecting their third child. When I asked Kelly about SLP this is what she said:

“We wanted to be in the city and live somewhere with diversity,” says Kelly, “but we also wanted the feeling of a small town.” What they found was a bigger home in St. Louis Park, just six blocks from Minneapolis and its urban lakes. “We’re getting a lot a city amenities, but in a community that feels like a manageable size.”

Long known as a Jewish enclave, St. Louis Park is the famous hometown of comedian and Senatorial hopeful, Al Franken and the Oscar-winning Cohen Brothers. Although other faiths now outnumber the area’s Jewish population, the Season of Lights would not be complete with seeing the giant, lit Menorah visible from the highway.

Interested in St. Louis Park? You can start your Webdig’s search HERE

I geekily love the State Fair - even though my friend Jon Weber from the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors (MAAR) claims that just a short blast of “fair air” can make him queasy.

I’m not sure why I love it so much. It sure isn’t about the Midway or even the abundant greasy food (though I do enjoy a good elephant’s ear). I think it’s the thought of through the long summer people are working on their seed art, their jar of pickles, their quilts and photography and everyone coming together to show what they’ve got. I’m always floored at the talent that’s out there.

This photo by Chuck Arnold was in the Fine Arts building and ran in the Star Tribune

I also like going through the buildings that showcase housing innovations like the Eco Building with their low flush toilets and wind turbines. I usually get a bag of mini-donuts for the kids for when mom makes them suffer through a 15-minute conversation with the Hardi-plank guy.

But there was a new (to me) display this year for Habitat for Humanity. Of course you’ve heard about the non-profit that builds simple homes for people all over the world. They had a display sponsored with their corporate partner, Thrivent Financial, with games and fun kid activities on the outside and a pretty serious display on the inside explaining poverty conditions that happen right here in the United States. It was well done and good for my children to see that not all of life is the State Fair and playing at the beach.

The short vidoes they showed were pretty inspirational and showed how families, groups and individuals can go “to a build” anywhere in the country and all over the world. Perhaps when the kids are older…

The Thrivent people also took our family picture wearing hard hats and wielding blow-up hammers. When that is available on their website, I’ll be sure to link it over.

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So, I am a big fan of data.  Call me a real estate data nerd if you want; although I don’t see myself as a nerd…one of our developers recently told me that I get to talk to girls, so that immediately disqualifies me from the nerd lable.  But, because of this, I have invested time and money into subscribing to the latest and greatest industry rags and attended conferences all over the country to find new and innovative ways to differentiate myself and my company.  When we started Webdigs.com - my partners and I set out to create a real estate firm that put the consumer first and empowered them to utilize professional real estate brokerage services complemented by leading search technology, delivered by our website - webdigs.com .  Then I read this blog post by Marc Davison from 1000Watt Consulting - an industry expert.  He recently had a very interesting post on his blog…

Real estate search’s finest hour……has not arrived. 

(Click Link to read the full post)

To summarize:

“…Everyone ought to stop for second and ponder this

Humans don’t search by ZIP code.
Humans don’t search homes from space. Or on maps filled with little blue markers.
Human don’t analyze comprehensive census data that pop off listings like a Crayola box of colored graphs, charts and heat maps.
Humans don’t understand the difference between a “Hybrid, Satellite, or List View”.
Humans don’t sift through 12,000 listings that “match my criteria”.
Humans don’t “save searches”.
Humans don’t want to view only 8 crappy pictures of a home.
Humans don’t want their search experience cluttered with advertising.
Human don’t benefit from poorly executed applications that include home value estimates that can never be accurate, no matter how many PhD’s are thrown at them.

All of this…stuff. I applaud it for what it is. But it’s not great. Because in the end it’s very different from how humans actually search for homes. 

I am human and I need to be loved

Humans drive around neighborhoods.
Humans meet neighbors.
Humans ask lots of questions.
Humans like to talk to the seller.
Humans spend time vibing the neighborhood. 
Humans test drive the commute from prospective home to work.
Humans like to look at 6 homes that match their criteria, to a tee.
Humans require affirmation. They like to be gently nudged and influenced.

And most of all, humans like to converse.
They like to tell their agent who they are.
And technology has been making all this harder and harder to do…” - Marc Davison, 1000Watt Consulting

Ok - so I read this and I think to myself…”man, what have we done?”  And for a short moment, I fealt defeated, but then I realize - we have accomplished a great deal in a short period of time at Webdigs.  And, while Marc makes a great point…what he is asking for is years away from being a reality.  As a broker, and an officer of a company that has to answer to shareholders, customers, agents, etc…often we have work within the parameters we are given.  We can certainly push the development envelope, but at what cost?  What Marc is talking about would be very complex and very expensive from a development perspective…and for what benefit?  There are other ways to facilitate the discussion he is referring to. 

One way in which webdigs.com attemepts this is by our “Ask an Agent” tool.  This is an online and real time interactive medium that allows users of our site to have their questions answered by one of our “on-line” agents - which is almost always Larry Olson, our CIO.

However, for this to work, people have to engage…and for the most part…people don’t.  We get thousands of unique visitors a month to our site, and very few of them are using this functionality.  If there was a way in which we could improve the site to make this more inviting to users, I am all ears.  But - at the end of the day, I believe that people want to easily be able to find what they are looking for and the dialogue will take place as a result of establishing credibility, trust and expertise.  And in the end…people still have to like you.  Because if they don’t - none of it matters.

So, the conversation that Marc is referring to between a “human and their agent” is all well and good…but we need to grab the humans and get the opportunity to have the discussion in the first place.  And, all the tools, research data and gizmos on our website is how we aim to do it…because that is what the industry is telling us we need to do…and what the latest and greatest innovators in the idustry are doing.

So, real estate search may not be in its finest hour…but it has come a long way.  And I would like to think that companies like Webdigs & Redfin are leading that change - on the brokerage front. And, while Zillow, Trulia, Cyberhomes and Eppraisal offer great tools for users, I really see them as the next generation of lead generation tools for agents. 

Any suggestions on we can be better are always welcome.

When our house was on the market and we were having multiple showings a day, we’d stick our big dog in the mini-van often. Apparently too often. Scottie-dog was never a chewer, but when push came to shove (shoved right into the vehicle) Scottie got frustrated and took it out on our seat belts.

We’ve been putting off the inevitable belt replacement by simply not using those seats. But school will be starting soon and the car pool’s around the corner (when my husband Jason transforms into the Prince of Rides) we need to get our heads out of the seat cushions and pay up.

Jason contacted the Toyota dealer today and called in the order. Without labor we’re already out $250. I imagine those don’t simply “snap in” either so I’m bracing for the total bill.

We did end up buying the dog stupidly expensive chew toys , a no-bark collar for when we lived in the hotel for a couple weeks and eventually gave up & kenneled him. I guess the moral of this story is if you’re even thinking about selling your house, this may not be the time to go to Ms. Daisy’s Puppy Farm and pick out a Snoopy of your very own.

Scottie-dog may look harmless, but proved to be a significant moving expense.

UPDATE: With installation, the dog ate $500 in safety restraints.

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Late August tends to be about running away to the lake before the school bell tolls. And if you’re thinking water, you’re thinking west metro.

The City of Mound is named for its Native American burial grounds and better known for creating the Tonka toy trucks - but really, Mound is all about the lake. Nearly islanded by Lake Minnetonka, 40% of Mound’s city limits are water. In fact, residents usually refer to a neighborhood by its relationship to the water as in, “They live over there between Black and Seton Lakes.”

While not as swanky as some of its better-known neighbors, such as Wayzata and Minnetonka, Mound has a smaller town feel with local events like July’s Spirit of the Lakes Festival. The parade momentarily empties the bar stools at Dailey’s Irish Pub on Commerce Street.

Home prices are relatively lower than other places on the big water, which seems like an especially good deal given its solidly ranked school system and nearly inescapable views.

But not being people to rest on their laurels, residents have been busy making Mound better. Several projects are underway including one that will reclaim a lost canal allowing boat traffic to reach the downtown district. Even more fore thinking is the new Mound Transit Center which eases the commute to the city with express bus access.

The Dakota Rail Regional Trail, another Three Rivers Park treasure, is now open through Mound and the completion of the entire Trail is very near done. Though it is not the only trail. The famous Andrews Sisters, spent most of their youthful summers growing up in Mound and the City has dedicated a portion of the Greenway to the Andrews Sisters which is now known as the Andrews Sisters Trail.

click photo to read plaque.

You can look at current properties on the Mound market here.

You may be hearing some buzz on the recent book called The Big Sort . It’s by Bill Bishop with Robert G. Cushing and it’s about how we Americans are selecting to live in neighborhoods that socially, politically and economically mirror ourselves. And it’s a pretty recent phenomena - just over the last 30 years.

I first heard about this book in an article in the Economist and later on Public Radio. At first it seems really innocuous - I mean, why wouldn’t I want to flock with my birds of a feather?

But what the data say happens when we don’t circulate outside our cultural norms are prejudicial misunderstandings, political extremism (as in states, counties and cities identified by stark primary colors) and - as we’ve experienced more and more in recent years, legislative deadlock. (This read made me feel better about sending my children to a more segregated school this fall - but that’s another post.)

And it’s not just political wonks and college professors that have taken notice. It’s even going on in marketing the Twin Cities. Mspmag.com put out an edgy-looking relocation magazine last fall called, You Are Here.

It provides a handy sidebar to tell you the numbers of Democrats vs. Republicans per neighborhood. If you’re interested in the guide you need to contact the magazine directly or the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors for a copy as you’re not going to find it at Barnes & Noble or on the web. (Update, MAAR says they only sell to members, but they may be able to spare a copy or two. Please email them at  info@mplsrealtor.com.)

And to be straight up, I write for the OTHER big relocation guide in town, Twin Cities Living.

Thanks Jon W. for emailing me about the bad link!

Lucie B. Amundsen is a shelter writer and contributing editor to Cabin Life Magazine. She writes about the Twin Cities from the Twin Ports and will be attending the Minnesota State Fair this weekend to get her annual fill of seed art.