The Twin Cities is blessed with some great places to eat and I thought it would be fun to showcase a few breakfast places.

South Minneapolis: Remember the old Sweet Lorraine’s on 38th Street (at 24th Ave) off Hennepin? It was a classic diner and wasn’t particularly known for great eats - more of a place to fill up and go. Well, now the chef who made The Sample Room a name in northeast, Minneapolis has swepted out Lorraine with the Citizen Cafe. It serves lunch and dinner, but I’ve only been there for breakfast. The decor is hip and before your meal arrives they bring you a few samples of their sweet breads to enjoy with their tasty coffee.

I expected to pay big for the nice atmosphere and little treats, but am pleased to say it was very reasonably priced. So next your visit to South Minneapolis, perhaps browsing for homes in this neighborhood, get a bite at the Citizen.

St.Paul: Hidden in an office building on University is the sweet restaurant, The Egg & I. It’s not fancy, but the food is consistently good and it’s one of the only places I know where you can get buckwheat pancakes and a Spinach Eggs Benedict dish. Here’s the MLS hits for this area.

If you’re looking for something a little more quirky, hip and interesting in St. Paul than go for the Day by Day Cafe. It employs folks who are on the recovery path from addiction and I’ve always had delightful service there. Things that are pretty amazing there are the caramel rolls, the huevos rancheros and any omelet. Summer time is particularly fun because the backyard patio is beautiful. Here’s the MLS hits around Day by Day which includes some really sweet St. Paul neighborhoods.

Foreclosures and short sales (ie. lender-mediated properties) continued to increase their market share in the Twin Cities housing market during the the third quarter of 2008, now accounting for 28.1% of all active listings, 34.1% of Q3 new listings and 34.5% of Q3 closed sales.  Theses statistic are according to a recent report published by Jeff Allen and Aaron Dickinson from the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors.

Their full report can be read by clicking here: foreclosures-and-short-sales-in-the-twin-cities-housing-market.pdf 

The Top 10 Communities Experiencing the Worst Impact by Foreclosures Are:

1. Minneapolis - NORTH:  67% (% of foreclosure sales YTD)
2. St. Paul - CENTRAL:  67%                                                         
3. Minneapolis - CAMDEN:  66%                                                        
4. Brooklyn Center:  64%                                                      
5. St. Paul - PHALEN:  52.4%                                                    
6. Big Lake Twp:  52%                                                       
7. Brooklyn Park:  49.5%                                                     
8. Coon Rapids:  47.6%                                                     
9. Hilltop/Columbia Hghts:  45.8%                                                         
10. MPLS - POWDERHORN:  45.2%                    

**Note:  There are other smaller towns with fewer sales that had higher percentages.  For the purposes of this list, I used areas with over 100 toal sales year to date.

The property types (ie. Single Family Detached, Town homes, or Condominiums) that the foreclosure phenomenon is having the worst effect on are townhomes.  The number of townhomes that have gone into foreclosure has doubled year over year.  Last year there were 847 town homes sales that were lender mediated through the month of October.  This year the numbers are up 97% with a total of 1671 townhome foreclosures.  Condos are up 78.6% and Single Family Homes are up 56%.

The price ranges of homes in foreclosure is also very interesting.  There is a direct relationship between price range and lender-meidated activity.  The more affordable the market segment, the more common foreclosures and short sales become.  The number of lender-mediated properties for sale continues to grow significantly, while traditional sellers hold back in response to a slower market.  Seasonal changes in our market means that fewer traditional sellers list their homes in Q3 and Q4 every year resulting in a downturn in sales from October through January.   

If I were in the market to buy a home…now would be the time.  Mortgage rates seem to be poised to improve making it the best time in a long time for first time home buyers.  FHA loans are the order of the day.  The $7500 tax credit that first time home buyers can take advantage of is also another carrot that is being dangled to help stimulate the housing market.

Once the first time home buyers start buying, this should provide the push the housing market needs to get going again.  One last observation regarding foreclosures; while the growing market share of lender-mediated propertiesis dragging the overall median price down substantially, the true picture for traditional sellers is very different when looked at closer.  Traditional properties that are not lender-mediated sales are experiencing quieter value declines.

Marketwide, values are in decline as the market remains firmly in the buyer’s favor.  Foreclosures are seeing faster declines as financial institutions are pricing them to move quickly, and property conditions for these homes also decrease their value.  

Bottom line - if you don’t have to sell now - then DON’T!!!!  The faster we can get the foreclosure inventory sold off, the better for traditional sellers.  If you are a buyer taking advantage of the vast opportunites out there, have a five-year plan to stay in the home that you purchase.  You will need to make that commitment if you want to realize any appreciation.  If you think that you will need to move within 5 years, then stay renting. 

For more information on the market click on the report above or visit www.mplsrealtor.com to research your local market.  If you have questions about how to go about buying a foreclosed home, call me at 612-767-3982.  I have gotten quite good at it and I would be happy to help point you in the right direction.         

Remember  just a couple years ago when the Home Depot was so freakishly busy that you couldn’t even get arrested there if you tried? A friend who used to work there admitted that associates would hide from customers and even take off their apron while working on shelves just to get some peace.

Well now HD, and all their big box brethren, are all but swooping and falling over you. The last time I was there, three people asked if they could help me find my new toilet flap. It was dreamy. (I am a simple woman, my dreams are small.)

And more than ever they’re trying to get the gals in. The Home Depot has long offered classes, but now they’re doing more woman-only sessions.  Tonight the North East Minnapolis Home Depot at the Quarry is offering a “Do-it-Herself” class on winterizing your home.  You can read more about it here. Maybe they didn’t think they could talking about caulking in mixed company.

I think this is pretty smart. It grabs the person of the family who often is in charge of the budget and shows them its really not about boys and their toys.  And more than any year, we need to be looking at tightening up our homes so a winterizing class is perfect.

If you want to learn more about why you should get an energy audit, I highly encourage you to read this great article by my friend Brent at The Family Handyman. It has many great tips for saving money this winter.

And about the house I saw the other day?  Sadly, I really liked it so now we’re toying with how we could finance it. More to come.  Honestly, the whole subject makes my head hurt.

It’s October and its evident that the quality of daylight has shifted. The landscape isn’t bleached out in the summer sun any longer and the colors have taken on those deep and saturated hues of autumn.  I really groove on fall.

So what’s a girl to do?  In the Twin Cities there’s a bevy of choices, but here a few to highlight.

Jeanne Kretchmer will be doing her “Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Ghosts but were Afraid to Ask” event at the John H. Stevens House in Minnehaha Park TONIGHT.  You know that little white house in the Park by Hiawatha Ave? Reservations, along with $7, are required.  Here’s the number: 612.722.2220

If you miss it you can catch Rick Hagen, founder of Paranormal Investigations at the same location on Sunday, October 26 at 2pm.  Admission to the seminar is $10 to benefit the Stevens House. Reservations are required: 612 827-0138

Ok- so not into paranormal?

There’s still time to hit the Farmer’s Markets. I did talk about the Midtown Farmer’s Market early last spring, so now I’ll head to St. Paul and talk up their market which is chock full o’ fall bounty - like butternut squash and other makings for soup. In fact, like their Minneapolis sister, the market goes all winter long on Saturdays.

While there you can visit local entrepreneur, Lori Karis, who has taken her 20-years making organic baby food as a nanny to the public as Sweet Cheeks Baby Food. I’m a big fan of the small business so you go Lori!

And if I’m gonna mention Sweet Cheeks, I also need to talk about Aunt Else’s Aebleskiver at the Mill City Farmer’s Market.

This is the last weekend to grab some of these Danish hot apple treats so don’t miss out. Here’s a picture of my friend Chad cranking some out. I’m not sure why I know all these creative peeps - just lucky I guess.

I  can’t think of something I treasure much more than the urban dog parks.  It’s very cool to hit the gate, unleash the dog and watch him run & romp like he’s meant to. And for reasons I can’t explain (but Ceasar Milan can) there seems to be hardly any negative interactions among the 4-pawed visitors.

Of course, there’s always the “who’s top dog” contest, which seems to be settled inside 5 minutes. For us it usually ends with our Rottweiler mix being face-humped. It’s more humiliating for us owners than him.

Minneapolis has five of these off-leash locations - including Columbia Park, Franklin Terrance, Lake of the Isles, Minnehaha Park and Loring Park. For my money, the Minnehaha Park one off of Hiawatha is about the most beautiful parks in the city - dog park or not. It’s a walk in the woods by the Mississippi that can make you forget that you live in an urban jungle.

If you’re a Minneapolis resident it’s $35 to set your dog up and $60 for non-residents. Second dogs get in a bit cheaper. You can start the licence process here.

Of course, it’s not just Minneapolis dogs having all the fun, St. Louis Park has its own dog park, too.

Visit www.dogfriendly.com for a list of dog friendly parks and hotels in the Twin Cities area and spots around the country.

A Minneapolis neighborhood took on a lending corp - and won.

In yesterday’s Star Tribune, I read about how the neighborhood of Hawthorne shook down the likes of CitiMortgage.  I don’t know about your neighborhood group, but none of the ones I’ve been involved with had that kind of bravado.

Here’s the skinny:

Hawthorne was able to buy a fire-damaged house for under 19K. It’s a property which CitiMortgage was in for a $235,000 mortgage. I think it’s saying something that a lending giant is taking some small amount of responsibility for its poor lending practices.

From the Star Tribune article…”We shook the foundations of a financial institution that, like the rest of corporate America, claims to do no wrong,” said Peter Teachout, a neighbor of the house and the chairman of the Hawthorne Area Community Council, which sued CitiMortgage.

Although the piece clearly states that the case “avoids a precedent on whether a lender can be held liable for the effects of allegedly careless loans” -  it is a huge victory for this neighborhood which needs the property for part of a redevelopment project.