We Tell it Like It Is

I've been spending a lot of time in N Mpls within the past 2 wks. Some areas I feared for my life, while others I found surprisingly clean, quiet & almost suburban-like. It is very clear to me that the most house for your buck can be found this year in the Camden neighborhood of Mpls. And its obvious that first-time homebuyers are taking advantage of this, as I've seen many homes in this area already occupied by young guys & gals w/small children. Lawns are immaculate, homes are well-kept. Investors are buying them for next to nothing and completely remodeling them. Buyers can get a completely refurbished home -- 2-3 bedrms, 1-2 bath, 800-1500 sq.ft for under $150,000 easily. I've even seen decent places for under $100k. Urban living, easy access to freeways, etc. And I haven't been shot at or harrassed.

$150k in other areas of the city haven't been so great in my opinion. Still in need of a lot of work and in less-desirable neighborhoods. This includes Powderhorn, Phillips & Nordeast.

Mrs. Buyer & I traveled alone, deep into the thick of the inner city where I grew up. I hardly recognized certain buildings, landmarks, etc. as their colors & structures changed so much in 25 yrs. I felt very comfortable getting out of the car and into the first house. However, upon exiting the home and walking back to our cars, I could feel eyes on me. Were they suspicious but protective eyes on alert to new faces in the neighborhood; wondering who were were and what we were doing? My youthful appearance clad in a dress with briefcase in hand led me to believe I wasn't presenting a threat. Or were they predatory eyes sizing up vulnerable prey?

The eyes, the loud music, and the slow-moving vehicles started to draw up images in my mind of movies such as Boyz in the Hood where bullets flew from guns drawn out of coat pockets & car windows. My heart pounded as we continued our home shopping. Not one person approached us or vocalized anything to us from afar. Other than images in my mind, we were not threatened by anyone or anything around us. At one of the last houses we looked at, Mrs. Buyer approached a postman outside and asked him what he thought of the neighborhood. He said that he has never been threatened, and folks have always been curtious to him. Mrs. Buyer asked him if he'd be ok w/his sister buying this house that we had just looked at and his answer was "no". He said he would never be caught walking through those neighborhoods without his uniform. In his uniform, he serves a purpose, therefore, they leave him alone. Without it, he doesn't feel safe.

We talked w/other neighbors that have lived there for many years and they said they felt safe in their homes, in spite of incidents a few blocks away that send sirens & flashing lights down the streets on a regular basis. They have been left alone and feel completely independent from the crime that takes place in other areas, which they believe is isolated to specific individuals.

So, I guess its all subjective. Its all about one's comfort level and interpretation. What I can say though is that all the homes we looked at in N Mpls were the opposite of the vandalized, missing copper, rat-infested, broken windowed that one may picture being for sale there. We saw some VERY nice homes for a very good price. Each person must be the judge of how they feel in the areas that they are in.

Since I've become a Realtor, I've avoided showing homes in North Minneapolis like the plague. Funny saying that, because its an area that I know like the back of my hand and can actually give people a lot of history on.

However, a few weeks ago, some newer buyers of mine (thanks Dan & Trish!)requested to venture into the Camden area -- a place that is famous right now for having nice, refurbished homes for cheap in order to attract young buyers in the hopes of changing the demographics of the neighborhoods there. I was a bit nervous, but bit the bullet and set up the appointments for a weekday afternoon. After seeing a few houses that day, we felt as if we had hit a goldmine and I was enlightened. We looked up more listings and went back another day. After seeing about 15-20 homes under $100,000 that were clean, polished, spacious, and up to code, we had just barely cracked the surface of the list that were for sale. And I was astonished at how quiet and well-maintained the houses were on the entire blocks. It was so impressive to see homeowners outside mowing their lawns, planting flowers, and chatting with each other. Pleasantville in North Mpls???

As my buyers & I continued on with their home search, we became braver & braver; slowly sneaking closer in as home prices dropped further. How far could we go before Pleasantville disappeared? And how many times could we visit that cookie jar until our hands got slapped? Have we uncovered a secret that the ghetto as we've known it has disappeared or did we sail through the uncharted waters and find sharks? Stay tuned :)

I was having pizza with a childhood girlfriend of mine this past Saturday. We had such a wonderful time reminicing about growing up in the city 25 years ago: playing ball in the alleys, writing on the sidewalks with the neighbor's rocks (this was long before the creation of sidewalk chalk!), roaming the neighborhoods until our mothers yelled aimlessly out the door when it was time to come in for dinner, visiting Monroe's (the corner store 2 blocks away) to get the newest flavor in bubblegum, and going down to the park to see the breakdancers do their thing w/their boomboxes blaring. The good ol' days when -YES- us kids did all of that on our own...no parental supervision needed. Not only did we do this in the city, but specifically in the city of North Minneapolis. Yep, I was a 'ghetto girl' back in the late 70's/early 80's. Its pretty funny to say that because my memories of the first 10 years of my life do not contain gunfire, prostitution, robberies, poverty, gangs, and all of those things that describe 'ghetto' to most people. Was my immature mind just immune to all of that or was my neighborhood on 28th & Aldrich really a nice place at one time?!

My folks & I moved out of the inner city in 1985, when I was getting ready to start 5th grade. A "prostitution house" transformed across the street and 5 houses down from us and that's when my mother laid down the law. We moved to the suburbs after many months of market time to an investor for $30,000. I missed the 'hood and to appease me, my dad would take us for a ride once in awhile to drive past the "old homestead" as my mom would call it.  However, after only a couple of years, those rides began to fade as news reports scared us into believing it was no longer safe to do. Houses on our block began to decompose as all of our old neighbors followed suit and moved out & away. The media painted a new picture in my mind of a place filled with senseless & random violence, poverty and people that lived like pigs. I have carried that image in my mind for years....up until a month ago.

Wow, a lot of action going on out there. Here's an update from the Mpls Area Assoc. of Realtors:

For the week ending May 23, there were 1,103 pending sales, which was down slightly from the week prior due to the Memorial Day weekend holiday. Despite the low-cal dip, the mark is still 27.2 percent higher than last year at this time. Of the week's sales, 43.2 percent were lender-mediated foreclosures and short sales. In week-by-week, year-over-year comparisons, sales are expected to be higher than last year for the remainder of the year.

Heavy sales and soft growth in new listings equate to no growth in the supply of homes for sale this spring—the time of year that typically shows the largest increases. There are currently 26,453 active listings, lagging 19.6 percent behind this time in 2008.

This week's edition of the MAAR Weekly Market Activity Report features a new Supply-Demand Ratio for June 2009 of 5.04, which means that there will be 5.04 houses per buyer during the month. This is an astounding 33.4 percent drop compared to June 2008.