Community Information

Top Bike-Friendly Neighborhoods in Minneapolis

Bike Friendly Neighborhoods Minneapolis Did you know that Minneapolis is widely thought of to be one of the most bike-friendly cities in the country? In fact, according to Redfin and WalkScore, Minneapolis has more bicycle infrastructure than any other U.S. city, which is perhaps the biggest reason why it’s considered so bike-friendly. 

Perhaps now more than ever, access to public transportation and outdoor recreational amenities are highly important to prospective home buyers, especially young home buyers and those looking to buy for the first time. 

So with this in mind, just which Minneapolis neighborhoods are tops when it comes to bike-friendliness? We list several below: 

Lyn-Lake - Bike Score: 99

Almost acting as an extension of the Uptown district, there’s plenty to do all around Lyn-Lake, which includes hitting all the shops, restaurants, and boutiques along Lake Street and Lyndale Avenue. Just north of the neighborhood is also the Midtown Greenway bicycle and pedestrian path, helping make it one of the city’s bike-friendliest neighborhoods. 

Dinkytown - Bike Score: 99

Dinkytown is located right near the University of Minnesota campus, which means plenty of bike lanes and pathways for locals to use and access. Not surprisingly, it’s also one of the city’s more vibrant neighborhoods and there’s also no shortage of bike shops here as well. ...

Top Minneapolis Neighborhoods First-Time Home Buyers Should Consider Right Now

Best Minneapolis Neighborhoods For First Time Home BuyersSo what makes a great neighborhood? Well, most answers you get to this question will largely depend on who you ask. But many first time home buyers might say it’s that perfect combination of affordability and close proximity to nearby amenities and attractions that truly make for the ideal place to look for a new home. 

In Minneapolis, plenty of neighborhoods offer all sorts of desirable characteristics from top-notch curb appeal to walkability and easy access to shopping, dining, and entertainment. Some neighborhoods are even defined by a certain trait or two, which may or may not help determine whether it’s the right location for you. If you’re a first time home buyer in Minneapolis, however, some neighborhoods will undeniably be a better fit, starting with the few we’ve listed below…

Bottineau 

Named for legendary pioneer Pierre Bottineau, the Bottineau neighborhood should be considered a great choice for any first time home buyer. Most streets are tree-lined and quiet, and most homes for sale in Bottineau were built pre-1940 and have plenty of charm and character throughout. Larger homes tend to jump up into the $300,000s but look for the majority of houses to price somewhere between $200,000 and $250,000.

Holland 

Holland has definitely seen a rise in popularity...

3 Minneapolis Condo Buildings First Time Buyers Will Absolutely Love

Minnesota First Time Home BuyersFirst time home buyers in Minneapolis have lots of choices to make, which may range from where to buy to what type of home you’ll actually be buying. For some buyers, purchasing a condo might be the right fit, especially if affordability is high up on your list of needs or wants. In Minneapolis, there's hardly a shortage of desirable condo buildings first time home buyers should consider, but here's a closer look at three that specifically stand out heading into the busy fall season.

15 S. 1st Street

Although the River Towers in Minneapolis were built back in the mid 1960s, condo residences here are some of the more desirable you’ll find anywhere. Floor plans are open and surprisingly spacious, and you’ll also be positioned right near the Skyway and light rail. Building amenities are also top notch and include tennis courts, a quiet library/lounge, a fitness room, and a huge courtyard with a swimming pool and sauna.

20 2nd Street

As part of the Falls and Pinnacle complex, 20 2nd Street might offer some of the best skyline views of any high rise in town. Floor plans mostly include studio, one, two, and three bedroom layouts, and most units have been recently updated to include newer kitchen...

How Long the Home Buying Process Can Really Take

How long does it take to purchase a home? The truth is, there’s no cut-and-dry answer. Our team has helped some buyers purchase a home in just one week, while other buyers we work with may be looking at a process spanning several years. Things like your credit score, your financial situation, and the market’s current inventory levels will all be factors in the length of the home buying process. To learn more about this key subject, watch this short video.

...

Minnesota Vikings Parting Ways With Ragnar



For over two decades, Ragnar and the Minnesota Vikings have been synonymous with one another. The Vikings mascot has been on the sidelines, pumping up the crowds and dressing as a Viking at home games dating back to 1994. Now, with Ragnar and the Vikings unable to reach an agreement via contract negotiations, it appears Ragnar will have to watch the Vikings games from his home and not the TCF Bank Stadium sidelines.

According to a source close to the negotiations, Ragnar made $1,500 per game last season; he was seeking a new contract with the Vikings that would cover the next ten years. He also wanted $20,000 per game over that time span. That's quite a raise he's asking for, to say the least.

While the Vikings community is up in arms over the whole ordeal, even going as far to create an online petition with over 10,000 signatures to date, it seems like the Vikings have to stand their ground here. $20,000 per game is a lot of money to pay for someone to dress up as a Viking and dance around on the sidelines. As iconic as Ragnar has been within the Vikings community, it's hard to argue any mascot is worth that type of coin. With eight regular season home games each year, Ragnar would make an estimated $1.6 million over that ten year contract.

It remains to be seen how this will all play out, but at this moment, it appears the Vikings and their long-time mascot will be parting ways. The story is sad, but it makes sense to me. Even as rich as the Vikings owners are, and as much as the team is worth, a mascot shouldn't get $1.6 million to be a mascot for ten years.

The Vikings will play their next home game this Sunday versus the San Diego Chargers. Vikings fans may have to get used to seeing...

St. Paul Saints Old Home Getting Demolished


The St. Paul Saints have their new home in Lowertown, the beautiful CHS Field. While I myself think this new ballpark is truly spectacular with great sight lines throughout, I didn't really stop to think about the fate of the Saints old home, Midway Stadium. Some of my earliest baseball memories are from Midway Stadium; it pains me just a bit to hear this is the week the old stadium faces its last breath: demolition.

The demolition began yesterday, August 19, and will take a full week to complete. The grandstand along the third baseline was the first victim of the heavy machinery charged with leveling the stadium.

The old murals that covered the walls, something I always cherished about the unique ballpark, will soon be nothing but a memory. With the Minnesota State Fair so close, I was hoping to be able to see the ballpark one more time on my way to the fair. The space will be nothing but a flat piece of land with some piles of rubble by the Great Minnesota Get-Together.

The stadium, though dated in even its last days of service, doesn't look like it used to. Graffiti, litter and overgrown grass and shrubbery now dominate the once proud space. Because the stadium is mostly a ghost land, the demolition is completely necessary, though bittersweet. The baseball has left and moved to Lowertown, but for many Minnesotans, the memories of the Midway Stadium will never fade.

...

Como Conservatory Celebrates 100 Years

A celebration of 100 years is no small deal, and the Como Park Zoo and Conservatory will celebrate the 100th year of the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory this weekend. This beloved building is reason enough to visit the Como area, with the beauty of the building showing both during the day and at night.

The Como Park Zoo and Conservatory will be taking this weekend to celebrate the 100 years, beginning with a ribbon cutting ceremony at 9:30 AM on this Friday (June 19). This will take place at the recent addition, the Centennial Garden. This space is a stylized take on the traditional European landscape gardens which used to bring visitors to the gardens in the early 20th century.

The weekend will host gardener exhibitions and discussions, musicians, the illumination of the conservatory dome on Friday evening (a gorgeous sight) and much more.


To check out the full spread of activities, visit: comozooconservatory.org.

Photo courtesy of: Richard Yuan

...

Apple Valley Basketball Star Returns Home

Tyus Jones playing for Apple Valley last year.

Many fans of March Madness fill out a bracket for the Men's NCAA tournament -- this year, if you chose Duke to win it all, Apple Valley native Tyus Jones led his team and likely your bracket to glory. The star shined in the NCAA basketball tournament proving he was one of the nation's best high school recruits last year -- many Minnesotans were a little sour Jones didn't end up chosing the Gophers as his collegiate basketball team, but clearly he made the right decision, choosing a Duke team that won it all in his freshmen year. 

He returned to Apple Valley at the end of April because the school honored him for his basketball accomplishments. Jones and Kevin Garnett also threw out the first pitch for the Twins at their home opener, showing just how big of a Minnesota favorite he's become. 

The young player also led his school to the Minnesota State Basketball Championship back in 2013 -- Jones' future in the basketball world is bright, giving Minnesota basketball a chance to stand proud. 

Image courtesy of: Gordy Hagert

...

Minnesota Cracks Down on Texting & Driving

Texting and driving is a very dangerous game -- it causes drivers to be distracted thus making the roads even more dangerous. Minnesota is taking steps to crack down on drivers who use their phones while operating a vehicle.

The Minnesota Department of Public Safety is putting together plans to target distracted drivers, with state troopers, city police and county deputies on the lookout for those not giving their full attention to the road. Signs of distracted drivers are swerving, inconsistent speeds and drivers looking down into their laps. 

Drivers caught giving into distraction will be issued citations of $125 to $145. This extra enforcement will run until April 18th in an effort to get operators out of this bad driving habit. 

It is still legal for drivers to make calls while driving -- this crack down is on those texting or using the Internet while driving, even while stopped in traffic. Proving a driver is violating this law on their phone can prove tricky for officers -- but law enforcement can also write a moving violations for poor driving, whether it be from texting, a phone call or messing with the radio. 

This crack down is much needed as last year a quarter of crashes in Minnesota were caused by distracted driving -- one quarter. Imagine if drivers were fully immersed in operating their vehicles, accidents would drop by one quarter. 

I for one always get annoyed seeing drivers with their eyes in their laps, then up to the road, then back to their lap. This crack down will helpfully get drivers to focus on the task at hand -- operating their vehicle safely. 

Photo courtesy of: ...

Minnesota Stops the Freeze on TurboTax Prepared Returns

In the past week many Minnesotans seeking to get their 2014 taxes done have been on a rollercoaster. Because of an apparent security breach of Turbo Tax's database, the Minnesota Department of Revenue suspended consumer's ability to submit their returns on the widely used tax software. With so many Minnesotans filing their taxes with the inexpensive Turbo Tax, many were reeling about how much they would have to pay in order to file without the cheap option.

The Minnesota Department of Revenue released in a statement on Saturday that they would again accept returns filed on Turbo Tax from Minnesotans. Intuit, the company who produces the Turbo Tax software, said their system had not been breached, resulting in the reversal of the Minnesota Department of Revenue's decision to ban the tax returns filed by the software. Intuit even went the extra mile and "implemented new and targeted security measures." 

This news is welcome to all those who love the simplicity of Turbo Tax and just how easy it can make filing taxes. 

...

Get the Best Prices at the Pump - Every time!

If you've been driving at all in recent months, you clearly have been paying attention to the downward spiral of gas prices. All of us Minnesotans have been loving this trend -- cheaper prices at the pump definitely put a smile on Minnesota drivers' faces. But how many times have you filled up at the pump and then driven down the road a mile and seen a gas station with prices that are three cents lower a gallon? To prevent this from ever happening to you again, before you fill up next time, check out Gasbuddy.com -- they have created an interactive map that has all the best gas prices at stations around the Twin Cities. 

If you really want to feel good about being a Minnesotan getting the best deal, check out the map from a national scale where prices are much higher in many areas of the country, especially the coasts. In California and New York, prices are well over $2.50 a gallon. So, despite the freezing cold experience of filling up in the frigid winter, at least you can feel good about getting the best deal from Gas Buddy and feel good about the fact that you aren't paying as much as New Yorkers. 

Check out the interactive map below. Punch in your area code to hone in on your area. 

...

Expiration of Federal Housing Administration's Property Flipping Waiver

The real estate market will be changing in the coming months -- a decision from the Department of Housing and Urban Development will not extend their waiver beyond 12/31/2014, a decision that will limit investor/rehab contractors from buying distressed properties, fixing them up and selling them to a buyer within 180 days. So for all you HGTV fanatics out there who love those rehab shows, this practice might become more and more rare with new restrictions.

Most of the rehab projects exceed the "sell for more than 100% of the recent purchase price" portion of the rule, which means an investor would need to hold the property for at least 180 days before being able to sell it to a buyer using an FHA mortgage. Many first time home buyers use FHA mortgages and many of these flipped properties are in the price range of first time home buyers. 

A quick restore on a distressed property and flip is how these investors make money and revitalize previously lost pieces of real estate. The Federal Housing Administration is prohibiting this practice because it eliminates the most egregious examples of predatory flips within the FHA mortgage insurance programs. These investor/rehab contractors still have the option to sell the property under 180 days, however, the property is then not eligible security for a mortgage insured by the FHA (there are exceptions in the fine print). 

How this will affect the market in total will be determined in the coming months and years -- this certainly will mean a change in how house flipping is practiced. 

Image via: REMAX 

...

Minnesota Paid $40 Million to Federal Government in 2013

In 2013, the state of Minnesota's businesses and citizens paid $85.9 billion in federal taxes, but only got $45 billion back in federal grants, contracts, salaries, benefits and other compensation. This $40 billion divide is among the highest in the country according to the National Priorities Project.

“Minnesota is younger, healthier and wealthier” than the vast majority of the nation, said Dartmouth government professor Dean Lacy, who studies the relationship between states’ federal contributions and benefits.

Minnesotans paid an average of $15,847 per person in inflation-adjusted federal taxes last year — twice the U.S. average. The state also ranks in the bottom third of states in per person receipts for federal programs like food stamps, Medicare, education benefits and unemployment benefits. Keep in mind, these are federal program statistics. 

These numbers point to the fact that Minnesota has been working tirelessly to use its own state funds to take care of the problems within the state's borders. 

“We tend to take care of our problems before the federal government has to,” said Jay Kiedrowski, an expert in leadership at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs. “That’s why this is a tricky problem. It’s really a hard dilemma. … In a sense, we’re being penalized for being efficient.”

Minnesota is a state with high-income citizens and low poverty and those states tend to pay in more in the U.S. If the state had more poverty, it would collect more in federal...

35W Could Look A Lot Different in the Future

Many cities across the US have been undertaking projects to put "caps" or "lids" over large, noisy highways -- this process involves burying the road underground, creating a tunnel system, and having something much more natural on the surface, like a park or residential space. 

Minneapolis planners are more than flirting with the idea of "capping" a spot on 35W that spans from Downtown East to the Cedar-Riverside neighborhoods. This cap would create more than 17 acres of new land. 

Chicago, Seattle and San Diego have all successfully completed cap projects. This leads to new growth in the former motor causeway, leaving room for prosperity of parks, residential areas, and of course, commercial development (likely a huge way to gain back some of the cost of said project). 

But with such a large undertaking, how much would something like this cost? As of now, the planners have no real estimates as they are in the very early stages of mapping out the potential project. 

While the benefits could be numerous, will they outweigh the expensive price tag attached to this massive project?

Photo by: Matthew Deery 

...

Minnesota Under 'Super' Construction

The state of Minnesota is in full expansion mode right now in the heart of Twin Cities. With the Metrodome gone for good, the Vikings franchise is erecting a new facility to house many events, particuliarly football. Because of this new football palace, the Super Bowl will be calling Minnesota home in 2018. The eyes of the sporting world will be on the Twin Cities.

With so much attention on the area, there is no doubt the Mall of America will be a big attraction for all visitors. But even the mall as we know it now will look much different by 2018. As big as the mall is now, imagine it being twice as big in ten years. Crazy right?

Although the 'super' expansion won't be complete by 2018, you can bet a whole lot will be done considering that millions will flock to the area from everywhere -- the MOA wants to put on its best face. 

The full expansion will happen in phases -- and once all is said and done, there will be another hotel, office space, more dining and retail space, and another massive atrium. 

It will be fun to see the crazy traffic rolling through the MOA during Super Bowl week. Four more years to wait. 

Image courtesy of: DLR Group 

...