Fun & Unique

Top 10 Saint Paul Real Estate Blog Posts of 2011

There is always something interesting happening in the world of Twin Cities real estate. And we've written about many of those events and stories here at the Homes of Minnesota Saint Paul Real Estate Blog! Read on to find out what our most popular posts were for 2011.

Saint Paul & Minneapolis Residents Happier Than Most

In November, Men’s Health Magazine released a list of 100 American cities and the overall level of happiness of the citizens who live there. Both of the Twin Cities ranked in the top 20, with St. Paul receiving an A- for an overall grade and Minneapolis a B+.

Mid-Century Modern Home Tour in the Twin Cities

Minnesota and the Twin Cities metro area have many home tours that occur between spring and fall. Seven mid-century modern homes around the metro were open for public viewing. The Mid-Century Modern Home Tour was self-guided through seven homes that ranged from a Frank Lloyd Wright home to a California modern house with courtyards.

Razing Houses to Improve Housing Stock in the Twin Cities

Too much of Minnesota's housing stock is old and outdated. When homes are beyond the scope of reasonable repair or rebabilitation, it can be more worthwhile to demolish them. South St. Paul's Housing and Redevelopment Authority buys and razes these types of properties as part of a program to clear old lots for new housing.

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Homestead Pride in Saint Paul's Summit Hill Neighborhood

The first mansions of Summit Avenue in Saint Paul started going up nearly 150 years ago, evolving over time to become one of the city's swankiest neighborhoods. Residents want to celebrate that history with house plaques that display when their homes were constructed.

The Summit Hill Association plans to connect homeowners with vendors and contractors qualified to install house plaques on their properties. Association members have said the plaques would likely resemble the markers typically associated with the National Register of Historic Places, regardless of whether the home actually sits within one of the area's two federally defined historic districts. The association — one of the city's 17 official planning districts — floated the idea in its newsletter last month. So far, 13 homeowners have signed up for more information.

The idea of encouraging homeowners to buy historic plaques isn't new. Throughout the country, historic preservation commissions often designate uniform designs for home plaques within historic districts. A private homeowners' group in the Summit Hill area, called the Ramsey Hill Association, followed a similar tack in the 1980s.

A sizable area around Summit Avenue lies within two different national and two different local historic districts. The Hill Historic District and the Summit Avenue West Historic Districts are the national designations. The Hill Historic District runs east-to-west along Summit Avenue from the St. Paul Cathedral to Lexington Avenue. The Summit Avenue West Historic District is an adjoining area along Summit Avenue from Mississippi River Boulevard to Lexington Avenue. The local districts include Summit Hill, a triangular region from Lexington Avenue on the west, Summit Avenue on the north, and the bluffs on the south, and Ramsey Hill, the area bounded by Summit Avenue, Dale Street, Interstate Highway 94, and a line running...

Thanksgiving in Minnesota

It’s Thanksgiving again! Hope you have your turkey on hand for tomorrow! About 46 million turkeys were eaten last Thanksgiving.

Many Minnesota turkey farmers can be  thanked for that! Minnesota hatches and raises more turkeys than any other state, producing about 45 million yearly. The rest of the top 5 states are North Carolina, Arkansas, Missouri, and Virginia.

One of the main reasons why Minnesota's approximately 600 turkey farms are as successful as they are is because of two other major exports for the state: corn and soybeans. Minnesota's turkey industry supports about 1,800 corn and soybean farmers.

What's more, over the years the University of Minnesota and the College of Agriculture and Animal Sciences and the College of Veterinary Medicine have helped farmers with solutions to issues, like disease prevention and better diets.

And remember: After you've eaten the turkey and stuffing, watched the football game, and maybe had a few beers, please don't drink then drive. Not only could you be placing the lives of innocent people in danger, but DWI and DUI enforcement is has been stepped up in Minnesota over the holiday.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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A New Look and New Features

Much like our Barker & Hedges Realtors website, there have been some changes around here at the Saint Paul Real Estate site. It, too, has been completely redesigned, reorganized, and revamped.

This Saint Paul Real Estate Site has more features, search methods, more ways to share what you find, and easy ways to save your favorite properties.  Also, we can now e-mail new listings to you that fit your needs as homes become available on the market. More options will be added to this site to aid you in buying a home or selling a home in Saint Paul, Minneapolis, and the surrounding Twin Cities suburbs.

On the whole, we aim to become the most comprehensive resources for Twin Cities real estate information. The old site was outdated and too restricted. This new site's capabilities will increase and it will evolve to suit the needs of visitors into the future. And as of now you can do so without having to register!

If you haven't bookmarked this Saint Paul Real Estate site before, now  might be a good time. If you seek to buy a home in Saint Paul or one of the Greater Twin Cities metro communities, and this is your first visit to the site, take a look around to see what we have to offer. This website is packed with plenty of useful information that we hope will keep you coming back for more....

Gifts for Saint Paul Arts Groups

Saint Paul, and the Twin Cities area in general, really love the arts.  The arts scene right here in our neck of the woods, as it turns out, is loved by others from outside Minnesota, too!  Eight Twin Cities arts organizations will share about $5.3 million worth of grants from the New York-based Wallace Foundation.  The money is meant to grow audiences and encourage student participation. In addition, the foundation will give $1.6 million to Arts Midwest and the Minnesota Community Foundation over four years to create a learning network to available to all Twin Cities arts organizations. The total sum of $6.9 million is the largest single-year commitment Wallace has made to local arts organizations.

Six groups will receive grants of $750,000 over four years. They are MacPhail Center for Music, Minnesota Orchestra, Minnesota Opera, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Ordway Center and the MIA. Northern Clay Center will get $500,000, and Mixed Blood Theatre won $300,000.

The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, also known as the SPCO, is now in its 50th season. With its share of the grant money, it will move from a traditional model to grass-roots marketing, including face-to-face and word-of-mouth contacts. The emphasis would be on the 20- to 30-year-old...

Welcome to The Saint Paul Real Estate Blog!

This blog is devoted to providing information and resources to help you buy or sell Saint Paul, Minnesota real estate.  If you’re new to the home buying or selling, or you’ve been through the process a dozen times, this blog will be useful in helping to inform you.  Future posts will include information about St. Paul and its neighborhoods, the Saint Paul real estate market, home purchasing and selling tips, and more. 

Barker & Hedges is an established RE/MAX real estate agency operating in Saint Paul.  The individuals who comprise the Barker & Hedges Team come from a mixture of backgrounds.  Our different areas of expertise and varying personalities combine professionalism, ingenuity, and skill to assess the changing world of St. Paul real estate. Please take a moment to get to know our Team members by reading about them here.

Some pages on this website which you may want to check out are our general information for home buyers and home sellers. You can find homes in St. Paul with our property search.  We have some real estate articles on our site which may be of interest to you.  On our homepage, you can also find out about individual Saint Paul neighborhoods. 

We will expand on each neighborhood with posts...

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