The Most Common Mistakes I See in People's Homes - Part 1As a Designer and a Home Stager I see a lot of things in peoples homes. I see homes in all price levels from a couple hundred thousand to a few million. There are a few design and home staging mistakes I see over and over and they are so easy to fix.One of these common mistakes is: Having all the furniture pushed back to the walls.   Even in a small room this is not always the best option. Usually something can be angled or pulled forward.In a large room, the room actually looks smaller when all pieces are back against the walls. Plus, the room is not very cozy as the conversation area is too far apart.   My advice is to move the furniture up and create a cozier conversation area. If the room is overly large you will need to split... 05/11/2011

Featured Nokomis Listing Just move in and enjoy this home in a nice Nokomis neighborhood near Hiawatha and Minnehaha Falls. Very clean home with fresh paint and gleaming hardwood floors. See the virtual tour, then come take a closer look. Great location close to Hiawatha close to the light rail station close to downtown Minneapolis Planning to sell your Minneapolis MN home? See what the competition looks like. Call or email for market analysis of your Roseville home. Are you searching for a Minneapolis area home? Call or email when you need more information or a showing of any twin cities house on the market. For many people, it's a great time to find a home to own in Minneapolis, MN. Call Mark Westpfahl at 651.208.9848 for more information about any twin cities area home for sale.   W... 05/10/2011

Lyndale Park near Lake Harriet in Minneapolis is showing signs of spring, with water burbling and bulbs in colorful array. The bursting blooms seem to be happily shouting, "Hooray, it's spring!"   The Peace Garden section of the park was called the Rock Garden for over 80 years until it was renamed the Peace Garden in 1998 and designated an International Peace Site the following year. A focal point of the park is the Peace Garden Bridge, installed in 2009 and constructed in a zigzag pattern according to Japanese tradition to prevent evil spirits from following people into the garden.   The bridge was designed by McKnight Distinguished Artist Kinji Akagawa and Jerry Allan, Architect and Professor at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. It includes inlaid Minnesota granite, as well ... 05/08/2011

SSShhhhhh.....Don't Tell My Husband.  My husband Gary has been working massive hours. He runs a faith based transitional housing program for men who are homeless or coming out of treatment as well as a work release program for men in their last six to nine months of incarceration. He has men's lives in his hands and each of them is always on his heart. The mission of Midwest Challenge is to change these men's lives. Teaching them a different way to live rather than going back to what they know which for many of them is gangs. The organization's two biggest fundraisers are in the Spring. The Wild Game Feed was just two weeks ago and the golf tournament is in two weeks. Many hours of work to prepare and many hours to worry. Plus the day to day stress of the men. So, I decided to surprise ... 05/06/2011

Planning to sell your Minneapolis MN home? See what the competition looks like. Call or email for market analysis of your Roseville home. Are you searching for a Minneapolis area home? Call or email when you need more information or a showing of any twin cities house on the market. For many people, it's a great time to find a home to own in Minneapolis, MN. Call Mark Westpfahl at 651.208.9848 for more information about any twin cities area home for sale.     Featured Nokomis Listing Just move in and enjoy this home in a nice Nokomis neighborhood near Hiawatha and Minnehaha Falls. Very clean home with fresh paint and gleaming hardwood floors. See the virtual tour, then come take a closer look. Great location close to Hiawatha close to the light rail station close to downtown Minneapolis... 05/03/2011

Minneapolis Condos - Know Your Lease Renting and owning are two very different things.  When you are renting a property it's important that you understand the lease agreement that you are entering into.  The terms of the lease are much more than move in/move out dates and monthly rent.  One of the big stipulations that we have seen tenants having a hard time understanding is the marketing cooperation agreement.  The reason that this is so important is that if the owner is to lease the propert to a new tenant their goal is to avoid a vacancy and the lost rental incomve that comes with that.  So, they need the current tenants cooperation during the final two months in regards to marketing which means cooperating with showings and potentially open houses with 24 hour notice.  So if you sch... 05/02/2011

iMetro Property Business Spotlight featuring www.3-bids.com One of our goals at iMetro Property is to bring value to our clients anyway we can.  Our Business Spotlight feature will look at what companies in other industries are doing.  This week we met with Mark Apfelbacher of 3-Bids (www.3-bids.com) and he'll discuss a little bit about what they do.  Their focus is on getting competitive bids on roofing, siding, windows and energy efficient projects.  visit us online for information on Minneapolis Real Estate. 05/01/2011

Nokomis Area Homes. Homes For Sale in South Minneapolis, MN Your browser does not support inline frames or is currently configured not to display inline frames.   Planning to sell your Minneapolis MN home? See what the competition looks like. Call or email for market analysis of your Roseville home. Are you searching for a Minneapolis area home? Call or email when you need more information or a showing of any twin cities house on the market. For many people, it's a great time to find a home to own in Minneapolis, MN. Call Mark Westpfahl at 651.208.9848 for more information about any twin cities area home for sale.     Featured Nokomis Listing Just move in and enjoy this home in a nice Nokomis neighborhood near Hiawatha and Minnehaha Falls. Very clean home with fresh paint and gleaming ... 04/28/2011

Minneapolis MN Homes For Sale find Minneapolis homes for sale at www.MarkWestpfahl.com   Planning to sell your Minneapolis MN home? See what the competition looks like. Call or email for market analysis of your Roseville home. Are you searching for a Minneapolis area home? Call or email when you need more information or a showing of any twin cities house on the market. For many people, it's a great time to find a home to own in Minneapolis, MN. Call Mark Westpfahl at 651.208.9848 for more information about any twin cities area home for sale.     Featured Nokomis Listing Just move in and enjoy this home in a nice Nokomis neighborhood near Hiawatha and Minnehaha Falls. Very clean home with fresh paint and gleaming hardwood floors. See the virtual tour, then come take a closer look. Great... 04/27/2011

When considering loan products in this market you should get familiar with a couple of different options.  Most people look at what closing costs are going to be, is there Private Mortgage Insurance and what is my interest rate.  Those are all very important items, but some loans have hidden benefits that could be very appealing.  FHA (Federal Housing Administration) mortgages have a couple unique benefits that we talk about in the video below, mainly 1.)  The loans are assumable 2.)  Built in consumer protection such as potentially helping you pay your mortgage if you lose your job.  Depending on the market and type of property FHA mortgages have gone from about 2% of the mortgage market in 2002 to more than 35% and is some areas as high as 65% of the market.  When looking to buy a Min... 04/26/2011

The city of Minneapolis started along the riverfront at St. Anthony Falls... with Minneapolis on one side and St. Anthony on the other. Today Main Street along the riverfront in the St. Anthony Falls historic district is the oldest street in the city. Perched on the bank behind St. Anthony Main is Our Lady of Lourdes, the oldest continuously used church in the city of Minneapolis.  The original building was constructed of native limestone in the form of a Greek temple by the First Universalist Society between 1854 and 1857. Twenty years later, in 1877, it was purchased by the Catholic French Canadian community and it was expanded and renovated in the Gothic Revival style. This community has worshipped here continuously since that time. It almost closed in 1968, but instead started under... 04/23/2011

In light of recent experiences I have had with local Twin Cities new construction home builders, I make it a point to tell buyers that they should thouroghly research any builder they might contract to build their new home. Some builders are barely keeping their business above water, and others are slowly sinking, but if you spoke with these builders, most likely they would tell you they are doing" a lot" of business. Don't believe them. Here are some tips to consider when building a new home: Ask the builder how long they have been in business under the current company name.If it is a short period of time, ask them if they, or anyone involved with company, has been a builder/contractor under a different name. Believe it or not, there are some fairly sizable builders in the Twin Cities ... 04/21/2011

Downtown Minneapolis Condos for Rent...or Not! The snow falling from the sky today might lead you to believe that the spring real estate market is a ways away.  The five phone calls I got today from clients looking for a downtown Minneapolis condo or loft to rent would say otherwise.  Typically these calls are great to get as I find out what they are looking for and I let them know what is available, we go look and see what fits and they have a new home.  That is not happeing right now.  There is a huge lack of rentals currently available including the rental buildings such as Heritage Landing which carries a very high occupancy rate.  Now when I get the calls I reach out to my network and the typically the answer is 'we just received an application on that' meaning it's not available u... 04/20/2011

Question of the Week How Many is too Many? Our Question of the Week comes from a current client of ours.  If you are currently looking for Minneapolis real estate, Minneapolis condos or Edina real estate you may have noticed there's a bit of lacking inventory.  As a result we've been searching in a variety of price ranges to try and find a home that fits their needs.  If it's less expensive then there's some additional money available to make some repairs and if it's on the higher end we are seeing if the seller is motivated enough to accept a lower offer.  As a result we have looked at quite a bit of Minneapolis and Edina real estate trying to find right home for him and his family.  His question was "how many homes is too many to look at before putting in an offer?"  We'll answer that... 04/19/2011

Minneapolis MN Homes For Sale Planning to sell your Minneapolis MN home? See what the competition looks like. Call or email for market analysis of your Roseville home. Are you searching for a Minneapolis area home? Call or email when you need more information or a showing of any twin cities house on the market. For many people, it's a great time to find a home to own in Minneapolis, MN. Call Mark Westpfahl at 651.208.9848 for more information about any twin cities area home for sale.   Featured Nokomis Listing Just move in and enjoy this home in a nice Nokomis neighborhood near Hiawatha and Minnehaha Falls. Very clean home with fresh paint and gleaming hardwood floors. See the virtual tour, then come take a closer look. Great location close to Hiawatha close to the light rail station c... 04/14/2011

The economy has shifted the way we think.  More than ever we are seeking the best deals in any and every situation.  The greatest example of this deal seeking mentality is the creation of Groupon, the website that offers daily deals up to 90% off, that went from start up to receiving a $6 BILLION offer from google in 18 months.  An offer they turned down, by the way.  We still want to live our lives, have fun, go to dinner, live in a nice house and do all the things we enjoyed before the economy turned, but now we are more conscious about what we are willing to pay for these things and we don't want to spend too much. So, where are the deals right now in real estate and how can you take advantage of them?  Cash is not as abundant as it once was and as a result there are a lot of homes w... 04/13/2011

Contrary to what you might think, some homes are selling very quickly this spring.  Home buyers and sellers in Southwest Minneapolis and East Edina (Linden Hills, South Harriet Park, Country Club, Morningside, etc...) may be surprised when they see some homes selling this spring as if it were 2004 again. In fact, two homes on my block (Linden Hills) went up for sale and were under contract in less that two weeks. While the average time on market continues to linger around 5 months, roughly 10% of homes (17 of 158) sell in under 2 weeks in Southwest Minneapolis and East Edina. When compaired to their competition (ake. others home in the same price range) these homes are almost always in better condition, and fully equiped with the features buyers are looking for.  They also have one othe... 04/13/2011

Featured Listings in the Twin Cities | www.Realty.tc by HARMONY HOMES Realty Cute Nokomis Area Home Just move in and enjoy this home in a nice Nokomis neighborhood near Hiawatha and Minnehaha Falls. Very clean home with fresh paint and gleaming hardwood floors. See the virtual tour, then come take a closer look. Great location close to Hiawatha close to the light rail station close to downtown Minneapolis close to Minnehaha Falls   Luxury Condo in Mendota Heights  Comfortable living at The Summit. This prestigious condo offers hardwood and granite floors, high end appliances, 9 foot ceilings, 2 balconies, fitness center, heated parking and separate guest accommodations. Great location near the river and 35E close to the freeway close to the airport close to downtown St. Paul frequent t... 04/13/2011

  Inexpensive Redesign Tips - Redesign in Minneapolis, MN   A client asked for my help in jazzing up her living room. She had great basic pieces but wasn't sure what else to do. Before: The space was light and airy which was great. The monochromatic scheme is very tranquil but she wanted a change.         Best way to do that.....COLOR! She already had a great paint color on her walls so the cheapest way to add color in this case was throw pillows and a colorful area rug. On our shopping day we first found our inspiration piece, the rug. After that we stumbled upon an upholstered chair in fabulous colors that complemented the rug for $129!!!   After: Full of Color!       It is best if all your furniture pieces do not match. Yes, I know they sell them that way in the furniture store but y... 04/12/2011

Uptown Minneapolis is the home of some of the best rooftop dining decks in the metro... some so close to each other you can wave across the street! And warmer temps means it's finally time to get back out and enjoy them!   Stella's Fish Cafe is considered by many to have one of the most spectacular rooftop decks in the metro area... and the new Sky Bar at the Uptown Cafeteria is just across the street... and Drink's rooftop is only a block away. These aren't the only rooftops in the Uptown area, but I would venture to guess that this block from Lake to Lagoon one block east of Hennepin has the highest concentration of rooftop food and drink in the Twin Cities. Although the corner of W Lake Street and Hennepin Avenue, anchored by Calhoun Square is considered the heart of the Uptown neigh... 04/10/2011