Armatage is a neighborhood in the Southwest community in Minneapolis. Located in the southwest corner of the city, the neighborhood is bounded on the north by 54th Street West, on the east by Logan Avenue South, and on the south and west by the city limits at Highway 62 and Xerxes Avenue South. The neighborhood grew around the school named for Maude Armatage, a distinguished community leader. The Armatage neighborhood has a beautiful large park in the center of it. Located immediately adjacent from the Armatage School, it is surrounded by prairie and features baseball, soccer and football fields, seven softball diamonds, hockey and ice rinks, four tennis courts and a Tier 1 Skateboard Park.  The Armatage area is a high demand area for buyers, as they appreciate the "small town" communit... 02/24/2014

Armatage is a neighborhood in the Southwest community in Minneapolis. Located in the southwest corner of the city, the neighborhood is bounded on the north by 54th Street West, on the east by Logan Avenue South, and on the south and west by the city limits at Highway 62 and Xerxes Avenue South. The neighborhood grew around the school named for Maude Armatage, a distinguished community leader. The Armatage neighborhood has a beautiful large park in the center of it. Located immediately adjacent from the Armatage School, it is surrounded by prairie and features baseball, soccer and football fields, seven softball diamonds, hockey and ice rinks, four tennis courts and a Tier 1 Skateboard Park.  The Armatage area is a high demand area for buyers, as they appreciate the "small town" communit... 02/24/2014

So….a movie that tells something about what I do?? Well, that’s easy! My job as a Home Stager is to make a buyer fall in love with a home. Period.   I star in a movie everyday! It is called “Love Story”.    Love Story is a classic movie released in 1970 about two people meant to be together. It starred Ali MacGraw and Ryan O'Neal. It grossed more money than any Paramount production before it.   I know it had a sad ending and “Love means never having to say you’re sorry” but in real life there are many happy endings and yes, you really do have to say you are sorry. More times than you can imagine!   I digress, back to the movie…..every job I take on I think of the buyer that is going to walk through the front door and what they are going to see. I want them to fall in love at first sight... 02/21/2014

Wondering about crime activity in different neighborhoods you are considering? Want to keep abreast of what is happening in your community? This week Minneapolis announced that it has joined 25 other Minnesota law enforcement agencies in an online crime mapping tool that allows residents and potential future residents to see where crime is happening around the city. Data is updated daily, and users can also sign up for crime alerts. RAIDS (Regional Analysis and Information Sharing) online is powered by BAIR Analytics, that has been working with law enforcement and defense for more than 20 years. This new tool goes beyond mere crime mapping to provide neighborhood crime alerts and hopefully improve communication between law enforcement and the public to also help solve crimes. The inter... 02/06/2014

Small Houses Need Love Too! Home Staging Minneapolis MN  It is so easy to ignore the staging of small houses, thinking that Home Staging Minneapolis MN is only for the large expensive homes but that is SO not true.  It is my belief that it is just as important, if not more so, to stage the small houses. Let me show you this great example of a small house in south Minneapolis. 736 total square feet. Yup...that's it. Many apartments are larger.  One small dining area:     One small bedroom:     One small added on room to the front of the house (what is it?):     And one very small living space. With a 4' traffic flow needed to get to the bedroom and bath, it leaves less that 6' to the hearth of the fireplace to create a living area for conversation, TV watching etc.  How would the buyer v... 02/02/2014

Yes...that is not a misprint! Save $500 off the next Hands On Stager Pro Home Staging Training and Certification by registering by February 9th, 2014. Price rises after that!  This Home Stager Training class is 4 Days filled with actual staging experience by working on homes that will be on the market right after you stage them.      Learn how to work with your own inventory, how to put together scenes, make a property have flow as well as the most important 'Pocket of Emotion™'.  Days 1 - 3: Learn the terminology Work in a 3000 sq ft warehouse of furniture and accessories Practice putting together scenes for various types of buyers Practice Continuity, Theme and Flow Stage an Occupied Home Ready to Hit the market Stage a Vacant Home Ready to Hit the market Learn and practice how to con... 01/26/2014

Yes....a great way to end the year with a vacant home staging job directly from Active Rain. A Realtor in Minneapolis found me on Active Rain and emailed me through Active Rain asking me to take a look at his listing. A 2 bedroom condo in Minneapolis that had been on the market 4 months with only 8 showings, no second showings and not a single offer.  I took a look at the online photos and it told me alot. It was vacant except for the dining room so it was underwhelming to get a prospective buyer to make an appointment to see it in person. But in addition the living room was the oddest shape I had ever seen.  An angled wall that was angled away from the fireplace, then a sharp turn into a kind of worthless corner, and oh......extremely small and narrow! I knew right away that there was ... 12/21/2013

  Minneapolis – Saint Paul, Minnesota (December 20, 2013) – Minnesota Realtor® Eric Kodner will serve as Guest Editor for the January/February 2014 issue of REALTOR® Magazine.     Realtor Magazine began selecting and inviting guest editors to collaborate with the magazine’s editorial staff in early 2013.  Serving as a guest editor for Realtor Magazine involves reviewing articles in advance and visiting the magazine’s office in Chicago to confer with editorial staff and designers about the issue, as well as writing the Editor’s column.     Realtor Magazine Editor-in-Chief, Stacey Moncrieff, wrote about Kodner in the August 2010 issue, “Eric Kodner’s Madeline Island Real Estate blog on ActiveRain is a lively mix of business and human interest stories.”  Kodner was later interviewed by Eri... 12/20/2013

  Recently Craigslist decided to put the kibosh on ads with embedded photos and links.  In an instant, Craigslst real estate agent ads suddenly have become text only and bland.  Now anyone using Craigslist to search for real estate wound up staying on Craigslist.com.  For the marketing savvy real estate agents out there this was a big upset in lead generation.    What Happened?     Over the past 3-5 years plenty of Craigslisters began using basic HTML in their ads when they posted.  Over time ads became much more dynamic to the point that certain companies sprouted up giving real estate agents pre-formatted templates for their listings to post on Craigslist.  Some of the larger real estate companies even went so far as to spam Craigslist with all of their listings every few hours to mai... 12/14/2013

Sleek, Modern & Sexy Still Needs Staging! Home Staging Minneapolis MN Yes even you, as sleek, modern and sexy as you are, you still stage yourself every morning and real estate is no different. It needs a little texture, it needs a little style and of course it needs some accessories.  Take a look at these 'Before' photos of a great hip condo in downtown Minneapolis, MN  Great Living Area but too small to fit furniture?      Great Kitchen!      Dining Area is okay......   Bedroom is okay......     Okay you sexy thing....let's show what a little dressing up will do.                Even the sleekest, most modern and sexy properties need Home Staging!  If you have a property that needs some attention or a full makeover give us a call at Rooms With Style for a free quote!       12/05/2013

One Bedroom - Two Home Staging Tips. Home Staging Minneapolis, MN Yes, I am going to give you two home staging tips from this one bedroom. I purposely took a very average bedroom found in many homes. It isn't pretty...it isn't a beautiful model home. It was what many seller have when the kids have moved out leaving an abandoned bedroom.  Take a look at this picture and tell me what you would do. BUT, you cannot paint.  Okay go ahead....what would you do to make this bedroom look better for selling purposes?            Da, da, da, da de da, da da.....(Jeopardy music if you are wondering what that is).    Okay, let's see if you are correct....   Home Staging Tip #1: This is an average owner occupied home. In this picture you see what we in the staging industry call 'taste specific' paint ... 10/20/2013

 Common sense in Minneapolis Real Estate is like deordorant.  The people who need it the most never use it.    Have you ever had the feeling that the home you are showing will not sell this week—maybe even in your lifetime?  When showing Minneapolis homes in this current market, I often acknowledge to myself that something is really wrong with the picture.  Perhaps pricing, appearance, and marketing are missing from the big picture? It's as though the home was listed without a marketing plan. Someone just placed a sign in the ground, hoping and praying for an offer!   The home could sell, but my experience tells me that the home has little or no chance of ever selling as it is currently marketed. Why is this? Inexperience or indifference comes to mind.   You cannot help but wonder is an... 10/19/2013

Sorry San Francisco but you lost your #1 Ranking and it couldn't have been to a better city.   Minneapolis, MN!!     The headline reads: "Minneapolis Is First to Earn Perfect “5 Bench” Score as Park System Bumps Defending Champ San Francisco from Top Spot" San Francisco drops to a tie for third.    Minneapolis earned the first-ever “five park bench” rating on The Trust for Public Land’s ParkScore® index, finishing first among the 50 U.S. largest U.S. cities. Minneapolis scored well on all ParkScore rating factors, with especially high marks for park accessibility and park system investment. The ParkScore index rates city park systems on a scale of zero to five park benches.     “You can’t have a great city without great parks,” said Adrian Benepe, Senior Vice President and Director of C... 08/13/2013

Rooms With Style By Shar Sitter   I have a great deal of respect for professional Home Stagers. They have a unique gift to transform a space. Home Staging is so much more than decor. It's about maximizing the potential and highlighting the features of a home. I recently had the opportunity to interview and chat with one of my FAVORITE professional Home Stagers, Shar Sitter.  My first question for Shar was, "What's involved in a consultation?" That's what my home sellers' want to know. She spends approximately 2 hours walking room to room making suggestions along that way about possibly painting, moving or removing furniture pieces, adding items to create a WOW factor, cleaning tips and repairs as needed. She may actually move some furniture around in a key room or how to stage a bookcas... 08/13/2013

  When I was 17 a friend of mine invited me along to a birthday party.  The location was in the Mill District in downtown Minneapolis.  At the time the neighborhood was nothing more than a handful of buildings with plenty of parking lots to boot.  I can still remember being absolutely enthralled with the development of the area and what was about to unfold.  I was inspired by the lifestyle, being an urban pioneer at the forefront of the density coming to downtown Minneapolis.    That night my mind was made up: when I finished college I would wind up living in, at the time, one of the few new residential buildings along the riverfront--this is exactly what I did and the gentleman that guided me in the journey as well as being the inspiration why I sell real estate today was Shel Hoffman... 08/05/2013

Not one major city is back to the 2005-06 prices yet! Denver and Dallas folks are very close but not quite there! My Minneapolis peeps still have a 26% increase to get to back to those prices! Las Vegas is the worst city in regards to coming back to the pre crash market. 07/24/2013

Top 20 Home Improvements to Increase the Value of Your Home - Part 4 of 4 Home Staging and Redesign Minneapolis, MN  We made it! After looking at #20 - #6, we are now at the Top 5 Ways to Increase the Value of Your Home.    # 5    Add a Second Story Addition – Obviously this is an improvement only when you are sticking around for a while and you love your house, your lot, your neighbors but need more space. This addition usually costs 50% of the cost of the first floor so it is not a cheap improvement.    My neighbors just did this and had to move out of their home for almost a year. Be careful that you don't over build for your neighborhood....remember my "Be Careful With Those Home Improvements" post?    # 4    Don’t over Customize Rooms – Especially if you are selling soon or if the ... 07/11/2013

Top 20 Home Improvements to Increase the Value of Your Home - Home Staging and Redesign MN As my last two blog posts mentioned, there are many Home Improvement that can actually be bad and decrease the value of your home. So now lets take a look at those that DO increase the value.  Here are 20 Top Home Improvements to consider. These are not necessarily improvements to make JUST to sell your home. You need to look at many factors such as how long you will be in your house, your neighborhood, etc. "Be Careful With Those Home Improvements" gives you a few to consider. Drum roll please....in reverse order..... #20   Home Office Remodel – A large percentage of the population works at home full time or at least spends off hours doing work at home to catch up. Home Office Space is valuable s... 06/02/2013

The trend for warehouse condo conversions began in the North Loop with The Itasca in the 1980s. Now it is the spot for the newest and trendiest restaurants and bars. When condo development exploded in this neighborhood in the early 2000s there weren't many services nearby. That is rapidly changing while still maintaining its gritty and independent energy. One of the new restaurants in 2013 is Smack Shack, the new year-round home for casual fresh lobster that started with a food truck that attracted long lines. I drive through the North Loop regularly, and noticed all the activity on their corner after they opened this winter. We decided to check it out for brunch on a Sunday not long ago. It turned out to be a good time to go... not crowded or fancy, just delicious fresh lobster in an ... 04/21/2013

   Real estate in 2013 is going to move at a fast clip in downtown Minneapolis as well as the Minneapolis Lakes area.  Few agents know the current market conditions better than a seasoned Realtor Josh Neumann at Lakes Sotheby's International Realty.      Minneapolis condos and lofts are selling before they even hit the market leaving little opportunity for a Buyer to peruse the market.  The bottom line? Buyers need to get educated on the market long before they pull the trigger on a purchase and having an agent that can articulate current market conditions is critical for a smooth buying experience.   Josh Neumann works with Buyer clients from the moment they begin to think about making a purchase all the way to the closing table.  Through this Josh Neumann guides them every step of the... 03/12/2013