Enduring Home Design Trends

Katherine Salant, nationally syndicated columnist and author of The Brand-New House Book,says houses designed with both a master and second bedroom on the first floor have become the most popular because they appeal to all age groups.

Young couples use the second bedroom as a nursery. Middle-age couples use it to keep aging parents close by, and older couples like the design because their differing sleep patterns make sharing a bedroom difficult, Salant says.

Here are other trends Salant points to:

• The newest variation on the home office is a completely separate office space, connected to the house by a hallway or a breezeway.
  
• Kitchens are getting smaller, but they are connected to much larger dining areas, often with a center island where family members can sit while they have an informal meal.
  
• Oversized family rooms with high ceilings are giving way to smaller, cozier rooms with lower ceilings.
  
• Home theaters have lost much appeal because people don't want to watch television in a separate area of the home. TV viewing is a more informal activity that people engage in while they're doing other things like cooking or getting ready for work.
  

Source: The Washington Post, Katherine Salant (10/18/2008)

Cities Where Your Dollar Goes Furthest

Money goes further some places in the United States than it does in others.

Housing, in particular, has remained most affordable in the South and the Midwest. That’s because of less stringent building, an abundance of land and growing populations in the South, says Daniel McCue, a research analyst at Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies.

To determine the cities that offer the best quality of life for the least amount of money, Forbes magazine calculated the ratios between a city’s median home price and its median household income. It also factored in projected job growth. And it compared median income to Moody’s Economy.com’s cost of living index.

Here are the 10 cities that it found to offer the best value, and the cities that it believes offers the worst value.

Cities Where Residents Get the Most for Their Money
1. Austin, Texas
2. San Antonio, Texas
3. Indianapolis, Ind.
4. Houston, Texas
5. Charlotte, N.C.
6. Columbus, Ohio
7. Dallas
8. Minneapolis/St. Paul
9. Denver
10. Portland, Ore.

Cities Where Residents Get the Least for Their Money
1. Los Angeles
2. Providence, R.I.
3. New Orleans
4. Philadelphia
5. Cleveland
6. New York
7. Milwaukee, Wisc.
8. St. Louis, Mo.
9. Washington, D.C.
10. Sacramento, Calif.


Source: Forbes, Abha Bhattarai (10/10/2008)

As Seen on TV...

Have you hear the latest news from Coldwell Banker Burnet? Our company is currently running a SALE, something that is a little out of the ordinary for a Real Estate firm. Yet, here we are, with a 10 Day Sales Event. Beginning on October 10th and ending on October 20th, Eric and Sharla Stafford are featuring the property located at 6553 Bartlett Boulevard in Mound for $1,899,000.
Local news station, KSTP featured the Bartlett home on its 5:30 PM and 10 PM news casts Sunday evening. Eric Stafford made an appearance in the video which is linked below.

http://kstp.com/article/stories/S616167.shtml?articleID=183285

For more information on the property or for more on other properties, please contact the Stafford Family Realtors at 952.470.2575 or visit our Website at StaffordFamilyRealtors.com.

Open Houses for October 12th

Stafford Family Realtors present our Open House Schedule. We have two properties participating in the Coldwell Banker Burnet 10 Day Sales Event along with a few other great options.

Sunday, October 12th:

1340 Alpine Pass, Golden Valley 12:00pm-2:00pm
This home is the perfect alternative to condo style living. Just minuets from shopping, dinning and downtown.


2280 South Parkway, Victoria 12:00pm-2:00pm
Situated in the tranquil countryside of Victoria this custom built home is only available due to relocation.


7164 Harrison Hill Trail, Chanhassen 12:00pm-2:00pm
Located in demand Longacres, this home is being featured in the 10 Day Sale Event!


6553 Bartlett Boulevard, Mound 2:30-4:30
Come out and visit this beautiful Craftsman home on Lake Minnetonka. This home has been reduced to $1,899,000 for the 10 Day Sale Event.

Good News!

In the middle of the current financial turmoil,
Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller Report has some
good news regarding home prices in the Twin
Cities.

The Case-Shiller report, which was released
Sept. 30, notes that home prices in the Twin Cities
rose for two consecutive months this summer.
From May to June, prices rose 0.9 percent,
and from June to July, prices rose 1.3 percent—
the largest increase of all 20 metropolitan areas
surveyed in the report.

In other good news, the Minneapolis Area Association
of REALTORS® (MAAR) has been reporting
an increase in home sales in the metro area over
the summer and early fall, and in some cases
dramatic increases. For the week ended Sept.
20, MAAR reported that the number of pending
sales rose 42.8 percent compared with the
same week last year. MAAR noted that during
the last seven weeks, there were 5,866 signed
purchase agreements, an increase of more than
1,500 units compared to the same time period
last year.

The Case-Shiller Report reviews home prices in
the 20 largest U.S. metropolitan areas. The report
is based on thousands of repeat sales of
the same single-family houses. The MAAR report
studies the median sale prices of all singlefamily
homes, condominiums, and townhomes
on the Regional Multiple Listing Service that sold
during a specific period.