MLS and StarTribune.com

We purchased an MLS listing for $377 through Owners.com on Sunday night (flat fee MLS) and by noon today, it was on the MLS with #3321826.

And by tonight it was showing up on the databases of various real estate agencies and on here on Realtor.com.

Owners.com uses a 3rd party who in turn works with local realtors who do the actual listing. In our case, we got referred to David Nunn at Pathways Real Estate in Minneapolis who called promptly on Monday morning, emailed us the forms, and had it all done by Tues. afternoon.

We also purchased an online-only ad with the StarTribune homes service: $100 for 30 days, which includes open house listings. If you search for Greater MN single family homes in the South, you’ll see our house in this list.

More snow

We got a few more inches of snow this morning and by this afternoon, the skies cleared and the cross country skiers were swarming all over Carleton’s Upper Arb. ‘Twas gorgeous.

When I got back home, I noticed the neighbor girls building a snow fort/mound in their front yard, tunneling underneath it and trying to get their dog to go in.

One-time showing agreements

This weekend we had a realtor bring a prospective buyer to look at the house using what’s called a one-time showing agreement. We signed a contract that guarantees the realtor their commission should their client buy the house from us.

So if you’re a realtor who might have an interested client, don’t hesitate to contact us.

Snow, finally, and a good neighbor to have

We finally got a decent snowfall last night (4-5 inches of fluff) and it looks like it’ll stay around a while. Click photos to enlarge.

For many years, our neighbor to the north, Gary Schnobrich, has generously used his snowblower on our driveway after a heavy snowfall. He even waits till after the snowplows have gone by.

Plus, he blows a swath from his house south across our yard to the south to make it easy for us all to go back and forth, as well as for the postal workers to deliver the mail without having to go up and down each driveway.

I try to return the favor by lending him my mulching lawn mower in the warm months, but then he always gets one up on me by bringing over lots of vegetables from his garden in the fall.

Small bedrooms #2 and #3 of 3

The east-facing bedroom on the 2nd floor is currently Robbie’s office. It features three large windows. Click photos to enlarge.

The south-facing bedroom on the 2nd floor is currently my office. It feaures a door that exits onto the garage roof. There used to be a small porch there, as you can see from this photo.  We decided to leave the door and it is direct and easy access out of the second floor and some future owner may want to put a little porch on this sunny side of the house.

See small bedroom #1 which I blogged back in early Dec.

The trio of small bedrooms (we called it “the boys wing”) shares a large, floor-to-ceiling, built-in closet in the hall outside the three rooms.

Banner ad on Northfield.org

We’ve purchased a small banner ad on Northfield.org.

It’s in a 10% rotation for two weeks, which means it displays randomly on approximately 10% of the pages that are viewed.

Cost: $50.

Click the screenshot on the left for a larger view.

Our bank and the tree

It was 17 years ago this week that the house plant/tree in the photo on the left arrived at our front door. (Click to enlarge.)

So this morning, my wife Robbie and I hauled it down to First National Bank Northfield and posed with bank president Dave Shumway.

Why?

The bank gave the tree to us as a house-warming gift in 1990 because we got our mortgage (our second) through them. We’d also gotten a business loan from them — and managed to pay it off, even though the business failed. I think they were relieved since we were on the edge financially at the time. Becky Behrens was the bank’s mortgage specialist back then and still is, so if you’re in need of a mortgage, visit her personal real estate loans page. Just don’t ask her to toss a tree into the deal or I’ll get into trouble.

It’s quite a cool thing to be living in Northfield for 33 years and doing our banking with one bank the whole time.

FSBO yard signs and brochure box

Robbie did the design work on a yard sign and brought it to Ron and Jane Currier at Graphic Mailbox (5 blocks away) who created the yard sign for us. She ordered the FSBO sign and brochure box from VictoryStore.com. Total cost: about $125. Click photos to enlarge.

1974 photo of house being moved

While digging through old photos and slides to show our kids and relatives during their xmas visit, I found the photo of our house being moved. And with it, a surprise. The photo is date-stamped, May 1974. Ironically, that was the same year we moved to Northfield. Click to enlarge. I don’t recognize the dirt street or the trees or the white structure in the background so that must have where the house was located… approximately where the site of the current McDonald’s is now on Hwy 3. The other photo (not dated) shows the house after it was painted and the garage was added… including the little second floor deck above the garage. Approximately ten years later, the porch on the north side of the house was added.

 
We’ve been told that house was cut in half many years earlier and that that half was moved to its current location on Jefferson Road (two photos above).