Unusual Minot Weather Brings Unusual Thoughtsfor this time of year, that is.Our temps have been about 20 degrees above normal this winter so this flower volunteered to come up even though we have had many freezing nights. As you can see it is right next to the house and it had leaves around it so it had some protection.The pyromaniac in me had me raking leaves and burning yard wast.My little weather machine was very busy with gusty winds today.The Timm bicycle fleet needs to come down. When the Robins make their appearance they love to nest on them when they are hanging in their winter storage positions.Can't wait to use the new deck built last fall. Party time! I even purchased a bottle of Dewars incase my friend Roger D. Mucci  shows up. 03/05/2016

Spring Means Bicycles and the Dilemma of Where to Park ThemI was thumbing through a vintage Do-It-Yourself book and ran into this very simple make it yourself bicycle rack.I really like this concept because it's expandable to any number of bikes and it's firmly anchored into the ground for stability.No directions included, just this simple illustration.I would suggest that if you have more than two bikes that you space the racks accordingly so the handlebars do not get intertwined and so that it would be easy to mow or weed whack between them. With the new bicycles and those extremely fat tires you may need to make a few adjustments. I'm eager to give this a try and let you know how it works out. (it may be two months before I can drive the posts into our North Dakota ground however). 03/04/2016

Where Does Bob and Larry's Water Come From?I remember when we moved to Minot ND and my children were one and three years in age. They loved Veggietails back then.Veggietails is a good cartoon with Christian messages to it. They, and I still don't mind hearing them today but thank goodness we have moved past the video and movie stage of viewing them.The kids had these Bob and Larry Veggietails water Glasses that they used all the time.One day while explaining where drinking water came from I gave a brief explanation to my daughter how a municipalities water system functioned and how water towers played into that scenario.   From that day on we determined we receive our water from "The Old Dirty Water Tower".I'm not sure what the deal is with this old Minot landmark. I'm not even sure if ... 03/03/2016

Could The Seller Add A Garage On Before We Buy The House?On occasion I will represent a home Buyer that asks if the Seller would build a garage before the closing. While this is unusual it does happen. The scenario is generally the Buyer loves the house but it has no garage or a very small garage. The Buyer really wants the house but will not be able to afford adding a garage after the purchase. Furthermore the lender involved has told the Buyer that their credit limit is good enough that they could borrow more for the home loan than what this home is priced at. As an example the Buyer could purchase a home for $250,000. and this home is priced at $200,000 thus adding a brand new garage for $50,000 should be no problem right.... MAYBE!!!Here is the catch: If the home is listed at $200,0... 03/03/2016

It's A Brighter Day In Minot ND Today!A special election was held yesterday, 03/01/2016, to allow for a change in the City charter. This change was promoted by a group called MakeMinot.com who's ultimate goal is to bring down the size of our City council from 14 members to 5, 6, or 7.Turn out for this special election was expected to be very low and it was expected that "The Good Old Boys Club" would find some way to make the election go their way. It didn't happen! The people turned out in mass and voted for change by a vote of 3,047 to 519! Election officials originally expected about 1,000 votes. The people of Minot sent a clear message... throw the bums out!The next step comes in June to actually change the number from 14 to half that or less making those left standing more accounta... 03/01/2016

HEY TURKEY!Late yesterday afternoon my Bride and I were headed home from Walmart and as we drove by a very familiar spot both of us took notice. This spot is only about 6 blocks from our home and along one of Minot's many coulees. We both thought that in the last day or two a VERY industrious squirrel had built a multi-squirrel condominium complex. Hey! With the oil boom we have seen some crazy building trends and we thought maybe it caught on with the squirrels too.Upon closer inspection this is what I saw.There were 10 of them.  03/01/2016

Even In Town In ND It's Good To Be A ShutterbugOn Sunday Best Buy's sale flyer had an offer I could not refuse. I have not owned a "good" camera since I gave up my 35MM film camera about 8 years ago or when I lost my medium format camera to the flood in 2011.Best Buy offered a Panasonic DMC-FZ70 that has sold for a couple of years for around $350.00. On sale this week for $149.00 while quantities last I had to run over and get one (I even considered getting two, one for a gift). I did run right over and got the only one they had.As usual after making the purchase I check the reviews to see if it was any good. Unlike 99% of the time, this time I made a GREAT purchase! Yahoo! The worst rating I found for it was 4-1/2 stars out of 5 stars.My 1st picture was of my secretaries son, Jackson. ... 03/01/2016

Minot Residents, Final Reminder, VOTE TOMORROW!No Excuses! If you have EVER complained that "You can't fight City Hall" or "the government stacks the deck against you" or "the common man can't win against the government machine" then help us bring down the Minot Good Old Boys Club by getting out and voting YES tomorrow. Your YES vote tomorrow will be a start in getting rid of the bloated City council that is larger that Bismark, Fargo, and Grand Forks councils COMBINED! Get out and VOTE!The polls open at 7 am and remain open until 7 pm at the Minot City Auditorium  02/29/2016

Plan NOW for the 2016 North Dakota State FairNow is the time to make your plans to come visit ND and see all it has to offer. Why not visit during the week of the State Fair in Minot July 22-30th 2016?If you are a member of Active Rain I promiser I'd hold the FIRST EVER Active Rain ND Meet-Up! Fly in to our brand new Airport (opened TODAY). drive here with your camper and we can go fishing, bring your camera and we will make a special trip to the Theadore Roosevelt National Park and Badlands.More info at NDStateFair.com . Check it out today. 02/29/2016

Minot ND Housing Report for the week ending 02/27/2016Be sure to note the line above as this is a very restrictive report.There were 8 homes sold in this limited catagory. The most expensive home sold for $360,000 and it was on the market for 199 days. The least expensive home sold for $183,000 and it was on the market for 93 days. Median days on market for the 8 homes sold was 100.This report is updated daily at MinotHome.com 02/28/2016

4 Years Ago This Week... We moved back HomeAfter the flood of 2011 our home was left surrounded by and inundated with mud and yuck from a river flowing through it for a full month. Things looked like this in August of 2011:On Feb 24th 2012 , 4 years ago this week, our home was fully restored and we moved back in. It was a devastating and life changing  experience for thousands in Minot ND but it was also a valuable learning experience for those who chose to grow from it. No lives were lost and the sense of community it brought about was nothing short of awesome. I and my children learned lessons in humanity we never would have learned from a book.The purpose of this post is to let you know we are CELEBRATING that God is good and we have been richly blessed, even by experiences we would ... 02/27/2016

Minot Board of Realtors Press ReleaseMinot Board of Realtors Press Release, 02/26/2016 Minot Home Sales 2015 Home Sales on Par with Pre-Flood/Oil Years Minot ND, A recent story aired by a local television station grossly misrepresented the health of the Minot real estate market. The statistics referenced were not provided by the Minot Board of Realtors® or any of our Realtor® members and therefore did not portray our current, nor historical, activity. The Minot Board of Realtors® would like to set the record straight with facts which have been provided by the Minot Multiple Listing Service in order to provide the most accurate information regarding residential (single family) home sales in Minot and the surrounding area. • In 2010 there were 758 residential properties sold in Minot and ... 02/27/2016

Local TV Miss Reports Housing Situation, Causes PanicKMOT TV in Minot ND did a report on Minot Housing and threw out erroneous numbers that have sent many into a panic. Although they were given accurate information they came up with another set of numbers that make it appear that Minot's housing market is in the tank. Nothing could be further from the truth. The accurate numbers show that Minot's housing market is steady and very healthy. To date KMOT TV refuses to withdraw the story or reveal where they obtained the inaccurate numbers. Stay tuned as our local association of Realtors puts together a report to correct the misinformation disseminated by KMOT TV.  02/26/2016

Buyers & Sellers Be Prepared for the Final Walk Thru The final walk thru is a vital part of the Real Estate transaction and should be held no less than 24 hours prior to closing BUT 48 hours would be even better. The purpose of the walk thru is to see that the home is in an acceptable condition before the Buyer closes the deal. SELLERS NOTE, get out of the house no less than 48 hours before closing so you can have time to vacuum, clean, and make last minute repairs. You can read about my worst final walk through by clicking on this LINK . When you do your walk thru bring your contract and your Home Inspection report with you so you can see if all the things you had agreed to have been addressed. If you find ANY problems your agent needs to contact the Sellers agent and see if these item... 02/24/2016

Minot Citizens Need To Vote On Tuesday March 1st If you have ever been upset that there is "A Good Old Boys Club" that stacks the deck against you then Tuesday March 1st is your day to make a difference in Minot ND. There will be a special election in Minot that allows in a change for the City home rule charter. It's a two part vote and we need two YES votes to make change happen. This in itself will only allow us to take the next step to reduce the current City Council of 14 down to an accountable number of 7. Even at 7 members Minot will have the largest City Council in the entire State for a City it's size. Currently at 14 we have more council members than Fargo, Grand Forks, and Bismark COMBINED!!!! No wonder this council doesn't listen to YOU or anyone else, it only cares for it's ... 02/23/2016

Welcome To National Marketing RealtorsNow that I'm getting a little better with the videos I decided to redo my welcome video for my website. The old one wished everyone a happy 2015 so it was time anyway. My next step is to get a better camera for clearer audio and video. The setup I have at home is a little better but it won't work on the operating system I have in the office plus I like making videos at home as well.  02/22/2016

Minot ND Housing Report for the week ending 02/21/2016Be sure to note the line above as this is a very restrictive report.There were 8 homes sold in this limited catagory. The most expensive home sold for $330,000 and it was on the market for 66 days. The least expensive home sold for $89,900 and it was on the market for 74 days (flooded in 2011 still unrepaired). Median days on market for the 8 homes sold was 136.This report is updated daily at MinotHome.com  02/20/2016

Minot ND Rummage / Garage Sales Rummage sales are VERY popular in Minot North Dakota. It is very rare to see one during our winters so all those Rummage Sale-aholics are about to explode about now. Just like selling a house, the earlier in the spring you put it up for sale (Rummage or your house) the more likely you are to have success.Here are a few tips for you to have a successful rummage sale in Minot ND.1) Price it like you want to sell it (this goes for houses too by the way)2) Price it!!! Avid rummage salers absolutely HATE it when you are to lazy to price your stuff. If your going with "make an offer" then don't get mad when I offer you 1 cent because that's how my dad taught me to respond to your "make an offer".3) Clean it!Nobody wants to handle dirty stuff.4) Don't pile cloth... 02/20/2016

Over 10,000 Views On YouTubeThanks to a post on Active Rain I have a YouTube video that has had 10,000 plus views as of today! This is a HUGE achievement for me as none of my other videos have even broken 500 till now. Thanks Active Rain! Changing A Whole House Water Filter Cartridge 02/19/2016

Sellers, Don't Let An Agent "BUY" Your ListingBuying a listing. This is a very common practice in Minot ND, especially with newer Real Estate agents. Very often the Seller of a home asks "What can you get for my home?" and all to often that is the only thing they care about. Most rookies, and a few seasoned agents will give you an inflated number hoping you will list with them and then after a reasonable amount of time they come back, apologise, and tell you that you need to drop your price. This is what's called "Buying a listing". Minot ND, due to the oil BUST, is now a Buyers market. Forget that a year ago your neighbors house sold for a billion dollars 3 minutes before it was listed (it's not true anyhow). Ask your agent, or prospective agent, for comparable sales with-in a quarter ... 02/18/2016