Minesota Housing Finance Agency Needs Your Help!

Minnesota Housing eNews Alert   April 15, 2009   Homeownership Assistance Funding Cut – Immediate Response Needed! Today, the House Housing Policy and Finance and Public Health Finance Division adopted an amendment to the budget bill that reduces the funding for the Minnesota Housing Homeownership Assistance Fund (HAF) by approximately two-thirds over the next two years to only $300,000 per year.  Currently, the program appropriation is $885,000 per year.  HAF is an essential part of the first-time homebuyer programs offered at Minnesota Housing and provides the opportunity for eligible homebuyers who qualify for a Minnesota Housing loan to receive an interest-free, deferred loan to help with down payment and closing costs.  HAF has a long history of providing and promoting successful homeownership to low and moderate income households, serving a typical household income of $35,000 which is 50% of the statewide median income.  The program is also an integral tool in working towards increasing emerging market homeownership, with a high percentage of emerging market borrowers receiving this assistance. We need your help!  We urge our housing partners to please take a moment and send an email to each member of the House Housing Policy and Finance and Public Health Finance Division, asking for the immediate reinstatement of this appropriation to the House Budget, especially if you live in one of the communities represented by a committee member.  Members of the committee and their contact information are listed below. We need as many individuals as possible to respond immediately, ensuring that HAF continues to support the recovery of the housing market. Thank you. Karen Clark, rep.karen.clark@house.mn, 651.296.0294, Minneapolis Carolyn Laine, rep.carolyn.laine@house.mn, 651.296.4331, Columbia Heights John Benson, rep.john.benson@house.mn, 651.296.9934, Minnetonka David Bly, rep.david.bly@house.mn, 651.296.7065, Northfield Jeff Hayden, rep.jeff.hayden@house.mn, 651.296.7152, Minneapolis Larry Howes, rep.larry.howes@house.mn, 651.296.2451, Walker Thomas Huntley, rep.thomas.huntley@house.mn, 651.296.2228, Duluth Carol McFarlane, rep.carol.mcfarlane@house.mn, 651.296.5363, White Bear Lake Denny McNamara, rep.denny.mcnamara@house.mn, 651.296.3135, Hastings Will Morgan, rep.will.morgan@house.mn, 651.296.4212, Burnsville Paul Rosenthal, rep.paul.rosenthal@house.mn, 651.296.7803, Edina Brita Sailer, rep.brita.sailer@house.mn, 651.296.4265, Park Rapids Peggy Scott, rep.peggy.scott@house.mn, 651.296.4231, Andover Lyndon Carlson, rep.lyndon.carlson@house.mn, 651.296.4255, Crystal   Minnesota Housing 400 Sibley Street, Suite 300 | Saint Paul, MN 55101 http://www.mnhousing.gov/contact/enews/ | 651.296.7608 or 1.800.657.3769 | mn.housing@state.mn.us

Posted by Aaron Dickinson - Edina Realty on 04-16-2009 at 03:04 pm
Posted in Community Issues, Opinion, Personal Experiences with 0 Comments

Edina Realty – Behind the Red Curtain

Star Tribune had a good article today about the successes and struggles of Edina Realty and of our fearless leader, Bob Peltier, who suffered a severe stroke last year and has fought back every day since.

This story does not even scratch the surface on what both Bob and Edina Realty have done and are doing in the face of challenging times.  There are many stories I can tell you of both first-hand experiences and those of my fellow agents that demonstrate the character of our leadership.  Times are harder today but there are still so many opportunities too.  I bleed Edina Realty Red because both the company and its leaders continue to demonstrate strength and fortitude in the face of ever-changing challenges.

Posted by Aaron Dickinson - Edina Realty on 03-01-2009 at 08:03 pm
Posted in Opinion, Personal Experiences with 1 Comment

Looking for Guest Bloggers

I’m looking for guest bloggers for this site and www.TwinCitiesRealEstateBlog.com.  I’m looking for original topical posts regarding the real estate market here (or comparisons to other cities).  Beyond that, there will be almost nothing off-limits.  If you disagree with my opinions and want to blog about it, that’s ok… though I will post a rebuttal!

If you have interest, give me a call: 612-251-5599

Posted by Aaron Dickinson - Edina Realty on 12-22-2008 at 05:12 am
Posted in Info for Buyers, Info for Sellers, Opinion, Personal Experiences with 2 Comments

Money Saving Tips for a Monday

As I recently purchased a new home, I’ve been making a lot of trips to Home Depot as of late.  Here are a couple tips I’ve learned:

• Home Depot will take Lowe’s coupons.  I’ve used a couple “$10 off a purchase of $50+” in the last couple weeks with no problems.  I like some of what HD has better than Lowe’s so this is great.
• Behr paint is drastically cheaper in the 5 gallon pail.  If you are using more than about 3 gallons of paint you might as well buy the 5 gallon and have extra for touch-ups, more rooms, 2nd coats, etc.
• In partnership with Xcel Energy, Home Depot has reduced the price on a lot of their fluorescent bulbs by $1-$4 per package.  This means 60 watt bulbs are now under $1 each… a bargain considering that each bulb can save $30 or more over its lifetime.  If you use a bulb 2 hours a day and your electricity is $.08/kw, then you save $.22/bulb/month in electricity costs.  This means in a little under 5 months the bulb is paid for and you’re saving real money.  Multiply $.22/bulb by replacing your 20 most commonly used bulbs and suddenly you are saving $50/yr!

Posted by Aaron Dickinson - Edina Realty on 10-13-2008 at 10:10 am
Posted in General, Personal Experiences with 0 Comments

Edina Realty is the Best

I apologize that I have not been posting lately… things have been very busy indeed!  In this market today I am so thankful to be at Edina Realty.  Edina provides great management, the best networking opportunities, a fun office environment, and all the tools I need to succeed in my business.  I’ve been working for the last 3 months to get a large loan servicer as a client and finally have the first 4 listings coming up now and without Edina Realty’s support and capabilities, there would be no way that I could have earned this client.  Foreclosure listing agents be warned: I’m going to be setting a new Gold Standard in REOs.

In short:

Edina Realty is the Best

Posted by Aaron Dickinson - Edina Realty on 09-25-2008 at 01:09 pm
Posted in Opinion, Personal Experiences with 0 Comments