April-May 2009 Open House
SOLD
Orthopedic surgeon Amir Mehbod and his advertising consultant wife, Ashley, have an amazing new venue for parties this summer. As of January 2009, they are the proud owners of 2625 North Shore Drive in Orono, a 2-acre estate that looks out on 268 feet of south-facing Crystal Bay lakeshore, with the Lafayette Country Club in sight. The 5,371-square-foot home isn’t bad, either—meticulously remodeled by Aulik Design-Build during the past three years, the 1920 “Connecticut Colonial” has four bedrooms, five bathrooms, four fireplaces, plus a brand-new carriage house with its own three-car garage, family room, and lakeside screen porch with hot tub and kitchenette. The Mehbods paid $3.3 million for their slice of paradise, 17 percent less than the $3.995 million asking price. (Sale by Jeff Martineau-Andrade, Coldwell Banker Burnet.)
Looking up?
According to the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors, new listings in the Twin Cities metro at the end of February were down nearly 20 percent over last year, total inventory of homes for sale was down 13.5 percent, and the supply of homes for sale was down to 7.8 months. At the same time, low mortgage rates, tax breaks for first-time buyers, and price declines mean home-buying is more affordable than ever. All good news for a market with more homes for sale than buyers.
The skunk in this rose bush? The recession, of course.
HOT LISTING
Photo provided by john close
For the first time ever, the R. W. Lindholm house in Cloquet, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, is on the open market for $975,000. Since it was completed in 1955, the red cypress T-shaped house with board-and-batten partitions has been in the Lindholm family. That’s when Joyce Lindholm McKinney studied Frank Lloyd Wright in an architecture class at the University of Minnesota and encouraged her parents to drive to Taliesin in Spring Green, Wisconsin to meet with the famous architect. Joyce’s son, Peter McKinney, meticulously cared for the home since he bought it from his grandparents in the early 1980s, but he and his wife, Julene, are ready for something new. “It’s been a very special experience that we will always treasure,” says Julene. For more information, call realtor Dick Wenaas, 218-730-2299. For more about the McKinneys’ life in the house, go to mhmag.com/homedish/.
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