Worst House In Edina

The title of this post isn\’t a judgement call, see for yourself.

I caught this article in the Strib on the challenges a couple in Edina have been coping with for the past 10 months. (for those readers not familiar with \”Edina\” it is… well, not what is described in that wikipedia entry. it is a stereotypical rich and toney suburb of Minneapolis which is equally much desired and much derided… e.g. \”Edina stands for \”Every Day I Need Attention\” or referring to residents as \”Cake-Eaters\”

I feel for these people trying to sell their house. Right now is a terribly difficult time to sell a home. The market is flooded, interest rates are high (compared to a few years ago), and the article makes a great point that people today are buying for size more than location. I mean there has to be a reason that people are building McMansions in Minnetrista or North Branch or (fill in your own favorite bum-f*ck-nowhere city). I thought the recent spike in gas prices would start to turn the tide on the trend of moving further and further out, but it hasn\’t yet.

But we\’re talking about Edina here, doesn\’t everyone want to live in Edina? Let\’s take a look at the pros and cons.

Pro: Great Location – unless you happen to work in Woodbury, Edina is a great location for shopping and commuting.

Con: Traffic – with all that shopping and being somewhat central in the cities means that people are going through Edina all day long. 62 and 494 are a nightmare morning, noon, and night.

Pro: Convenient to the airport

Con: Airplane noise

Pro: Good schools – when anyone talks about why they want to live in Edina, inevitably it\’s because of the schools.

Con: The schools. Edina isn\’t even in the top 5 for school districts in the Cities, and is exceptionally white. If you noted the statistics in the wikipedia page, Asian is the largest non-White race; and in 2006 Edina High School graduated one Asian student. Nearby Hopkins school district is considered a much better district plus it is more racially diverse. Of course some people might view this as a \’Pro\’. Oh, and for those \”great schools\” your taxes will be ridiculously high.

But beyond the Pros and Cons and the home selling challenges, I think the biggest reason for their trouble is touched on in the article. In nearby Richfield you can get a similar house for a third of the price. When we looked for houses two years ago we saw over 75 homes (I know, our realtor was a saint) and we saw plenty in Edina and every single one had what we started to call the \”Edina surcharge\”. Compared to homes in Minnetonka, Plymouth, even St. Louis Park and Eden Prairie; the Edina homes were consistently 100K-200K more expensive for no other reason than the zip code.

So what to do? My advice for this couple is to hold tight. There are plenty of people out there who feel the same way they do about Edina and are looking for a well-maintained and updated starter home. And keep getting the word out. With an article in the Strib highlighting their plight I have a feeling it won\’t be long and they\’ll have a buyer or two come knocking.