Eagan has great potential for those interested in industrial warehouse space. Close to four major highways, the airport and both Minneapolis-St. Paul.

Commercial Industrial Warehouse

Listed below are some of the buildings located in the area

  • Lone Oak Business Center II
  • Armstrong Business Center
  • Northwood Business Park
  • Aldrin Distribution Center
  • Lexington Corporate Center
  • Interstate Crossings

eaganindustrialwarehousespace

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Sunday Mashup

by Jason Sandquist on March 7, 2010 · 0 comments

in Randomness

Here are some links from the past week:

  • Fast Company nails down the top architecture firms.
  • The top ten places to retire to, sadly none are in Minnesota. I choose my favorite city San Diego, you can never go wrong with 75 degrees year round.
  • The sale will go on I think but CNNMoney says grab a deal while you still can.
  • Yeah, I’d live in the Margarido house in Oakland.
  • From Calculated Risk: Homeownership and the American Culture.
  • The Woodbury Lakes upscale shopping center which is already REO (real estate owned) is scheduled to go back on the market shortly. Should be a good opportunity for investors to pick up on the cheap.
  • Didn’t quite get the deal you wanted on a house? Might want to blame Facebook or Twitter. Why because MSNBC has an idea where potential buyers are updating and sharing with friends their dream houses losing out on negotiating power and sellers are seeing it.

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Something Missed On This Project

Waterford Commons, the upscale apartments with light retail space on first floor in downtown Rosemount has it’s first tenants. I was driving by the other day and noticed a completed karate center along with a mortgage shop.

This isn’t what I was thinking would go here and I can’t be the only one.

I pictured this: an area to walk by on sidewalks, step into the stores/businesses and move along. Maybe grab a bite to eat at non-franchised restaurant (still hope on this one). It just seems there is going to be no foot traffic seeing what is going in the leased spaces.

Now don’t get me wrong here but I don’t think this is what most people had envisioned when the project first started about two years ago. I’m not sure if the landlord was getting restless not being able to find any tenants and just had to pull the trigger or jumped on the first breathing business owner that walked through the door.

Will have to see where this one goes and I hope it doesn’t bust because of the hassle eminent domain the city put on owners because it just had to redevelop the area.

I wish all tenants the best but this project looks wrong from the outside. Let’s hope that end-cap corner space has a solid anchor tenant.

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Although the housing tax credit has provided a good incentive for buying a home, don’t be hard sold into buying a home because of it. Inventory in some price points are low right now so don’t make a decision you might regret later on down the road just to cram in a purchase by the tax credit deadline (April 30th).

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6 Reasons NOT To Buy A Home

by Jason Sandquist on March 1, 2010 · 0 comments

in Real Estate Video

6 Reasons NOT To Buy A Home

Just because every REALTOR(r) is shouting to buy a home, doesn’t mean that it is the right time.

  1. Prices may keep on falling. Most people already have a depreciating asset siting in the drive way.
  2. Staying in one place is hard for a lot of people. You are going to have to probably stay in the house of 7+ years just to break even when selling.
  3. This sale will go on for a few more years.
  4. Cash reserves, make sure to have have a back up fund, you never know when “life” will happen. If all you have is enough for a down payment, it will be hard to get that money back out for awhile.
  5. Jobs, need I say more
  6. Don’t buy based on a tax credit

It really is ok not to buy at this time.

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Sunday Mashup

by Jason Sandquist on February 28, 2010 · 0 comments

in Randomness

Links from the past week:

  • A recent article in Forbes tries to pin down the best housing market, these things change almost monthly but Minneapolis comes in at #4 on the list. Low foreclosures (compared to the rest of the country) rising prices in *some* areas and a good affordability index make it a good place to buy.
  • Some good ideas when it comes to a buying or selling a home (NYT) when it is underwater on the mortgage. My simple advice: get the process rolling early, be prepared to wait and make sure all liens on the property are satisfied. This can all be fairly stress-less when using an agent that knows what they are doing.
  • Maybe it’s better to wait for the home buyer tax credit to expire? Here is a good thread over on Zillow discussing. I get a kick out of all the stupid agents opining in the thread.
  • Nice shout out to local iPhone developer Mobile Realty Apps which creates custom branded applications.
  • Good find on Calculated Risk about home owners now becoming squatters in their own homes after they have gone through the foreclosure process and/or being delayed. Not paying a mortgage or not paying rent.
  • Local shopping mall Brookdale Center sold at a recent auction for $12.5 million. Only one bidder on the property and a far cry from the original mortgage amount of $54.2 million.
  • Fannie Mae reports in a press release a $15.2 billion loss in quarter 4 2009, but hey that’s better than the $18.9 billion loss in quarter three of 2009
  • Yeah, I’d live in this house.

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Bored With The Norm? Start A Quick Service Restaurant

by Jason Sandquist on February 26, 2010 · 0 comments

in Entrepreneur

innoutGet it animal style or flying dutchmen

These are a just a few of the variations that the famous In N Out burger restaurant lets you order your burgers. The only catch is they are not on the menu. You have to know them in advance.

If you are unfamiliar with the In N Out, they have some the best hamburgers around and are based out of California. I bring them up because they are what the food industry calls a quick service restaurant (QSR) and it doesn’t matter what time of the day you go, there is always a line out the door.

I bring them up here, because you won’t find any in Minnesota and any restaurant that can create such a cult following based on customer preferences for a secret menu, is a win all-around that should be everywhere.

Anyways, back to the point.

What is a Quick Service Restaurant

In short, it is a fast food restaurant or sometimes you might here QSR. At these joints you will find fast food and minimal table service, thus the difficult name ;

I stumbled across this article the other day that offers some different variations on why entrepreneurs are choosing the QSR model:

But the economy is not just driving consumers to the quick service concept. Laid off professionals looking for a place to invest their nest eggs are embracing franchise opportunities as a safer way to enter the restaurant industry.

“In the QSR industry, it’s extremely beneficial for somebody coming into the business because they don’t have to recreate the wheel with their business,” said Garth Snider, president of FranchiseOpportunities.com. “They’re given brand recognition by the franchiser.”

Go for it

Start with a franchise or create your own brand and grow it.

There are many benefits to franchising a quick service restaurant than starting a business from scratch. First of all, the risk minimization is less being that the business model has already proven successful. When looking into the model, a wealth of information is provided to the franchisee to make sure that the business is a right fit. Training is provided by the franchiser which is important from the start.

However, creating your own QSR provides a sense of community and not some national chain moving into an area. It will be more difficult to start and everything will be from scratch but if your an entrepreneur you live for the challenge.

Marketing is easier with a franchise, the brand is already out there and all it needs is some solid market penetration. The franchiser usually provides everything given a small amount of the franchise fee goes to a cooperative marketing fund. If capital is needed or a loan, usually the franchiser has relationships in place with a lender which may make it easier to obtain the loan.

You can find a creative economic niche with that caters to the right individual.

And will some please bring an In N Out to Minnesota.

If you are interested in looking into the retail space for your quick service restaurant model in the Twin Cities, go ahead and reach out here.

photo cred

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Straight Up Housing Stats From 10K Research

by Jason Sandquist on February 25, 2010 · 0 comments

in Market Update

Slides provided by real estate research firm 10K Research.

View more presentations from JeffAllen.

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Back in action again is the Parade of Homes, Spring 2010 style. Interesting that they teamed up with the Remodlers Showcase this time around to market it. Probably not enough homes on tour given the current market to make it worthwhile to publish a book.

Anyways, I marked out my favorites already and they are all on the upper bracket price range. John Kraemer & Sons has a listing in Credit River Township for $2.4 million in Cress View Estates (114 Parade #) and J.B. Woodfitter has another one in that neighborhood listed for $1.795 (115).

On The Level has a home in Eden Prairie in a neighborhood called the Woods at Riley Creek on the tour with a price tag of $1.769  million (179).  There is also a home in Wayzata in Locust Hills for $1.975 million (215) built by Keith Waters and Associates that looks to be a good one.

If your looking in Medina, Stonewood Builders has home for $2.895 million that is located in Willow Hill (225). It appears to be the most expensive home on the Spring tour, but I did realize it had a $5 tax-deductible admission, lame.

Hours and Dates

Parade Of Homes:

March 5-28 – Thursday through Sunday

Hours 12-6pm

Remodelers Showcase:

March 26-28

Hours 12-6pm

Some builders might have extended hours, check on the website or grab a book at Holiday Stationstore.

I’ll be the first to say, disappointed by the lack of architectural designed houses but nonetheless will still make an appearance.

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Rosemount has it’s fair share of vacant commercial properties along County Road 42, plenty of prime space available. Price per square foot is a little high for the current market, might be the time to make a move if you have that entrepreneurial spirit. That means not opening a nail salon, hair salon or any other franchise you see in every strip.

Be creative.

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