Renting or Buying

(Information supplied on this topic is from experience only, and in no way reflects policies, regulations, or laws from either Canada, USA, Manitoba, or Minnesota.

General:
Both the rental and housing market in the Twin Cities area is extremely tight. Desirable suburbs, such as Eden Prairie, Bloomington, Chanhassen, and Minnetonka currently have a less than a 1 percent vacancy rate. The housing market is also a sellers market (as of September 1998). Houses are appreciating at a median rate of 6% for the Twin Cities area, with hot suburbs such as Eden Prairie and Eagen commanding 7 and 8% appreciation. But the main focus here is determining whether you should rent or buy.

Renting:
If you are transferring to the Twin Cities, and are not intimately familiar with the area, I would strongly suggest renting. We rented in the Eden Prairie area - got a nice 3 bedroom town home, 1450 sq ft (loaded) with a single garage for $1230/month. That was in May of 1998. The same units are now renting for $1450/month. Yup, this is in US bucks of course. Rentals units are no where near as cheap as in Winnipeg where you could probably get the same for about $900/month in CDN$. Based on our findings, the most desirable places to live are: Eden Prairie, Bloomington, Minnetonka, and Eagan if you are renting. You will pay premium dollar for living in Eden Prairie. Why? The schools are now rated as number 1 in the entire US of A. If you are moving from a home in Winnipeg, there are many town-homes (nice ones too!) throughout the suburbs of the Twin Cities. Two WEB sites comes to mind if you want to look on-line. The Star Tribune's Apartments Online and Classifieds offers a good search of available apartments. Another popular one, which also has store-fronts through out the Twin Cities area is Apartment Search .

When renting, with the intention of buying a house latter, make sure you lease has a "buy/build" clause allowing you to break your lease with minimal or no penalties. Many reputable landlords offer such a clause.

Buying:
Before considering buying, make sure you first can obtain a mortgage in the USA. This can be a little more difficult that just qualifying and having a down-payment. We were extremely satisfied with the services of Greg Tervola from REMAX Results. His number is 952-431-0448, or send him an e-mail at gtervola@hotmail.com. Let him know that Neil Marriott sent you.

Here is an interesting WEB site I found to look up original sale prices and tax information for Hennepin County . Other counties also have WEB sites, but I found this one to provide the most information.

After you have rented for a few months, and have decided that you really like the Twin Cities area, it is time to buy. Buying in the Twin Cities is an investment. Expect your property to increase (on average) about 7% a year. Compare that with Winnipeg's .0005% increase. The single biggest advantage is that you can write off your mortgage's interest PRE-TAX. Yes, interest on your mortgage directly reduces your incomes by 100% of the interest paid. On a $250,000 home with a $200,000 mortgage, that is about $15,000 a year (in the early year's of the mortgage)!

We have just bought a home, and are moving in at the end of September of 1998. If you have questions, concerns, e-mail us at the address below, and we will help as best as we can.