St Paul Duplex Market Rewards Maintenance and Repairs

As I dove into the data for the city of St Paul’s duplex sales in February, I was struck by the agent notes in a listing. The agent notes are a section of the MLS data not shared publicly.

They read, in part: “No one is renting right now, renters were notified to move out since this would be a flip and they would not be able to afford the new rent after being fixed up. The owner had not changed their rent in many years, both top and bottom were rented out to the same people for 25+ years. They paid their own expenses and the owner just never wanted to change their rent. ”

It struck me because not only was it odd, but the property’s condition was a shambles. Every inch of it needed cosmetic updates, and it also needed its electrical panels updated to breakers. As a result, this 4 bed, 2 bath, Hamline-Midway duplex qualified for St Paul’s deal of the month in February, closing at $225,000.

It was a great example of how not raising the rent and staying on top of maintenance can ultimately cost an owner when it comes time to sell. If the owners had raised rents – even staying just below market rent, perhaps they would have been able to pay for maintenance and been able to not only put more in their pockets every month, but more when it came time to sell as well.

On the other end of the spectrum, February also saw a 6 bedroom, 4 bathroom duplex in the Summit Hill neighborhood retail for $663,000. Of note, the very same property sold in 2015 as a fixer upper, with agent notes that read, “Don’t show unless your buyers are willing to do a lot of work. Needs a new roof right away.” Judging by the final price and beautiful finishes, they did just that.

Last month St Paul saw 28 new listings. The Merriam Park/Lexington/Hamline neighborhood was responsible for a quarter of them, with 7. The second biggest jump in inventory was in the Payne-Phalen neighborhood, where there were 5 new opportunities for duplex buyers.

Ironically, while Minneapolis recently trended toward a balanced market with a 5 month supply of inventory, St Paul is still very much a seller’s market, finishing with a 3 month supply in February.

This was born out with an average sales price of $370,747 for the 15 properties that sold during the month. This was the highest average sales price since July, and third highest monthly average for the year.

If you’re thinking of buying or selling a St Paul duplex, triplex or fourplex, give me a call.