We buy houses in Minneapolis, MN

What is different about selling in Minneapolis?

Minneapolis is the biggest city in Minnesota and sits on both banks of the Mississippi River at Saint Anthony Falls. Flour and lumber mills grew up around the falls, and that earned the city the nickname Mill City. Minneapolis was incorporated as a city in 1867 and joined with St. Anthony in 1872. The houses range from old riverside blocks to Craftsman bungalows in the south and small homes and duplexes in Northeast.

A lot of Minneapolis housing is old, and old houses come with old wiring, old plumbing and tired foundations. That is where selling as is makes the most sense, because you skip the repair list and the city paperwork that comes with fixing a house up to sell.

How does the legal side work here?

Minneapolis is in Hennepin County. Probate cases are filed in Hennepin County District Court, in the Probate and Mental Health Court at the Government Center downtown, and deeds are recorded with the county's Recorder and Registrar of Titles office. Minneapolis also has its own sale rule called Truth in Sale of Housing, or TISH, which asks for a city evaluation of most single family homes, duplexes, townhouses and first time condo conversions before the home is shown. Rental houses need a city rental license before anyone rents them.

Neighborhoods and areas in Minneapolis

Longfellow. The community takes its name from the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Minnehaha Park and its waterfall sit on its edge.

Seward, Cooper, Hiawatha and Howe. Neighborhoods inside the Longfellow community, known for Craftsman bungalows built in the early 1900s, many of them ordered as Sears catalog kits.

Hiawatha Avenue. The main route from downtown Minneapolis south toward the airport, and the western edge of the Longfellow community.

Nokomis. Named for Lake Nokomis, and it includes neighborhoods such as Keewaydin, Morris Park and Wenonah.

Powderhorn. Named for Powderhorn Lake, the center of Powderhorn Park, with the Midtown Greenway trail running through the area.

Northeast. Called Nordeast by locals because of its Northern and Eastern European roots, with Polish, Ukrainian, Slovak and Italian churches and old factories turned into studios.

Truth in Sale of Housing, in plain words

Minneapolis is one of the few Twin Cities cities with its own sale rule. Before most single family homes, duplexes, townhouses and first time condo conversions can be shown, the seller needs a Truth in Sale of Housing evaluation, usually called TISH. A private evaluator who is licensed by the city walks the house and writes a report. The report is filed with the city, and a copy is shown to people who tour the home.

If the report lists required repairs and they are not done by closing, the buyer signs a form saying they will take responsibility for them. The city also has the evaluator collect some energy information about the home, such as insulation and the type of heating system.

This rule is a big reason sellers call us. We buy houses as they are, so you do not have to fix a repair list before you sell. How the TISH step is handled in your sale depends on the house and the timing, so we will walk you through it and tell you plainly what we know. A Minnesota attorney or your title company can confirm the details for your address.

Bungalows, duplexes and old systems

South Minneapolis is full of Craftsman bungalows from the early 1900s. They have real character, and they also have real age. Knob and tube wiring, old galvanized pipes, stone foundations that seep, and plaster walls that have cracked over the decades are all common on these blocks.

Northeast has a different mix. Many homes there are small, narrow and close to the neighbors, and plenty are duplexes where one side was lived in and the other was rented. Houses like these often sat in one family for a long time. When the owner passes or moves on, the next person is left with a home that needs a lot.

We buy these houses in whatever shape they are in. You do not need to clean out the basement, haul away the old furniture, or patch the ceiling before we look.

Rental houses and the city license

Minneapolis requires a rental license before a house is rented or offered for rent. The license goes to the owner of record shown in the Hennepin County tax records. The city also looks at the condition and history of a property when it sets the license, and a new owner of a single family home or duplex has to finish any open TISH repairs before the city will approve a rental license.

That paperwork wears people out. Some landlords inherit a rental, some have a tenant who stopped paying, and some are simply done. We buy houses with the tenants still in place, so you do not have to wait for a lease to end or schedule a move out. We will ask about the lease, the rent and the license when we talk, and we will go from there.

Situations that come up in Minneapolis

Plenty of Minneapolis sellers are not in trouble. Some are moving for work, some are splitting a home after a divorce, and some own a vacant house they do not want to keep paying taxes on. Others are heirs who live in another state and cannot drive back every weekend to deal with a house in Longfellow or Nokomis.

If a hard date matters, like a job start or a closing somewhere else, you pick the closing date with us and plan around it. There are no showings, no open houses and no strangers walking through your home.

A family house to sort out in Hennepin County

When a parent who lived in Minneapolis passes away, the house often goes to children who live elsewhere. A Minnesota court has to name someone to act for the estate before a sale can close, and in Hennepin County that work goes through the probate court downtown. You can ask us for an offer before any of that is finished, and you do not need to empty the house first.

When listing may be the better move in Minneapolis

A direct sale is not always the right answer. If your home is in good shape, you have time, and you are happy to do the TISH report and the showings, a real estate agent may get you a higher price on the open market. A bungalow in a popular neighborhood with updated systems is a good example.

We would rather tell you that than waste your time. If your house is old, needs work, has tenants, or you want a firm closing date with no showings, a direct sale is worth a look. We will give you our honest read either way.

Related reading: Selling an inherited house in the Twin Cities and Selling a rental house with tenants in place. Also see Selling an inherited house in Minnesota: where to start.