Lacey Helen Blog's: A Tale of the Quick Sale of a Charming Storybook House in Minnesota

Monday, 3 May 2021

A Tale of the Quick Sale of a Charming Storybook House in Minnesota

You could call it a storybook tale of how the real estate market has unspooled in 2021. A Midwestern home with oodles of historical charm on the outside and a modern feel on the inside sold in just over a month.

The charming home on E. Minnehaha Parkway in Minneapolis landed on the market in late March for $849,900. It just sold for $866,000—an extremely happy ending for the seller.

“Like everything these days, nothing is staying on the market. It’s just crazy,” says the listing agent, Virginia Antony. “We definitely had multiple offers the first weekend it went on the market.”

It was built in 1927, and the exterior of the house maintains its allure.

“It’s historic to the point where even on the front door, [the owners] tried to preserve certain details about the house,” Antony explains.

The front door has a wrought-iron gate with a lion’s head emblem on the front that the owners decided to preserve to add to the charm of the house.

Exterior of home in Minneapolis
Spacecrafting

Inside, the home offers a welcoming contrast to the nearly century-old exterior.

“The outside sticks with the charm of the area and the timeframe of when it was built. But going inside the house, it’s pretty open,” says Antony, pointing out that while many storybook houses are a little boxy, with small rooms, this one has a spacious feeling.

A neutral color palette gives the residence a soothing vibe, and the clean kitchen is a highlight, thanks to its large island, white subway tile, and lots of windows. The agent notes that she feels the modern touches to this older home, and the array of amenities, make the update particularly successful.

“It’s just really well done, in terms of just tying in the old with the new,” she says.

An upstairs sunroom has wood on the walls and stained-glass windows, just one of the many artful touches in evidence throughout the residence.

“One of the previous owners must have been an artist,” Antony says, noting the whimsical freehand flourishes inside and the little shed outside that has a saying written on it. “The owners that are selling it now wanted to preserve that and didn’t want it to change it, because it kind of kept with the charm of the house.”

With three bedrooms and three bathrooms in 2,339 square feet, there’s still room for the new owners to expand.

“It still has a basement that they had planned to finish and never got around to. Someone can easily go in and complete that as well, just to give them more space. It’s got a lot of possibilities,” Antony says.

She notes that the home’s location was a key selling point.

“It’s close to downtown and close to walking trails all over the area and close to amenities where you can just walk to a restaurant or shopping,” she adds.

The gardens are filled with perennials that will soon bloom, which adds to the charm.

“Just walking up to the front door with the archway, I think it definitely makes you feel like you’re walking into a fairytale,” Antony says.