The Minneapolis Real Estate Blog: July 2008

 Visit Bandana Square in Saint Paul

My son loves trains. Loves them. Anytime he sees Thomas the Train, he gets really excited and just has to grab it. If we are driving and see a train, we must stop, roll the windows down, so he can see and hear it. If he sees train tracks, we have to drive over them very slowly so he can feel the bumps. Of course, we love to oblige him because it is just too cute.

Now our second son has caught the craze and yells out "TRAIN" anytime he sees one.

If you need to get your train fix, then travel to St Paul and visit Bandana Square. It is an old train station used at the turn of the century, and is currently used mostly for offices and a Best Western Hotel. The complex is on the National Registry of Historic Places. The Children's Museum was located here a few years ago too. It is a fantastic place to visit and see what an old train complex used to look like. Even though offices now reside inside, much of the original internal architecture is still present in the rafters and the exterior facades are in fantastic condition.

Take you kids to visit the Twin City Model Railroad Museum. It has scaled down displays of model trains and is a treat to see. If they love trains then it will be very hard to get them out of the museum. They also have a couple Thomas the Train activity tables where kids can play while you look around.

Lake Nokomis is located just southeast of downtown Minneapolis and has always been a desirable place to live in the Minneapolis area. It's origins began from glacial activity which created a shallow depression, forming a marshland after the glaciers receded. The current 210 acre lake was originally named Lake Amelia in 1819, with its current name of Nokomis being given in 1910. In 1907, the lake only measured a maximum depth of 5 feet, but after a century of dredging, the current lake can go anywhere from 15 -33 feet deep in spots.

Residents love the area not only for the great neighborhoods surrounding the lake, but also for the recreational features Lake Nokomis provides. With almost three miles of walking paths, two beaches, a community center, softball fields, canoeing and sail boating, there is plenty to do in the summer and winter. If you are a hockey fan, there is even pond hockey available once the ice is thick enough, and you can play to your hearts content during the winter. You might be nudged out for a week though when the U.S. Pond Hockey Championships take over the lake, but at least you can enjoy the sport not too far from home.

As for the real estate surrounding Lake Nokomis, homes range in value from $100,000 up to a $900,000+, though the luxury homes are rare and very, very few. Most of the homes were built 1930 or later, so anyone thinking about buying in the area will find out that brand new homes, for the most part, do not exist in this area. Occasionally a home is torn down and a new home is built on the spot, but some of the lots can be small so only a small home can be placed on the lot.

Another feature of many homes surrounding Lake Nokomis is the detached garage. Behind each row of homes is an alley with which one can access the garage and backyard, or you can park on the street. Street parking can become tricky in the winter, though, when it is time for the snow plows to come. There are no homes that "sit" on the lake, or have lake frontage as part of their lot. The lake has roads around the 195 acres of parkland, and homes across the street are few and very desirable. At least this way, everyone has access to the lake!

Interesting Lake Nokomis Links:

• Lake Nokomis Landscape Restoration Project
• Lake Nokomis Community School
• Nokomis East Neighborhood Association
• Fishing in Lake Nokomis

I have a real life situation going on and I would like your thoughts about it....names have been changed to protect the innocent. I am not a part of this, but it does effect some people I know, and they have been in touch with me, asking questions about how title, etc.

Scenario:

Uncle John holds title to the home his mother owned with three of his siblings, as tenants in common.

Uncle John is on his second wife, and has two grown children from his previous marriage.

Uncle John dies last week at the age of 73.

Uncle John leaves the rights to the property to his two children, but gives his wife a life estate.

The wife is under the impression she has sole ownership to the property and can do what ever she wants as long as she lives. The kids believe they have rights to the property in present day.

In come the Lawyers

1) Lawyer number one tells the wife and two children that each of them owns one third of the property (remember, this is just for the portion of the property Uncle John owned as Tenants in Common with his other siblings).

2) Lawyer number two tells the children that they have no current rights to the property and cannot even set foot on it until she dies. Pretty much tells them they are SOL.

My Opinion

Having real estate licenses in three states, one thing I have learned is that the ways one can hold property pretty much stay the same across state lines. In my opinion, both lawyers have no idea what they are talking about.

My belief is that there is nothing in the will that gives the wife any actually ownership in the property. She only holds a life estate. Should she want to sell her portion, the only thing she could sell would be her life estate. Anyone who buys it would only hold it for as long as the wife lives...once she dies, no matter who has bought her life estate, the property goes to the kids as Tenants in Common.  It is also true for any renters that she rents the property to...when the wife dies, the kids have every right to NOT honor any lease agreement.

So the lawyer who says the property ownership is split into thirds is smoking crack, or needs to freshen up his legal interpretation skills.

One thing that a Life Tenant must do is keep the property in good shape, pay all taxes, insurance, etc. Not doing so is legally called "waste".  If she "wastes" the property, then her life estate could go bye-bye. The second lawyer has said that since the two children only have "future" rights to the home, that they have no current rights and cannot even step onto the property.

I have to say he is dead wrong.

The two kids are Remaindermen. The property reverts to them upon the wife's death. So since the property will become theirs no matter what, they HAVE present day rights to the property. For one, they have every right to make sure she is not neglecting the property, not paying taxes, etc, because if she was, she would be damaging their future interest in the property.

In the long run, I have told the party involved to seek a third lawyer's opinion, and to find one that has a lot of experience in real estate law - will interpretation.

What are your thoughts on this matter? Have you ever represented a transaction where a life estate was involved?