Lake Vermilion Real Estate

This year, Lake Vermilion is going to have the earliest ice-out date in history.

But, as of today, there is still some ice on the lake.  The evidence is here.

Update:  There’s been no announcenent (I’m not sure who actually makes the official call) but I going to say the lake is ice free as of today, April 3rd, 2012.  That is a new all-time ice-out record.

Update 2.0:  Apparently the official ice-out date is now April 2nd, 2012.

The new plat books are here!  The new plat books are here!

That’s right.  St. Louis County has just issued the newly updated 2012 Land Atlas and Plat Book for St. Louis County, Minnesota.  There are two editions.  The South Edition (priced at $28) and the North Edition (priced at $34) are available at local County offices or by mail order.

Click here for additional information.

It’s too darn warm for March!

The snow is gone and the lake ice, at this pace, will not be far behind.  At this writing, the lake has ice cover but the shoreline edges are opening up and the ice color darkens every day.  (View here.)

The earliest recorded ice out date for Lake Vermilion is April 6th.  That record was set two years ago in 2010.  The latest ice out date is May 23rd.  That record was set 62 years ago in 1950.  (See LakeVermilion.com for all the ice-out details.)

We’re headed for a new ice out date record and it’s not going to be close to the previous record date.  Not by a long shot.  We could also use additional rain or snow fall because the area lake waters levels are well below average.  That includes Lake Vermilion.

It’s another year.

We should, again, keep tabs on the market.  We should compare the current activity to the activity from previous years.  Here is the graph that will allow us to see if 2012 will continue the recent trend of marginally improving market activity.

As before, the numbers show closed real estate sales on Lake Vermilion only.  Lake Vermilion is, by far, the most active segment of our local market and it is a good indicator of the broader market trend.

Year to date sales for 2012 are represented by the short black line on the bottom left of the graph.

I’ll update the graph on a monthly basis.

The internet has recently been the source for some real estate related misinformation.  Imagine that, misleading stories on the web!  This story has been circulated via mass email and agenda driven web news sources.

The message typically claims that the recently enacted Affordable Health Care Act will add a 3.8% transfer tax to the sale of all real estate and other similar transactions.

This is not true.

Here are the details of the law as provided by the Minnesota Association of Realtors:

“The health care legislation enacted in 2013 included a new tax that was designed to affect upper income taxpayers. The 3.8% tax is imposed ONLY on those with more than $200,000 of Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) ($250,000 on a joint return). The tax applies to investment income, defined as interest, dividends, capital gains and net rents. These items are all included in an individual’s AGI. A formula will determine what portion, if any, of these types of investment income would be subject to the tax. The tax is NOT a transfer tax on real estate sales and similar transactions. Not long after the tax was enacted, erroneous and misleading documents went viral on the Internet and created a great deal of misunderstanding and made the tax into something far more draconian than the actual provisions. The new tax does NOT eliminate the benefits of the $250,000/$500,000 exclusion on the sale of a principal residence. Thus, ONLY that portion of a gain above those thresholds is included in AGI and could be subject to the tax. The amount of tax will vary from individual to individual because the elements that comprise AGI differ from taxpayer to taxpayer.”

Additional information can be found at these links:  1) Frequently asked questions  2) Downloadable brochure  3) Video from National Association of Realtors