2020 Rookies of the Year: Sivongsay’s 1930 Tudor of Minnehaha
The elephant in the room for all first time buyers is summed up in one word: Constraints.
Tom & Claire were planning a spring wedding in Laos following their rocky mountain ceremony, when Covid hit, fast forward the savings account and the desire for more work from home space, the housing search had begun.
Tom & Claire became 2020’s Rookies of the Year, and they did so by completely letting go. A $300k budget is difficult to navigate, especially when the wants and needs of independent successful newlyweds are weighed into the already heightened, limited availability of quality product in this budget.
RFP: What was the hardest part from transitioning from renting for so many years, to mentally thinking ownership was possible?
“The hardest part was the down payment and the commitment surrounding letting go of our reserves that we’re used to investing in travel and exploration. Buying a house after years and years of moving around, signing and getting out of leases felt like a big commitment, almost as big marriage. And moving! Moving is the worst.”
These two allowed Rare Form to hand pick their tudor, and they followed a swift and aggressive battle plan for securing the deed before she made a summer market weekend. How was this accomplished? That's our little secret: when buying in Rare Form, everyone learns the tricks to our trade for navigating the marketplace.
How was this starter home trust-fall possible? A long tenant relationship built the trust to allow Rare Form to hand-select their 1930 storied english tudor on our terms for our spirit animals: Tom & Claire, who had proven long ago that stewarding a classic home was in their hearts.
They had a history in mindfulness of classic home living proceeding their 1930 tudor - it was Winter of 2016, and one of our most cherished craftsman units was badly beaten up by party tenants (having used the back hallway to store trash to the point where squirrels chewed through the screens to feast on the slack waste management, enough said)
Enter Tommy & Claire: two of the nicest humans we have had the dignity of knowing, salt of the earth, both from a deep moral weave, a spice for humanity, and deep love of our natural world and exploring it.
RFP: What advice would you give to renters, in terms of the first acquisition and making it happen?
“Rent from someone who threatens to kick you out if you don’t buy a house. Lolol! Steve was quite assertive in pressing us to take ownership. We definitely needed to be pushed out of the nest. Advice would be that if you elect to be a casual shopper with one toe in, know that when you find a house that really calls to you, you’ll have to release all your fears and dive in head first! ”
RFP: Do you have a sense of pride in ownership already? Has it sunk in that you’re the steward for a 90-year-old home?
“Yes, we love our tudor. Travel has always been our passion, previously it was often sad coming home after a vacation, but we loved coming home from traveling out West because it’s so nice to come back to a space that is truly ours.
We also feel protective of the tudor because you can tell it was so loved and cared after for so long by her prior owners. It’s amazing finding things, like the instructions on how to build the sunroom (!!!), in drawers and cabinets and whatnot. It makes us love the house even more, and want to take just as good care of it for years to come.”
Let’s look back on their time as renters from Rare Form: there is a correlation between those who maintain acute awareness of their footprint on this planet and their ability to love and cherish a classic structure. After the party tenants left, Rare Form completed a thorough interior revival of the duplex - paint, enameling the radiators, changing multiple light fixtures to amplify the space, re-grouting the bath, and removing the film of neglect from the stoic arts & crafts unit.
Tommy immediately dominated our duplex on Pillsbury’s deep fenced lot: the heritage white pine and greenspace hadn’t witnessed caretaking on this level since the infamous Andy Bruwelheide of Tangletown Gardens (who moved into a battleship Sears bungalow on Garfield).
We attended several “wing-off” grill hangouts in the deep pine duplex backlot, as Claire and Tommy had brought their bohemian social mixing vibes to the neighborhood, creating an instant community with neighbors and friends from all over South Mpls.
The following fall we began to discuss the prospects of them getting into ownership. Claire and I knew it would take a couple years to break nomadic Tommy into the grounding nature of deed signing.
The first showing, it was clear the disconnect between desired budget and what they needed out of their first home, the constraints of desired access to trails, biking and nature, while having a home that provided indoor and outdoor space for large gatherings, as well as a space for them to work from home. Like all first-timers, the introductory period creates a lot of necessary open communication, reality-shocks of joint financials, and melding of wish lists over many categories of criterion.
Our first tour made it clear that Tommy was motivated by finding something small, safe and with a minimum investment. We walked a grandma-owned bungalow in Minnehaha that was no larger than 800 square feet: Tommy was intrigued by the capsule, while claire was holding back her thoughts with numerous facial expressions, “we’re going to be on top of each other in here” the home lived significantly smaller than their unit on Pillsbury.
RFP: What items in 1930 surprised you after taking ownership- both positively and negatively?
“I was surprised by how good it felt to actually own my own home. I thought it would feel stressful to have that commitment, but instead I’ve loved having it as my own to do what we want with it.
You start caring about little things, like appliances, keeping things maintained around the house - things that I never used to care or think about.”
That tiny grandma home was $275k which provided the monetary bookends at just over $300k. If we had a time machine, it would be used most often by this category of starter buyers, as the affordability of 250-300 is nearing extinction for structures we deem worth of owning.
Enter 43rd: listed on a Thursday morning for $289,000, we had just completed the sale of Deidre Webster's old bungalow on 42nd for well into the 4’s, a block away. Tommy was busy preparing his traveling soccer club for their incoming tournament, so Claire and I descended right around lunch hour.
Before entering I had sent the listing to Paris for pricing and ideal loan structuring. This tudor was a smaller scale version of the opulence from the era, coved archway over the original entry door set the tone. Formal entry room offers ability to add built-ins for seasonality function, main floor is sprawling for the price point, a large living hall with fireplace and beamed ceiling, formal dining off galley kitchen, and the sinker was the 4 season porch addition that functions as the media room on the main floor.
It reads like every first-timers wanted ad - Wanted: Historic 1930 Tudor, prefer two blocks off the creek, two living spaces on the main, a 50’ wide lot with finished patio and huge detached garage, all for 300k, please contact Rare Form for the most humble steward.
RFP: After living in your home for 6 months, what wrinkles are you seeking to address in what order in terms of remodeling?
“We’re so content & happy with how things are for now. We haven’t even installed a dishwasher! We’ve kind of loved the retro look and feel of it. We’ll likely remodel the basement to add a bathroom & more flexible space in the future, but we’re just enjoying the house and all its quirks for now.”
Tommy and Claire blessed the home in an incredible Buddhist ceremony, a tradition upheld by Tom’s Laotian roots. They have thoroughly enjoyed the first season in their tudor, and timing could not have been more perfect.
Khuan Ban Mai (ขึ้นบ้านใหม่), the blessing of a new house, is regarded as a very auspicious event. It celebrates the completion of a new home by bringing together friends and family and performing a Buddhist rite to encourage good fortune and prosperity for the new dwelling and its inhabitants.
It’s no mystery as to seeing this tradition of gratitude and peaceful content, as to why Tom & Claire defeated the intensely competitive marketplace, they had the spirits of good energy behind them. Namaste!
