Homebuying tips from realtors

This week as the Minnesota Homeownership Center continues its series on achieving sustainable homeownership, we’re dipping into what you should look for in choosing and working with a Realtor. As is the case with lenders, you need to make sure the real estate agent you choose to work with will take the time to listen to you and really work to accommodate your unique needs, aspirations and desires.

Yolande Klutse is a real estate agent with Fulton Realty in Minneapolis. “Growing up in Togo, West Africa, I witnessed my mother invest in land, build homes, and rent them,” Klutse says. “So naturally, I thought real estate was the path for me.”

Klutse works to make the home buying process as smooth as possible for her clients, priding herself on efficiency, attention to detail, clear communication and the ability to get things done. And she offers these tips to today’s prospective homebuyers:

Make sure you find a real estate agent, and a lender, that understand our ever-changing market and what it takes to win the deal.

You can never start your homebuying journey too early. If you are thinking about buying a home in the next six months to a year, now is the time to start asking questions and getting yourself educated. Be patient and flexible with the homebuying process, from the first day of house hunting to the closing table. You may have a few offers rejected before you and your agent find the right house.

You also want to have a great support system in place for yourself, as the home buying process can be an emotional rollercoaster.

“Home buying can definitely be stressful,” Klutse says. “My goal is to take the stress away from the client and find them a house they will be excited to make into a home.”

Klutse’s advice is solid. She adheres to the “Get Ready, Be Ready” school of thought, which enables prospective buyers to prepare for the purchase of a home in advance. This can be achieved for free reviews to determine your mortgage readiness, and lay out a road map to fixing any problematic issues that may be present before applying for a loan. Once that’s been taken care of, they’ll work with you to get pre-approved for a loan amount, so you and your agent know what’s possible. This way, when the right home comes along, you’ll be able to put a strong, solid offer on the table for consideration. And in our competitive market, this could make the difference between winning and losing. agent who does both could offer some great insights on both sides of the process. with the help of the Minnesota Homeownership Center’s Homebuyer Advisors Network. Our HUD-approved advisors and educators offer customized, one-on-one financial

Homeownership Center and others to prepare people for the buying process, and by developing and overseeing down payment assistance programs, Smith-Moore helped to create more than 20,000 new homeowners over the course of her banking career.

Ask about their knowledge of the current market. This tells you the agent’s experience working under today’s market conditions, with higher interest rates and a buyer’s vs seller’s market that’s in flux.

Ask if they are familiar with the areas(s) where you’re looking to purchase. Your agent should be knowledgeable about the area you’re looking in. Communities differ in terms of what types of homes buyers want, what types of homes sell, and so on. Make sure your agent is familiar with these unique factors in the area(s) where you want to buy.

Kim Smith-Moore is another Realtor working in the Twin Cities. A Minneapolis native and former banking executive, she was responsible for managing more than $700 million in grant program funding which helped to remove some of the barriers to homeownership. By partnering with the Minnesota

Having been a practicing Realtor working on both the agent and banking side for more than 20 years, SmithMoore encourages interviewing more than one agent to find a great match: Ask how long they have been licensed. An agent that’s been in the business for a good amount of time will be able to anticipate problems before they arise and will have tried and tested negotiation techniques.

Ask if their real estate work is a full-time or part-time gig. Many part-time agents do a great job, of course. But fulltime agents tend to have more experience and more transactions under their belt. They also can dedicate more time to being responsive to your needs.

Ask if they can share a few of their past clients as referrals. As with any professional you’re considering hiring, it’s always smart to ask for recent references. During these conversations, make sure to ask the references how they felt about the agent’s communication style, how long it took them to find a home, how helpful the agent was at every stage of the process and whether or not they’d hire the agent again.

Ask whether they are a listing agent or a selling agent.

Many agents work as either buyer specialists or seller specialists. While it’s great to find someone who specializes, an

If you are seeking down payment assistance, ask about their knowledge and experience working with these programs. You will need someone who has experience in this area and who has been successful using these types of programs for their buyers in the past.

Smith-Moore’s advice is solid as well. The bottom line is, you are in control when it comes to choosing your Realtor. Buying a home is likely the largest financial transaction most of us will ever make, and finding the right agent can be the difference that makes your dream a reality.

Homeownership is possible. We can show you how.

For more information on the Minnesota Homeownership Center and its advisor and education services, visit www. HOCMN.org.

Roof Depot

Continued from page 1 permits for the Roof Depot site, with representative and Hennepin County Commissioner Angela Conley, citing the need to wait for the conclusion of legal proceedings.

The rezoning would allow development that produces objectionable noise, odor, vibration and glare associated with producing raw materials, while the conditional-use permits would allow the city

MUshROOMs

Continued from page 1 grandmother used to cook— Diri Djondjon, a mushroomrice dish.

Cineus said that while it is well known in Haiti, the Djondjon mushroom has not been scientifically classified. It has no genus or species name known to science. Cineus wants to go to Haiti and study not only the Djondjon mushroom, but many other types of undescribed mushrooms on the island.

“Once my grandma passed away, it made me want to tap more into my culture, because there were a lot of questions I didn’t get the chance to ask her,” Cineus said. “That’s what made me really want to tap more into Haitian mushrooms, herbs and foraging.”

Cineus started an Instagram account called themushroomblock where he documents many of his foraging finds. He hopes the account will inspire

Budget

Continued from page 1 next two years for state transportation projects.

• Increases spending on state government by more than $400 million.

The State Innovation Exchange (SIX), the nation’s largest network of state legislators, is calling Minnesota a “lab” for progressive policies. Co-Executive Director Neha Patel told the MSR that the wins didn’t happen overnight or on their own.

“I’m really excited about what we’re seeing in Minnesota,” declared Patel. “State legislators are on the front lines of the most important issue of our time.”

The Minnesota DFL “trifecta,” with control of the House, Senate and governor’s office that came about after last November’s elections, is “this new shift in power…with the promise of a government that would work to protect and care for all Minnesotans,” added Patel.

After the elections, SIX held a three-day conference in Washington, D.C. “We gathered about 500 state legislators and people’s movement partners and national leaders for a three-day conversation

View

Continued from page 12 moved from a wheelchair to using a walker within a year of the accident. A year later Kearney was able to use two canes and eventually switched to using one cane to keep her balance while walking.

Coaching is in her blood— not just on the track—but in life itself, she stressed. “I found to expand its existing water yard and build a new parking garage.

The city planning commission also deadlocked on a resolution to deny rezoning of the

Roof Depot site to allow for a parking facility. Transportation advocate and Park Board representative Becky Alper moved to deny rezoning for a parking facility for the Roof boarding Instagram account and is hoping to inspire people of color to take up that hobby as well. Cineus is hoping his social media presence will ultimately grow a foraging community of BIPOC mushroom hunters in the Twin Cities, who can connect and work together.

Ajani Rowland met Cineus through skateboarding, but also quickly got into fungi. “I remember when I first met [Cineus], I knew he was really into mushrooms, and I was just starting to work at this mushroom farm, so I just asked him where to start,” Rowland said.

Depot because she found the project, which would increase transportation pollution and contradict the city’s environmental justice goals, would also degrade the safety of the outdoors, Cineus recommends starting by hiking a trail and getting some fresh air.

Cineus says going to a state those who use the streets surrounding the site. fore consuming wild mushrooms. Never eat anything foraged without being able to positively identify it and first knowing it is other Black and Brown people to take to the woods and search for their own natural foods.

Alper added that every street surrounding the site is part of the city’s high-injury corridor, where the majority of car crashes occur. The neighborhood, she adds, is also home to the nation’s only public housing project that prioritizes Native Americans, who are disproportionately affected by vehicular-related accidents.

H. Jiahong Pan welcomes reader comments at hpan@ spokesman-recorder.com.

“As I’m getting older, I’m realizing how much of an impact my skin color makes,” Cineus said. “I’ve realized if someone who looks like me, my skin color, can see me foraging, and realize ‘This is normal. I can go out in the woods,’ that makes me super hyped. That’s ultimately my goal. I started doing Instagram foraging to really inspire people who look like me, and ultimately people in poverty, people in urban communities.”

Cineus also runs a skate-

“And then we’ve been foraging and stuff lately. It’s just cool, because to me it’s important for Black people specifically to be out in nature and finding sustainable food, because so much of the food in Black neighborhoods is unhealthy, or healthy food is inaccessible, so the more people know how to be sustainable and rely on themselves for food, I think is pretty important.”

For people unfamiliar with

s MITH

Continued from page 12 sports journalists as co-director and assistant professor of practice at the Claire Smith Center for Sports Media at the Klein College of Media and Communication at Temple University, where both she and her mother earned degrees. park or camping in a car can be good first-time activities.

Smith and her fellow faculty members are dedicated to preparing tomorrow’s sports journalists. “We combine academic rigor with real-world experience and training,” according to the center’s website.

“Camping is so fun, even if it’s pulling up in a car, sleeping in a car,” Cineus said. “[My first camping trip] was so cool. Being able to see stars, and breathe fresh air, and not hear any sirens.”

For first-time foragers, Cineus recommends research be-

Center study, remains a field where men (83 percent) are more likely than women to be involved, and where Blacks, Latinos and Asians are still underrepresented in almost every news and sports beat.

“The goal is to promote diversity, equity and inclusion,” continued Smith. “If we’re not doing our job, I especially wouldn’t be doing my job.” safe. “If you’re gonna pick mushrooms, pick what you’re going to eat and do it right and be thankful for what’s there,” Cineus said. Visit @themushroomblock on Instagram for more info. about governance and power in governing,” explained Patel.

During her career, Smith was undeterred in reporting on the lack of diversity in baseball, especially the very low number of Black managers in baseball.

Cole Miska welcomes reader comments at cmiska@spokesman-recorder.com.

Even with today’s technology, Smith stressed the importance of writing. She also stressed the importance of reaching out as early as high school to help convince students that they could become effective communicators.

Minnesota state legislators Leigh Finke, Erin Maye Quade and Ruth Richardson were among the attendees.

“The fight doesn’t stop because the policies are becoming law,” continued Patel. “The Minnesota State Legislature [must] continue investing in this coalition and being prepared, not just in a defensive posture but an offensive posture, for the backlash” from opponents.

However, Patel pointed out that what happened in Minnesota might not be replicated elsewhere because of Republi- that I could help kids, people in my community that look like me, providing them with an education through coaching,” said Kearney, who in 2006 founded the Pursuit of Dreams Foundation, a nonprofit organization, and later her own consulting business called In Pursuit of Dreams, Inc.

Her late grandmother was a huge inspiration, among others. “I watched my grandmother cleaning houses. My grandmother [who died while can-controlled legislatures not looking to pass progressive bills and/or GOP governors who could veto progressive bills when they come to their desks.

Patel said the Minnesota DFL majority should be praised as they leveraged their new majority to help pass legislation that hopefully keeps its progressive policy momentum going into 2024. “The policies actually have an incredible positive impact on the lives of children and Minnesotans of color,” she concluded. Charles Hallman welcomes reader responses to challman@ spokesman-recorder.com.

Kearney was in college] was a hero to me because she took such pride in her work. Those things inspired me to coach, but it also inspired me to create mentoring programs.

“Even now, out of coaching, I coach people to be successful in life. I have a responsibility to open doors for the next generation.”

Charles Hallman welcomes reader comments at challman@spokesman-recorder.com.

Being a college professor “is something that I had thought about every single time I was asked to go to a campus and talk to the students about journalism,” Smith recently told the MSR. “My job is to prepare them and make sure that they have the writing skills” no matter the medium they wish to pursue as a career, whether doing podcasts or working as communications specialists writing press releases.

Sports journalism, according to a new Pew Research

sOE

Continued from page 12 seven points a game in her freshman year to almost 20 points a contest in her senior year. Her individual honors included three-time All-Big Ten and secondteam All American in her senior year. But the first-year Minne“ She’s figuring it out,” noted Minnesota Lynx Coach Cheryl Reeve after a game last week. “She has to learn. We

Currently there are two Black managers out of 30 MLB team. Over a 26-year period (19952021), less than nine percent of managers hired were Black, according to Arizona State University’s Global Sport Institute.

More importantly, Smith is an expert in telling stories.

“You have to look for something new and see what the magic is,” she observed of covering baseball.

“See how sports transcend and help populations decompress, and why is that? Why do 30,000 people get so much joy out of a strikeout?” will continue to invest in her.”

Miller hopes to shine like her first name—she explained that the name Diamond wasn’t initially in her parents’ plans. “I was supposed to be named Mariana because my mom’s name is Dreana, and then my mom’s sister said you need to change it. I don’t know how they got Diamond, but they picked it.”

It’s been almost two months, counting a threeweek training camp in early May, since Miller has become a professional basketball

Smith’s resume includes the 2017 BBWAA’s Career Excellence Award and the Jackie Robinson Foundation’s ROBIE award for lifetime achievement. She is permanently celebrated in the “Scribes & Mikemen” exhibit at Baseball Hall of Fame, and has been honored by NABJ (a 2021 Hall of Fame inductee and 1997 Sports Journalist of the Year) and Temple University (a 2014 inductee in its School of Media and Communication Hall of Fame), among others.

Smith has been an influential voice among Black writers and editors both in newspapers and television. Now she is directing her voice to a new generation:

“That’s the way I will certainly keep preparing them.” player. It has taken some time for her to get used to it.

Charles Hallman welcomes reader comments at challman@spokesman-recorder.com.

Asked if she’s there yet, Miller said, “Yes and no.

“I realized when I have free time, I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, it’s just my job.’ But it’s definitely new to me.

“I’m just absorbing it dayby-day…just having fun with it,” concluded the Lynx rookie forward. “I’m happy to be here.”

Charles Hallman welcomes reader comments at challman@ spokesman-recorder.com.

By Nadine Matthews

Contributing Writer

Summer is upon us and that means lots more time at the beach, by the pool, at the cookout, and spending time with family and friends.

Between Memorial Day and Labor Day is still considered a major time to play for both children and adults alike.

In between jaunts to farmers markets and trips to the