Whatever happened to building starter homes?

Back in the 1970s, Oakdale-based Cardinal Homebuilders made a name for itself by building moderately priced houses on the East Side of St. Paul. Tony Wiener, a third-generation leader of the company, says he would love to carry on that starter home tradition.

“That is where our bread and butter was,” Wiener said.

Now, like other homebuilders, Cardinal has to find other ways to butter its bread. As the years went by, it became increasingly expensive to build those starter homes. By the early 2000s, Wiener said, Cardinal shifted its focus to more profitable, higher-end products.

Read the complete article here.