Home inspection in New Germany.

What we see in New Germany homes.

New Germany grew up in the 1880s around a Great Northern Railroad depot, and early settlers were largely natives of Germany. It incorporated as a village in 1901 and became a city under Minnesota law in 1974. During World War I it briefly carried the name Motordale, from 1917 until 1922. Today it is one of the smallest cities we serve, at 1.00 square mile and 464 residents in 2020, up from 372 in 2010, with 168 housing units counted in 2010. It sits at about 974 feet and borders the Lake Minnetonka LRT Regional Trail.

In a village this small, the individual house matters more than the neighborhood. Older houses near the depot area date to the village's early decades, so we look at foundation type and condition, roof structure, original or updated wiring, plumbing, insulation and additions. Knob-and-tube wiring is only a question in genuinely pre-1950 houses, and we check for it there. Newer houses added since 2010 get the usual checks on grading, attic ventilation and mechanical age. Carver County is EPA Radon Zone 1, and testing is recommended for every Minnesota home.

Local facts checked September 2026 against: Wikipedia.