prop_6_3668247“Calling qualified home buyers“: That’s how a tweet by Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak began on Wednesday. He was announcing a new loan program for city homebuyers, but he might as well have been advertising for himself: Rybak and wife Megan O’Hara are selling their Lake Harriet home — for around $200,000 more than the county’s listed taxable market value.

Hennepin County tax records confirm that the home at 4415 DuPont Avenue South, just two blocks east of Lake Harriet, is owned by the mayor, and an MLS listing puts the asking price at just shy of $750,000.

This story’s sensational headline aside, the asking price doesn’t appear to be off-base: A look at recent home sales in the neighborhood shows that in November a house just down the block sold for $860,000. When he purchased the four-bedroom, three-bath house 19 years ago this month, Rybak paid $180,000. County tax records put the estimated market value of the home at $545,000 (it lists the taxable market value at $506,000, reflecting $39,000 in improvements.)

Aaron Dickinson, an Edina Realty Realtor, says taxable market values often have little to do with a home’s selling price.

“The biggest problem is often these houses haven’t been viewed by the assessors’ office in years at a time,” he says, adding that city employees have to look at thousands of houses across the city. “It’s hard for any tax assessor to be spot on, especially in this market. Tax market value has very little to do with the value of the property.”

Could the fact that a mayor lived there raise the home’s value? “Possibly,” says Dickinson, but the house isn’t (yet?) marketed as the mayor’s. Plus, “that would all depend on your political affiliation.”

So,  where’s Rybak going? Is he selling to take up a much-speculated-upon Obama administration job?

Rybak’s communications director Jeremy Hanson assures it’s just a case of “empty-nest downsizing.” With the couple’s youngest daughter heading off to college, they’re seeking a smaller house (not a condo) in Minneapolis.

Hanson says there’s nothing to still-persistent rumors of a spot in the Obama administration for Rybak.

“He’s up for re-election, he loves his job and loves being mayor,” Hanson said. “He’ll use his relationship with the Obama administration to benefit the city and the state, especially during these difficult economic times.”

The state?

Hanson wouldn’t comment on whether Rybak might be eyeing a bigger pad on Summit Avenue in St. Paul — the governor’s office.

“A lot of people are talking about that,” he said. “That’s something for the future.”

Does the mayor qualify for some of the city’s newest homebuyer programs?

“Not that I’m aware of,” says Hanson, indicating that a move to, say, North Minneapolis isn’t in the cards for the Rybak family.

“Most of the housing programs we’re doing are targeted in areas hard hit by foreclosures,” Hanson says. “Last time I checked, Lake Harriet wasn’t one of those neighborhoods.”