Month

April 2009

Opening & Closing Doors

When one door closes, another door opens.–Alexander Graham Bell You’ve probably encountered the above quote, you just didn’t know it was a sliding door. I just saw a clever ad, in a home remodeling magazine, pitching sliding doors and room partitions as a way to make your existing space more functional. Of course, in a...
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"Made ‘Ya Look" Marketing

The Real Point of Online Photos Real estate photography, as it’s currently practiced, reminds me of the joke about two hikers who encounter a Grizzly in the woods. The first hiker thinks he has to outrun the Grizzly. The second, smarter hiker realizes that his task is to . . . outrun his companion. So,...
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Real Estate "Upticks" & "Downticks"

Divining the Direction of Housing Prices,One Deal (and Tick) at a Time Both the stock and housing markets have “upticks” and “downticks.” The difference is that, in the stock market, ticks are measured in pennies, whereas in residential real estate, they’re measured in thousands — or even tens of thousands — of dollars. For the...
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Real Estate & Inflation

Inflation’s Effect on Housing [Note to Readers: please also see the update to this piece, posted Oct. 20] One of the big questions in the (financial) air is whether all the money that’s been pumped into the system (the various TARP’s, the Fed Reserve’s serial loan guarantees, government purchases of bank equity, etc.) the last...
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"Showing Log"

More Buyers Looking Yes, it’s Spring, which is a seasonally busy time of year. And yes, there are a lot of steps in between someone looking at a home, and deciding to buy it. And — one more “yes” — a good chunk of the inventory that prospective Buyers are checking out consists of foreclosures...
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Closing MN’s Budget Deficit

State Tax Deductions for Housing: Endangered Species? Is now a good time to make upper bracket housing in Minnesota (or anywhere else) more expensive? The Minnesota state legislature — or at least the House — seems to thinks so. On Saturday, it passed a bill that would make mortgage interest and property taxes non-deductible in...
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