Morel Mushrooms at The Wedge for 33% Off The distinction between “on sale” and “cheap” is nicely illustrated by the morel mushrooms currently on sale for $39.99/lb.(!) at The Wedge Co-op on Lyndale in Minneapolis. And yes, the principle is frequently on display in residential real estate sales. Unfortunately, neither the Kaplan family budget nor...Read More
Kudos and (Just a Few) Quibbles Kudos to Mpls. St. Paul Magazine for its well-done May, 2016 cover story, “Suburban Sanctuaries, Downtown Gems, and Walkable Havens: 28 Great Places to Live in the Twin Cities” (“on newsstands now,” as they say). If you’re new to town, you’ll want to check out the article for its thumbnail...Read More
The Relocation Fire Drill, or, “The Turbo-Charged Home Search” Relocation Buyers — often serial corporate transferees — present both opportunities and challenges for Sellers. First, the bad news: such Buyers typically look at LOTS of homes, across a wide range of neighborhoods and home styles. That’s because they don’t know the local community well or...Read More
How Good a Month Will April, 2016 Be? How do you make your Office Manager happy? Turn in a couple nice sales in a month. How do you make them very happy? Turn in a couple nice sales at the end of the month, when all the offices are scrambling to meet (and ideally exceed) their...Read More
A Little Passover Irony, or “Wait a Second! Isn’t ‘Exodus’ Associated with Getting OUT??” I’ve made my peace with paying close to $10 for a movie ticket. However, $4 for a smallish candy bar or a box of M&M’s is another thing. So — full confession — we Kaplan’s have been known to smuggle a...Read More
What a Novel Idea! (Actually, Not) For the first time, Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meeting (held in Omaha this Saturday, April 30) will also be online. Who could have predicted that? Actually . . . yours truly. More than 21 years ago. Here’s an excerpt from my article in The New York Times: “Electronic meetings have several...Read More