From Finding a House to Making a Home in the Twin Cities Real Estate Market

Top Blog Posts

January 3, 2025

1. Minnesota’s 10-Second Weather Report (According to Saturday Night Live)

Getting One Out of Three Right We’re in Minnesota, so here’s the weather forecast: the rest of April: cold; May: cold; June: cold; July: somehow hot as hell. Back to y’all.” –Saturday Night Live; cold open (April 10, 2021). As a Minnesota native and long-time Twin Cities resident, I can attest to the “perpetually cold”...
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February 21, 2021

2. Last Tango in Halifax: Translating “British-speak”

England and America are two nations separated by a common language.” –George Bernard Shaw. One hardly needs to be British to enjoy “Last Tango in Halifax,” the terrific comedy-drama that debuted in 2012 (and that my wife and I recently binge-watched — who says that the pandemic doesn’t have any silver linings??). As a service...
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June 7, 2019

4. Dress Code for Home Closings**

Realtor-Client Double Standard There are really only two rules when it comes to proper attire for a home closing: 1) the Realtors and other professionals (closers and lender) should wear formal business attire (sorry, no “business casual”); 2) clients can wear whatever they want. Which I guess means there’s only one rule. For men, at...
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Recent Blog Posts

School
January 6, 2025

Determining the Discount (Premium??) for Homes Located Across From a School

Key Variables: Type of School, Buyer Characteristics Homes on busy streets typically fetch a discount. Is there an equivalent discount for homes located across from a school? (which, in a way, is really just a subset of “busy street” — call it, an “intermittently busy street”). I’ve never seen formal data on this, but I’d guess...
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Alcove
January 6, 2025

Real Estate Marketing 101: “Alcove” vs. “Studio” Apartment

Is an “alcove apartment” easier to rent than a “studio?” Apparently, at least one Twin Cities developer seems to think so. So far, the term only seems to be a feature of the rental market: out of almost 1,000 condo’s currently for sale on the local (NorthStar) MLS, only five use the term — and...
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2733 Huntington
January 3, 2025

Coming Soon! 2733 Huntington Ave. South in St. Louis Park’s Fern Hill Neighorhood

Don’t miss your chance to be just the fourth owner of this super-spacious, 5 BR/4 Bath Colonial in St. Louis Park’s high demand Fern Hill neighborhood. Just two blocks from Minneapolis’ Cedar Lake, this home is also convenient to Uptown, Downtown, and the Chain of Lakes (Isles, Bde Maka Ska, Harriet, etc.). The sprawling .25...
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Mirror
January 3, 2025

Taking Would-Be Sellers on a Tour of Competing Homes? Bad Idea

When Subjectivity Isn’t Just Superficial If the Comp’s aren’t convincing enough, Realtor “Jane Doe” will take Sellers on tours of comparable properties. “They can see this other house is in much better condition, and it’s priced $20,000 less than theirs. It’s eye-opening.” –Spokane agent, sharing her strategy for working with unrealistic Sellers in “Setting Them Straight”; Realtor Magazine. ...
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Must See
January 3, 2025

Avoiding Real Estate Clichés Like the Plague (see what I mean??)

“Not a Drive-By!” “Must See!” Yada, Yada, Yada One of my favorite Mad magazine cartoons (circa 1970) shows a vendor in front of a food stand with the following sign: “turkey burgers,” “chicken burgers,” “buffalo burgers,” “tuna burgers,” “veggie burgers,” etc. etc. The caption: “we have some with ham, too, but we don’t know what...
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Upper Level 300x225 1
January 3, 2025

Paying Attention to What the Listing DOESN’T Say

MLS: “3rd Bedroom on Upper Level is Large & Has Lots of Storage” There’s certainly nothing wrong with an Upper Level Bedroom (pictured above) that’s large and has lots of storage. But, what’s notable — at least to me — is what’s omitted. Errors of (C)omission Namely, any mention of a Bathroom, or whether the...
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Ross

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Ross Kaplan has been selling homes all over the Twin Cities since 2002. His blog, “City Lakes Real Estate,” is recognized by Google as the #1-ranked Realtor blog in the Twin Cities – and ranks in the “Top 10” Realtor blogs nationally.

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