Too Much Information — Realtor’s Version Living Rm: 13.4′ x 26′ Dining Rm: 9.2′ x 13′ Family Room: 16.7′ x 29.8′ Kitchen: 9.5′ x 16′ Bedroom #1: 14′ x 19.1′ Bedroom #2: 22′ x 14.6′ Bedroom #3: 8.1′ x12′ Bedroom #4: 12′ x14.4′ –Excerpt, MLS Listing What’s the corollary to “The Too-Precise Price?” The too-precise...Read More
Be Careful What You Shine a Spotlight On Yes, I think it was a good idea to call attention to the “heated playroom/workshop down the hall.” And yes, I’m aware that heating a basement playroom (underneath the garage) can be exorbitantly expensive in winter. However, if you tout a room as “heated” that’s actually about...Read More
Phone App #1 Mommy! Daddy! Come look! Grandma’s got a toothbrush that you don’t have to plug in. –“Family Circus” cartoon, registering the 5 year-old daughter’s surprise that there are manual (non-electric) toothbrushes The Family Circus cartoon occurred to me listening to the following dialogue at yesterday’s Exceptional Properties meeting: “You know what I like best about my new smartphone? It’s not the...Read More
Minneapolis Beats Edina No, that’s not a wild basketball score — it’s 2010 per square foot selling prices. For the first time in my knowledge, home prices in Minneapolis — specifically, Southwest Minneapolis — bested prices in Edina (I’m leaving out the very swanky homes ringing Lake of the Isles and Calhoun). What’s that about? I’d...Read More
Shorter AND Longer Term Mentality One of the housing statistics that has seemingly been around forever is that the average U.S. homeowner moves every seven years. If that was ever true before . . . it’s not anymore. My guess is that that number was never right: if two homeowners move after three years, and a third stays...Read More
Snowstorm Side Effects For once this season, a massive winter storm clobbering the rest of the country is sparing the Twin Cities — a sunny, if brisk zero degrees this morning. But that doesn’t mean that the Twin Cities is completely unaffected: I’ve got a hunch that my AWOL Wall Street Journal — printed in...Read More
