Would That Be Product Un-Placement? It’s disconcerting enough to see the (all too) realistic depiction of social breakdown, martial law, etc. that follow in the wake of a nightmarish global health epidemic. However, when the one of the cities so portrayed is Minneapolis . . . it’s almost literally a little too close to home. Story...Read More
“Buy By the Acre Ton, Sell By the Square Foot Ounce” No, I’m not calling the housing bottom. But, I’m willing to predict that Yogurt Lab, the new self-serve yogurt shop on Excelsior Blvd. near Uptown, is going to be a hit. How do I know? It was mobbed — on a recent weeknight! —...Read More
First Lady: ‘Mrs. Theabove’ My two-part plan for getting elected President, courtesy of Kim Dotcom, now-infamous force behind rogue website “Megaupload”: Step #1: legally change my name to Noneof Theabove (“Mr. Theabove”). Step #2: start a grass-roots campaign to have voters write in “none of the above” this Fall. You don’t suppose there’d be more...Read More
Buyer’s Temperament — and Timetable Are you a good candidate to buy a foreclosure? To find out, ask yourself these five questions: One. Will you be willing to sign the bank’s “As Is” Addendum and various waivers? That comes with the territory. Which means . . . you’d better have your arms around the property’s condition. Depending on how...Read More
Blue Chip Stocks as Alternative Stores of Value When the world is going to hell on a Harley, investors find few places to hide: Treasury bills, gold, Swiss francs”or the stock of McDonald’s Corp. –Holman Jenkins, “What Pepsi Can Learn From McDonald’s“; The Wall Street Journal (1/27/2012) To Jenkins’ list, I’d add Coke, Phillip Morris,...Read More
“Some Day, Son, This Will All Be Yours” It’s a given that, in a market of some 20,000-plus Twin Cities home sellers at the moment, some are more motivated than others. Which ones? You can usually tell by how well each home is priced, staged, marketed, etc. But there’s another, surefire way to know that a...Read More
