Housing Market Misnomers One of the biggest misconceptions in residential real estate is that, to be a teardown, a home must first be falling down. Hardly. All “teardown” means is that the home is less valuable than the land underneath it. That can be the case for at least two reasons other than physical condition:...Read More
Cause of Death: Inept Leadership [Note to Readers: The views expressed here are solely those of Ross Kaplan, and do not represent Edina Realty, Berkshire Hathaway (“Berkshire”), or any other entity referenced. Edina Realty is a subsidiary of Berkshire.] During his long and storied career, Donald Trump has (so far) plastered his name on casinos,...Read More
April 12, 2020: Record Easter Snowfall in Twin Cities Thanks to a record 4″ (and still falling) snow today, area “For Sale” homes that had embarrassingly unseasonal exterior photos . . . suddenly don’t. But here’s an educated guess: even when warmer weather returns — 60’s are forecast here next week — the (literally) frozen-in-time...Read More
“Better Late Than Never” Dept. “Congress, Come Home: Faxes Can Do the Talking on Capitol Hill”** –Ross Kaplan, Star Tribune Op-Ed page (1993). OK, so I got the part about faxes wrong: today’s technology, including Zoom, FaceTime, and streaming video, positively blows away fax machines. And, I didn’t anticipate the health and safety reason (i.e.,...Read More
“Sellers Who Don’t Have to Sell,” or Picking Up Their Marbles & Going Staying Home Would-be forecasters trying to divine the future of home prices, post-pandemic, would be wise to remember the aftermath of The 2008 Financial Crash (sorry, I never bought “The Great Recession” label). Namely, housing prices weakened much more slowly than stocks, employment, and...Read More
Alternative for Would-Be Sellers: Taking a Break “The recipe is cash and balls: Throw in a very low offer and see what sticks. No guts. No glory.” –“As Coronavirus Cases Grew, Some Wealthy Buyers Still Bought Multimillion Dollar Homes”; The Wall Street Journal (3/26/2020). [Note to Readers: The views expressed here are solely those of...Read More
