Exhibit A: Reaching the Lender in the Middle of Multiple Offers Prospective mortgage borrowers correctly pick lenders based on their interest rates and fees (it’s the combination of both that matters). But, good client service can matter just as much — or more. Exhibit A: my Buyer was involved in multiple offers last week, and raised...Read More
“Averaging” Dissimilar Things = Meaningless What is the average weight of Laurel and Hardy? Answer: if you “average” a 150 pound man and an 350 pound man, you get 250 pounds — and a totally meaningless statistic. So, too, housing statistics that blend dissimilar markets — or even different neighborhoods within the same market —...Read More
After the Deluge: New Growth Maybe new home builders have always been young. But, they sure seem a lot younger these days. At least anecdotally, it appears that many older, established new home builders got out of the business following the collapse in new home construction starting in 2006. As new home construction has picked up...Read More
Cost-Benefit Analysis What is the best predictor that a home will have elevated radon levels? (in the Twin Cities, the threshold for remediation is above 4.0 PicoLiters per million parts). One or more other homes on the block have elevated radon levels. One of the benefits of being a more experienced Realtor is, having done...Read More
The Ultimate On-the-Job Training How do you become a good negotiator? In my opinion, not by reading books, modeling others, or some other technique. It’s by negotiating against/with . . . good negotiators. Every deal I’ve done, going back a decade-plus selling real estate, I never fail to pick up a technique (or three) that...Read More
Going . . Going . . (Still) NOT Gone! The reason I don’t jump at sales — especially of high-tech items — is two-fold: 1) they seem to happen every weekend (or perpetually); and 2) after the “sale” is over, whatever’s left over is marked down even more. That was the case with a high-end...Read More
