What’s better than three enthusiastic references? Five — or ten. Ideally, several of which recently bought or sold the same kind of property, nearby, within the last 6-12 months (I said “ideally”). No, I can’t necessarily marshal all of the above — or have time to! — for every listing presentation/Buyer Rep interview I do...Read More
Crime and No Punishment “The Jungle,” by Upton Sinclair. “Silent Spring,” by Rachel Carson. “Unsafe at Any Speed,” by Ralph Nader. To this illustrious list of muckraking, epoch-changing books, add one more: Charles Ferguson’s “Predator Nation.” Pantheon of Greats Essentially the unabridged companion piece to his 2010 Oscar-winning documentary (“Inside Job“), the book is a sober if...Read More
At the risk of adding to an already too long list of i-puns, I’ve got one more: “iCloudy.” In theory, Apple’s cloud-based data storage system (and successor to problem-plagued MobileMe) represents the Holy Grail of “whenever, wherever” access to personal data. In practice, well . . . . After two weeks — and multiple trips...Read More
Riddle: How Can His Prices Possibly Be That Low?!? [Editor’s Note: For obvious reasons, no names or other identifying info on this post. However, I heard the following anecdote from an “extremely reliable source” (as they say), and believe it to be true.] So, how does one very cost-competitive Twin Cities builder deliver such eye-popping prices? By “exploiting”...Read More
High Likelihood of Getting Busted It’s NEVER a good idea for a home seller to lie* in their Seller’s Disclosure Statement. But, it’s especially dumb to lie about hail damage sustained just before closing, even if the Buyer manages to miss it during their final walk-thru inspection (in Minnesota, Sellers have an ongoing duty to update...Read More
Heat Wave, A/C Glitches Overwhelm Home Warranty Phone Lines If you’re a homeowner whose central a/c is on the fritz, and are covered by a warranty policy, before you pick up the phone to report a claim today, you may want to get a cup of coffee and something to read. How come? The phone lines —...Read More
