False Negatives and False Positives In a post earlier this month titled, “Who’s Watching the Listing?,” I talked about the utility — and lack thereof — of tracking how many times a particular property has been saved on MLS. Generally speaking, the more people watching a listing, the better; presumably, prospective Buyers like the home but not the price, and...Read More
Proposal Du Jour I literally got 4 words into James Wilcox’s Op-Ed piece in today’s New York Times before finding something objectionable. That would be the word “make” — as in, “A Way to Make People Buy Homes Again.” To paraphrase a certain character from the movie Jerry McGuire, “James, you lost me at “make.'”...Read More
Telling Buyers What They Know About Their Home’s Condition “Treat people the way you’d like them to treat you.” –The Golden Rule “Home Sellers should tell prospective Buyers anything that they would want to know if they were buying the home.” –The Golden Rule, real estate version Given that 90%-plus of all residential real estate...Read More
Realtor Mistake #3 First, a caveat: by far the more common Realtor mistake is not doing pre-list marketing — touting an upcoming listing to colleagues — far enough in advance. Or, not doing it at all. However, at least in my opinion, it’s also possible to err on the side of doing it too soon. Call it an “advanced beginner” (or...Read More
“Temporarily Not Available For Buying” (TNAB)* “The right house at the wrong time . . . is the wrong house.” –Ross Kaplan One of the things that can happen working with Buyers is that . . . life intervenes. A work crisis pops up out of nowhere, an unexpected health issue temporarily lays someone up, etc. When...Read More
(More) Real Estate Cliches Two of the more overused real estate cliches (redundant, I know) is “curb appeal is deceptive” and its first-cousin, “not a drive-by.” So, are they ever true? Usually, not. However, there are exceptions to every rule. Exceptions to the Rule Once in awhile, you do see a listed home with a plain...Read More
