Whodunnit? “Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac!” Never have so many owed so much to so few. –Winston Churchill If Winston Churchill had been alive to witness The Crash of ’08 and the events leading up to it, I think he would have offered an updated version of his famous observation about the Royal Air Force pilots who defended...Read More
Aftermath of 2″ Rain Friday Night If you didn’t get water in your basement after early Saturday morning’s 2 inch deluge in much of the Twin Cities — you’re probably immune. Unfortunately, I ‘m getting lots of reports that many homeowners weren’t so lucky. That includes the home I showed in Edina yesterday, where yours truly...Read More
No More Minnesota McMansions John Murphy Reports has a nice post about which builders are putting up the most new residential construction in Minnesota these days. What caught my eye: –The list is (still) dominated by big, national developers like Lennar, Pulte/Centex, and D.R. Horton (#1, #2, and #3, respectively). Mattamy (#5) is Canadian. –The...Read More
“Preapproved Short Sale” (and Other White Lies) If your parents don’t have kids, you won’t either. What’s that line got to do with real estate? Put it this way: if your listing doesn’t get showings . . . it ain’t going to get offers (or a Buyer), either. In a nutshell, that seems to describe...Read More
“Yeah, Those Things, Too” What makes for a great closing? Warm feelings between the Buyer and Seller? For sure. All the “professionals” — the Realtors, closers, and lender — knowing their assigned roles and discharging them well? Absolutely. But what really makes for a great closing is . . . getting the names of not one but two new babysitting...Read More
Too Much of a Good Bad Thing With pouring rain and dark skies in the Twin Cities at the moment, today’s a scrub for any exterior photography. In my case, that means two different clients’ shoots will have to be postponed (one’s actually a re-shoot). While overcast is good (no shadows) . . . pitch-black isn’t.Read More
