“Has Your Housing Market Hit Bottom?” and Other Disingenuous Questions Making money in the stock market is easy: only buy stocks that go up. If they don’t go up, don’t buy ’em. –Mark Twain One of my biggest peeves as a Realtor is disingenuous articles that suggest that calling housing market tops and bottoms — and...Read More
Buyer and Seller “Buzzkill’s” If you didn’t already know, residential real estate can be a highly emotional affair. Savvy Buyers and Sellers (and their agents) know that . . . and act accordingly. Turn-On’s . . . and Turn-Off’s For Sellers, the biggest emotional turn-off undoubtedly is dealing with a Buyer who’s trying to steal their...Read More
The Demise of Buy-and-Hold? Did you know that waves are an optical illusion (at least to a physicist)? While individual waves move forward — often at a locomotive speed, as in the case of a tsunami — the water molecules in them are actually stationery (more accurately, they move up and down, but end up...Read More
Now? Is it Warm Enough Now? In a post this Spring titled, “The Strategic Use of ‘Coming Soon!’,” I discussed listing agents who alert prospective Buyers about prospective fixes that will be done when weather permits. The obvious corollary to that post: such tactics are time-limited. So, informing prospective Buyers that “The Garage Door Will be Painted When...Read More
Hearing Footsteps I certainly didn’t intend to do my preview at the same time that the prospective Buyer and their inspector were in the home. But that’s how it worked out. Judging by the Buyers’ nervous reaction to my (brief) presence, their inclination to aggressively negotiate any inspection issues is now lessened, if only a little...Read More
New Name for City Lakes Real Estate Blog In a shameless ploy to goose traffic, I’m hereby announcing an official change in this blog’s URL. Instead of www.RossKaplan.com, effective immediately, the new address will be www.TwinCities-housewives.com. Just kidding (kind of). #1 — With a Bullet After over 2,000 posts spanning almost four years on subjects...Read More
