“Your Mileage Points May Vary” Once upon a time, it was (fairly) safe to tell Buyers that the maximum contribution that a Seller could make toward the Buyer’s closing costs was 3%. No more. Here’s the current, updated “cheat sheet,” courtesy of Edina Mortgage’s Keith O’Brien: FHA is 6% regardless of down payment. Conventional is...Read More
(Non-Local) Realtor Gaffes and Flubs You might be a redneck if you think Sherlock Holmes is a housing project down in Biloxi. –Jeff Foxworthy, comedian In the spirit of Jeff Foxworthy’s “you might be a redneck if . . .” litany of jokes, I thought I’d offer my own Minneapolis-based Realtor version — mostly drawn from my...Read More
4200 Basswood Open 1-3 p.m Today! Charles Dickens famously published his novels in London magazines in serial form (the pace of installments reportedly accelerated whenever he was broke). In that spirit (minus the financial motivation), I’m offering the third installment of virtual staging at 4200 Basswood Road, just west of Cedar Lake in St. Louis...Read More
Showing Feedback — Upper Bracket Edition “Is the Buyer local?” –Question on showing feedback form for a Twin Cities upper bracket home “I know half of my marketing budget is wasted — I just don’t know which half.” –Marketing director lament The typical showing feedback questions — what the Buyer’s agent fields after showing a property —...Read More
How Not to Distract From a $10k Front Door Where does the lockbox go? That one’s likely a head scratcher: doesn’t the lockbox always go on the front door? Usually, but not always. If you’ve never bought or sold a house, the lockbox is the device that stores the house key(s) and lets Realtors (and...Read More
4200 Basswood: After (Above) and Before (Below) Perhaps the best application for virtual staging is a big, empty room – albeit one with unlimited potential. Like the Amusement Room in my new listing at 4200 Basswood Road, just west of Cedar Lake (see also, “Unmatched Potential!”). With over 1,100(!) square feet, a potential second Kitchen, a...Read More
