Upping (Lowering?) the Ante In my post, “2015 Housing Prediction,” I poked fun at prognosticators who try to stand out from the crowd by seeing who can make the most audacious housing call. In fact, the housing market lends itself to two such forecasts: 1) calling the bottom; and 2) calling the top. In light of what appears...Read More
A doctor who wants to determine a patient’s health checks out their vital signs: their heart rate, blood pressure, lungs, etc. What’s the equivalent for the housing market? Trends in the following three things: One. Inventory. Falling inventory — also called “supply” — augurs well for future housing prices; increasing inventory, the opposite. Right now,...Read More
The Easiest — and Hardest — Way to Get a Listing Realtors get listings any number of ways: –They’re best friends with the owner. –They go to the same church or synagogue (or mosque, or . . . ) –They started chatting about real estate with the owner in line at the grocery. Track Record But...Read More
“Only Their Hairdressers Realtors Know For Sure”* When you see the “For Sale” sign disappear in front of a home, the presumption — amongst Realtors and non-Realtors alike — is that the house closed, and that the sales price is now a matter of public record. Which prompts non-Realtors to ask Realtors what it sold for....Read More
April Showers Bring . . . May Price Cuts(?) With the snow barely gone and the trees still November-bare, it will certainly strike some as odd to say this, but it’s true: the Minnesota Spring housing market is already getting long in the tooth. So, if your home hit the market in February, and is unsold...Read More
Driving Maneuvers One of my favorite jokes is about the pair of hikers who are surprised by a Grizzly. Hiker #1 believes, mistakenly, that he needs to outrun the Grizzly. Hiker #2 understands that the true task is to outrun his companion. Running Late So, too, in real estate, novice agents believe — mistakenly — that the object...Read More
