The Acid Test How do you tell if a larger, upper bracket home really is “great for entertaining?” (as many tout that they are). Put 50-plus people in it — as happens every Thursday a.m. at Edina Realty’s weekly Exceptional Properties meeting — and see how well the house accommodates them. When everyone fits comfortably in the...Read More
The Hopkins – Edina School District Tug of War Edina was the first school district in the Twin Cities that I’m aware of to put the brakes on open enrollment, the policy of allowing students outside a district to matriculate. Now, it appears that multiple other local school districts are following suit. Background State school districts...Read More
Softened-Up Sellers Do lowball offers ever work? Absolutely — just not in the way most would-be lowballers might expect. Instead of stealing the property from the Seller at a fire sale price, more often than not what they really serve to do is soften up the Seller for an offer from another Buyer. White Gray...Read More
What’s Behind It? The Edina Realty – City Lakes front desk is reporting a bump in walk-in traffic the last few weeks. A “walk-in” is exactly that: someone who walks in off the street and needs a Realtor to help them buy or sell a house — preferably both. If it were a bit later into the Spring...Read More
Maybe Madoff Can Be a Judge NAR economists promised to study the [issue of overstated housing sales] during a December conference call that included economists from the Mortgage Bankers Association, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the Federal Reserve, the Federal Housing Finance Agency and CoreLogic. –“Home Sales Data Doubted“; The Wall Street Journal (2/22/11) One of the real...Read More
Higher Price = Longer Market Time It’s no secret that there are lots of upper bracket homes currently for sale in the Twin Cities. Depending on your definition of “upper bracket” (mine is over $850k or so) and which part of town you’re talking about, the current supply of such homes ranges anywhere from 12 to...Read More
