Handing Out Rain Snow Checks No, 12-plus inches of snow and near-whiteout conditions in the Twin Cities don’t bode well for open houses this afternoon. That’s not great news for would-be home sellers and agents holding their houses open. However, the storm — and a temporarily halted housing market — is definitely good news for...Read More
Cheaper by the Dozen? Nope If you buy four tires, you usually get a better deal than if you buy one. Ditto for volume purchases of airline tickets, car washes, bagels — you name it. So, why don’t Realtors give “repeat customer” discounts? Because there are no economies of scale in residential real estate. No...Read More
Lender-Speak, Translated What they said: ‘the check’s in the mail.’ Translation: ‘I’m late paying the bills.’ What they said: ‘The dog ate my homework.’ Translation: ‘I didn’t do the assignment.’ What they said: ‘I have been holding off on submitting the file until we are within 60 days of closing (for both the rate lock and because the...Read More
Can’t Sell It? Sub-Divide It! As has been painfully noisily clear the last week or so, the landlord’s solution to filling the hard-to-lease retail space — directly below the Edina Realty – City Lakes office in Calhoun Village — has been to subdivide it. So, instead of the 3,000 square foot-plus space formerly occupied by Hollywood...Read More
Misleading “Median” If you averaged temperatures in the Sahara and Antarctic, you’d get a mild 60 degrees or so — and a meaningless statistic. In a nutshell, that’s my reaction to the most recent Twin Cities housing statistics, showing that the median Twin Cities home sales price in January was $140,000. But that number means virtually nothing, because...Read More
Never Saying, “I Told You So” How do Realtors establish credibility with clients? I wish it was only a matter of coming across as authoritative about the housing market, being on top of new listings and “Sold’s,” having great references, etc. In today’s housing market, however — especially with clients who don’t already know you...Read More
