Stock Analysts, Exterminators, and Realtors To stock market neophytes, it always seems like a massive overreaction when Company ABC or XYZ announces that it’s going to miss its next quarterly estimate by 1¢, and its stock price immediately craters by 10% (or 40%!), lopping millions if not billions off the company’s market cap (valuation). Ahh...Read More
But First . . . a Brief History Lesson I don’t know about other states ” I’m only licensed to sell real estate in Minnesota ” but here, residential property taxes are due twice a year: May 15 and October 15. Those non-randomly chosen dates stretch back to when Minnesota’s economy ” like practically...Read More
Trying to Keep the Playing Field Level “As you are no doubt aware, allowing a showing on your listing while it is in TNAS (Temporarily Not Available for Showing) status is a NorthstarMLS rule violation. We have changed the fine for this violation to the List Agent from $100 to $1,000. This reflects its more...Read More
The Overzealous Agent: Asset or Liability? Don’t squeaky wheels get the grease? And in a hyper-competitive multiple offer situation, isn’t an aggressive agent an asset? (nice alliteration, huh?) Yes . . . to a point. Beyond that point, hyper-aggressive behavior on the part of a Buyer’s agent can become a negative to the Seller (and...Read More
Pre-Closing Checklist Test your mastery of real estate minutiae, and answer the following multiple choice question: What’s the last (if not most important) pre-closing detail to get right? A. The client’s net number on the ALTA (federal closing worksheet). B. Still-needed signature(s) on any last-minute Purchase Agreement Amendments. C. The listing agent’s sign riders from the “For Sale”...Read More
Real Estate Negotiating Principles “Whomever speak first [in a negotiation] . . . loses.” —Anonymous. “Whomever proposes “splitting the difference” in a negotiation stands to get the better bargain.” —Corollary, Ross Kaplan. Veteran negotiators will attest to the truth of the first statement: if you speak first, you never find out if the other side...Read More
