Refinancing Into a 2.75% Fixed Rate, 15-Year Mortgage Ok, so it’s not a Porsche or a 2 week Hawaiian vacation, but you could do worse than scoring a 15 year mortgage at 2.75% today. What that says about you: –You own a home; –You actually have equity in your home — and therefore can borrow against...Read More
The Conspicuously Silent Listing Agent At one extreme, there are the listing agents who call your cell phone for feedback while you’re in the middle of the showing (can you say, “overeager?”). Then, there’s the agent I just encountered in South Minneapolis, who listed a brick 1 1/2 story for $20k below market (my estimate) on Friday....Read More
From “3-1-1” to “5-2-1” The primary reason Buyers have a finite amount of time to do their home inspection is because Sellers want to know where they stand. So, if the Buyer and Seller can’t agree on resolving any issues that come up, the Seller wants to be able to go back on the market, with...Read More
More Bicycling Accolades for Minneapolis “Wagner’s music is better than it sounds.” –Anonymous music critic “Who are you going to believe — me, or your own lying eyes?” –New Yorker cartoon Walk Score, the company whose 1-100 rating system purports to tell home buyers (and renters!) how walkable a given neighborhood is, is beta testing...Read More
From “Super-Low” to “Outrageously, Absurdly Low” Wait a second — haven’t mortgage rates been, like, dirt cheap since . . . forever? And haven’t interest rates paid on savings been infinitesimal for practically just as long? Well, yes. But, as a result of further Euro zone deterioration last week — and the resulting flight to quality/safety — interest...Read More
Bad Call? The best way to sell a house is to exceed Buyers’ expectations (plus dangle a tempting price, and stir up lots of “pre-list” and “new list” buzz). The corollary to that would be, “the best way to lose a Buyer is to disappoint them.” –Ross Kaplan, “Realtor Sales Secrets”; City Lakes Real Estate Blog (6/20/2011) Is...Read More
