“What Would You Do?” “You break it, you own it.” –The Pottery Barn Rule “You make it, you own it” (translation: if you make a decision for a client . . . you are responsible for the consequences). –Real estate corollary, Ross Kaplan Whether it’s in the context of choosing a home, negotiating a deal, resolving an inspection...Read More
First-Time Buyers’ Handbook Your Realtor just called to tell you that the Seller accepted your counter-offer, signifying that you have a deal. Who do you call first? A. Your best friend. B. Your parents. C. Your lender. D. The list of home inspectors your agent gave you. Answer: D. And yes, that’s the correct answer even...Read More
Is the Twin Cities housing market shifting gears? Put it this way: the public perception certainly has. See, “Twin Cities Home Prices Up; Traditional Sales Strengthen.” In fact, the market does feel different this spring. The weekly Broker meetings — always a good litmus test of market trends — have devoted more time to dealing with...Read More
Who Says There’s No Free Lunch (and Prizes, Too)? To stimulate turnout at Broker Opens, Realtors will often offer a prize of some sort. So, I’ve seen Twins tickets, gift certificates, restaurant coupons etc. given to whomever lucky Realtor had their business card plucked from the bowl. The (occasional) caveat: some Realtors only give away the prize...Read More
“Do Deflated Bubbles Always Overshoot?” Cont. The Green Bay Packers never lost a game. They just ran out of time. –Vince Lombardi If you missed my tête-à -tête last week with Barry Ritholtz (“Why the Housing Bears are Bearish“), let me summarize: Mr. Ritholtz wrote that, even after a 35% drop from the peak nationally, housing...Read More
Here’s one more from the “I can’t define it, but I know it when I see it” department: staging. Specifically, how do you know when a home has been optimally staged? Unfortunately, there’s no objective test that I’m aware of (like putting a toothpick into a cake to see whether it comes out clean). Rather,...Read More
