“$!#!%#@! Case-Shiller” A lot of Twin Cities Realtors today are muttering variations on the above in the wake of yesterday’s latest housing statistics. If you’re not aware, Case-Shiller’s just-released March numbers indicate that the national housing market has officially now re-tested its lows (“double-dipped”), and that Minneapolis is the worst performing major U.S. market over the...Read More
Who Accredits the Accreditors? That’s the question I have this morning after enduring one of the more mindless online continuing ed courses I’ve been subjected to (yeah, I picked it — based on a totally misrepresentative course description). Practically every other paragraph, the course interrupted the presentation with inane “review” quizzes with questions like the one...Read More
Building Cranes Yes, Minneapolis may be the worst performing residential market according to Case-Shiller’s just-released March numbers (down 10% year over year, the largest drop in the top 20 markets that Case-Shiller measures). Nevertheless, there is a mini-building boom apace in Minneapolis’ Uptown neighborhood, just northeast of Lake Calhoun and southeast of the Lake of...Read More
Backdoor Price Increase Perhaps the key issue in housing at the moment — besides the just-released March Case-Shiller numbers showing that housing nationally touched a new low — is the initiative by lenders and some in Congress to mandate 20% down payments. In theory, the proposal makes a lot of sense: Buyers who put down 20%...Read More
Counseling Excitable Sellers Especially after a flurry of initial showings, it’s easy for Sellers to get ahead of themselves, and assume that the sales process will be faster and simpler than it often is. So, I like to remind my clients to expect a marathon, not a sprint, and that it’s a “done deal” when ...Read More
“Seek & You Shall Find” — Not Test your knowledge of municipal point-of-sale inspections by answering the following question: True or false: if a home’s roof is past its useful life and needs replacement, the city inspection will catch it. Answer: False. I’m handling a deal now — and have been involved with numerous others...Read More
