“Only Their Hairdressers Realtors Know For Sure”* When you see the “For Sale” sign disappear in front of a home, the presumption — amongst Realtors and non-Realtors alike — is that the house closed, and that the sales price is now a matter of public record. Which prompts non-Realtors to ask Realtors what it sold for....Read More
April Showers Bring . . . May Price Cuts(?) With the snow barely gone and the trees still November-bare, it will certainly strike some as odd to say this, but it’s true: the Minnesota Spring housing market is already getting long in the tooth. So, if your home hit the market in February, and is unsold...Read More
Driving Maneuvers One of my favorite jokes is about the pair of hikers who are surprised by a Grizzly. Hiker #1 believes, mistakenly, that he needs to outrun the Grizzly. Hiker #2 understands that the true task is to outrun his companion. Running Late So, too, in real estate, novice agents believe — mistakenly — that the object...Read More
Ugly Headlines Existing U.S. Home Sales Pace Down 6.3% Year-Over-Year in March –USA Today U.S. New Home Sales Unexpectedly Decline to Record Low –Reuters Existing Home Sales Drop 9.6% –Marketwatch.com Scan the latest headlines, and you’d conclude that the housing market is a wreck. What the headlines omit, however, is context: one year ago, Spring...Read More
“Post-World War II Conversions” Recycle a plastic bottle, and you get 25¢ (at least in some states). Recycle a pound of aluminum cans, and you’ll make about a $1. But re-use an existing foundation to build new construction, and how much will you save? Try, $25,000 to $35,000. “Lower” Upper Bracket In fact, that’s the...Read More
“The Goldilocks Approach” Anyone who’s done a Web search — which means everyone — knows the problem: type in an overly broad search, and it returns a zillion hits. However, type in an overly narrow or restrictive search, and it returns zero hits. A home’s list price works the same way, albeit in reverse. Too...Read More
