Realtor “Atta-Boy”: “Nice Listing!” A new listing has a surprising number of parallels with the opening of a Broadway play. There’s the opening night anticipation. There are the hopes (and fears) about whether the audience (prospective Buyers) will like it. And there can be a sense of dread about what the toughest critics will have...Read More
List Price: $4.9 Million [Note to Readers: The views expressed here are solely those of Ross Kaplan, and do not represent Edina Realty, Berkshire Hathaway (“Berkshire”), or any other entity referenced. Edina Realty is a subsidiary of Berkshire.] At a sufficiently high price, every prospective home buyer is a tire kicker. At least in...Read More
Four Ways to Tell In the history of mankind, no first-time Mother has ever under-dressed their newborn in the winter.” —Manhattan Pediatrician So which pediatrician uttered the above line? Mine (and my wife’s). What prompted that comment were the 3 layers of clothing my wife had already put on our newborn son (a long time...Read More
Multiple Bad Reasons — and One Good One Homes scheduled to be on Broker Tour ” at least in the Twin Cities, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. each Tuesday ” get cancelled for all kinds of reasons. The Seller’s cleaner didn’t show up (or didn’t finish); someone in the household is unexpectedly home sick...Read More
Realtor Scorecard Yeah, yeah, there are dozens of metrics (quantitative benchmarks) for judging how good/effective Realtors are (Brokers, too). For most consumers (and not a few Realtors), however, there’s really only one number that counts: Yup, sales. No surprise, the agents who sell the most homes each year proudly trumpet that fact in their email,...Read More
Retail vs. Wholesale Open Houses One of the best, early omens for a new listing is when agents leaving the Broker Open casually toss off compliments like “nice listing,” “good job!,” or simply “congratulations.” What’s another? When several newer, less experienced agents contact you, asking if they can hold a weekend open house at your...Read More