Increasing Market Penetration? Realtors cast around for inspector referrals all the time. (Much) less common: a Buyer’s agent trying to turn up an inspector qualified to inspect a geothermal heating/cooling system (I received the first such email this am via Edina Realty’s “broadcast” feature). Good! First, homeowners have to install such systems, either as retrofits or...Read More
No Splitting the Baby The way the Board of Realtors discourages procuring cause cases — essentially, disputes over who’s entitled to the payout commission (offered to the agent responsible for the sale) — is by applying an all-or-nothing standard. That is, instead of divvying up the commission amongst competing agents, the Board makes a determination...Read More
Parade of Homes, Spring Fall 2014 [Editor’s Note: Broken clocks are accurate twice a day. Similarly, my post about the Parade of Homes — and the challenges and opportunities it presents for home buyers and their Realtors — is correct twice a year. The first time is the Spring Parade; the second is the Fall...Read More
Buyer’s Agent Beware [Editor’s Note: The views expressed here are solely those of Ross Kaplan, and do not represent Edina Realty, Berkshire Hathaway, or any other entity referenced.] Thanks to heightened concerns about the security of online data, Minnesota Realtors are no longer supposed to scan and email copies of Buyers’ earnest money checks when...Read More
Two Ways to Identify Unmotivated Buyers What is the #1 bane of Buyers’ agents? Unmotivated Buyers. As a public service to my (occasionally beleaguered) colleagues everywhere, herewith are two ways to identify such Buyers (for illustrative purposes, I’ll call them “the fast way” and “the slow way,” respectively). Strategy #1 Once you’ve gotten acquainted with...Read More
Taking Yes Full Price For an Answer “He who governs least governs best.” –Thomas Jefferson “He who negotiates least negotiates best.” –Ross Kaplan Soviet dissident (and now Israeli politician) Natan Sharansky once explained how he and his fellow dissidents helped pass the time in solitary confinement. Adept at Morse code and held in adjacent cells, they...Read More
