Rules of Thumb Veteran Realtors know that $1 in deferred maintenance subtracts much more than that from a home’s sales price. The ratio can be 3:1, 4:1 or even higher. While the exact amount is house and buyer-specific, at least anecdotally, there seem to be two factors that widen the discount. One. Price Point. First-time...Read More
Beauty in the Eye of the Beholder Buyer When should a listing agent (representing the Seller) explicitly acknowledge in their marketing that a home “needs cosmetic updates” (or the equivalent)? Less often than you might guess. Here are my three reasons why: One. The pictures tell the story. For years, websites like EdinaRealty.com have allowed...Read More
The Art of Comp Selection One of the trickier home features to account for in a Comparative Market Analysis (“CMA”) is a busy street. For a family with little kids, a busy street may very well be a deal breaker ” in which case the discount is theoretically infinite. At the other extreme, an investor looking...Read More
Silver Lining: Indoor Exercise I’ve certainly had prospective Buyers pass on a single-family home because they didn’t like the feel of the neighboring houses or block. What’s the equivalent for a condo? I just showed a Minnetonka condo that was so far from the elevator — I’d guess about 250 feet, or literally a 2...Read More
Beauty in the Eye of the Beholder Buyer When should a listing agent (representing the Seller) explicitly market that a home “needs cosmetic updates” (or the equivalent)? Less often than you might guess. Here are my three reasons why: One. The pictures tell the story. For years, websites like EdinaRealty.com have allowed an unlimited number...Read More
Stealth Objection (Deal Breaker?) for Home Buyers With Small Kids It’s not a field on MLS (yet), but maybe it should be: whether you can see the kids in the backyard from the Kitchen. That criterion isn’t important for every Buyer, but for the ones it is . . . it can be huge. At least in my...Read More
