The Corollary to, “No One Washes a Rental Car” What’s the significance of the disclosure — required in Minnesota — that the Buyer is a licensed real estate agent? In my experience, two things: One. The Buyer is more sophisticated (or should be), and therefore, at least in theory, the deal can progress more quickly and...Read More
“Sunlight is the best disinfectant.” –Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis With the Supreme Court’s holding in McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission, No. 12-536 this week, apparently we are well on the way towards no limits on campaign contributions, by any entities, for any office. Yippee! As deplorable as that development is, it’s aggravated by ever-murkier disclosure...Read More
Ad Hoc vs. Whole Building Approach For at least a couple years now, I’ve counseled my condo Buyers to be leery of a certain Lake Calhoun condo building. My concern(s)? That is, besides suspiciously low sale prices (often a giveaway): I’d heard numerous stories about alleged problems (remember, I’m a former attorney) with the building’s...Read More
Synonyms for “Receive”: “Charge,” “Levy,” “Assess,” “Subtract,” “Deduct,” “Reduce” “TFLIC receives an asset charge of 1.18% from the assets of the separate account.” –Prospectus On the list of really annoying things about a great many mutual funds and how they disclose their (too-high) fees, add this one: a bond fund sponsored by Transamerica Financial Life Insurance (“TFLIC”)...Read More
How Strong is the Condo Association? I’ll discuss this year’s legal and forms changes (exciting stuff, I know!) in another post. But one of the things that did not change this year — and I predict will next year, if not sooner — is the timing of Condo and Townhouse Association disclosures. At least in Minnesota,...Read More
Not So Virtual “Virtual Staging” So, what’s holding up virtual staging? (see also, “Virtual Staging: Ready for Prime Time?”) Not Realtors, who by and large are game (even if they have to dig a little deeper into their pockets to do it). Not clients, who stand to save a small fortune on actual staging costs....Read More
