Adding a (Big) Margin of Error for Hassle, Unknowns The biggest discount facing home Sellers is for home repairs they’re passing along to the Buyer (euphemistically known as “deferred maintenance”). That’s true whether the repairs are required pursuant to a local point-of-sale inspection — mandatory in 10 municipalities in the Twin Cities — or are simply things...Read More
Stuck in the Middle: the Plight of the “Near Tear-Down” While Twin Cites developers — and their clients — are once again on the prowl for tear-downs, unfortunately for would-be Sellers of such homes, not everything qualifies. In particular, a great many homes fall into a broad gray area, where they’re too expensive for many...Read More
Pay More Commission, Net More Money? Yup, That’s the Idea Actually, the blog headline (above) was supposed to be a rhetorical question. But, if you’re dubious, here’s the math: Scenario #1: $300k less 5.5% commission = $283,500 Scenario #2: $310k less 7% commission = $288,300 Difference: almost $5k. “The Way to Bet” Of course,...Read More
Now, THAT’s a Deal! “An overpriced “For Sale” home depreciates in value faster than an appreciating housing market rises.” —Ross Kaplan, first law of real estate; “Market Appreciation vs. Home Depreciation” (10/23/2013) Here’s a news flash for at least some prospective home Sellers: even in a Seller’s market like today’s, not everything sells right away,...Read More
Putting a Premium on Potential — and Discounting the Present Any would-be stock market geniuses first have to wrestle with this seeming conundrum. Newly-public Twitter has negligible revenue (never mind earnings), but is valued at an astronomical $32 billion. The rationale? The revenue and earnings will come later. Meanwhile, Apple Computer’s $40 billion(!) in net...Read More
Three Reasons Once upon a time — like in 2009, in the aftermath of The 2008 Crash — jumbo or “non-conforming” loans were significantly more expensive than conforming loans (under $417k in most parts of the country). When conforming loans were going for 5.5%, jumbo’s were fetching 6.25% or 6.5% — assuming you could find a...Read More
