Two-Tiered Pricing, or, “The ‘Annual Membership’ Business Model” To the long list of consumer goods offered at a discount to Amazon Prime members, add one more: Thanksgiving turkey at newly-acquired Whole Foods. Sound familiar? It should. Training shoppers to pay an annuity-like annual (membership) fee is the business model of competitor Costco. See also, “Conversion...Read More
Calculating Premiums & Discounts in a Comparative Market Analysis (“CMA”) How much value do Realtors and Appraisers assign to an upstairs Laundry when estimating a home’s fair market value? The honest answer is, I’ve never seen it broken out as a specific adjustment, with a corresponding price tag (or even range) assigned to it. My...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
Answer: It Depends on the Buyer — and the House* It may be a surprise to people who associate Minnesota with year-round Arctic cold, but summers here — while admittedly not long — can be hot and VERY sticky. Hence the locals’ preference for central air conditioning. Which raises the question: if a home lacks...Read More
MN Realtor License Renewal Deadline: June 30 I’m sure I’m not the only busy Twin Cities Realtor who, coming down to the (license renewal) wire, still needs a few continuing education credits. Fortunately, at least in this case, procrastination does pay: just for today, the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors (“MAAR”) is offering a 40% discount...Read More
Lots of Extra Tasks — But Also One Less It’s no secret that participating in multiples offers can be challenging: for stressed Buyers, their exhausted agents, and even listing agents (representing the Seller), who may be overwhelmed by the number of offers. Fortunately, there’s at least one standard, time-consuming task that Buyers’ agents in multiple...Read More
