Consumer Psychology and the Too-Precise Price When you see an oddly-priced “For Sale” home, there are two possible explanations (at least in my experience selling residential real estate): One. Drawing Attention. The way to stand out from homes listed at $389,900, $399,900, etc. is to price at $398,731 or some such (I haven’t seen a home...Read More
“DOM” vs. “CDOM” vs. “PDOM” Unbeknownst to non-Realtors, there are not one but THREE different ways to count the number of days a given “For Sale” home has been the market. According to the Multiple Listing Service (“MLS”), they are: One. Days on Market (“DOM”): the number of days the current listing has been on the...Read More
Three Variables Homes on busy streets typically fetch a discount. Is there an equivalent discount for homes located across from a school? (which, in a way, is really just a subset of the “busy street” discount). I’ve never seen data on this, but I’d guess “yes.” I’d further speculate that the discount varies depending on...Read More
Everything You Wanted to Know About Ceiling Finishes As best I can tell, the reason it’s called a “knockdown ceiling” is because calling it a “knock-off ceiling” would have been too confusing. What gets knocked off ” er, knocked down ” is the joint compound that’s first applied to the ceiling, and allowed to partially...Read More
Worst — and Best — Case Scenarios The worst possible explanation — and the one I immediately feared — was that the very long trailer full of PVC piping that suddenly appeared in front of my Southwest Minneapolis listing the other week meant that the city was about to undertake a protracted repair. So much...Read More
“Cock a Doodle Doo Don’t!” Nope, that “For Sale” home isn’t in the sticks somewhere, miles from the nearest neighbors. It’s less than 2 blocks southeast of Minneapolis’ Lake Harriet, in a neighborhood where homes fetch from $500k to triple that (at least) on the lake (this one’s listed for $525k). My Realtor understanding is...Read More