Unforced Errors Given that home sellers typically want (need) to maximize what they net on the sale of their home, you’d think that they’d do everything in their power to increase the odds of that happening. But they don’t. On the contrary, they often shoot themselves in the foot not one but multiple ways. Here’s...Read More
The Second Most Popular Question in Real Estate What’s the second most popular question in real estate? (the first being, “what’s my home worth?”) “How long will it take to sell my home?” Unless the Realtor is going to buy it, the honest answer is, “I don’t know.” However, it is possible to give the...Read More
Want an example of a beautifully staged and photographed room? You’re looking at it! The shot is from the entry at 2710 Mayflower (list price: $475k) in Minnetonka; Karen Antone from the Edina Realty City Lakes office has the listing.Read More
Making the Most of What’s Available A rose is a rose is a rose. –Gertrude Stein Question: When is a chair not a chair?Answer: When it’s a prop. Home stagers view furniture, framed pictures, rugs and various other objets d’art not as things in themselves — but in terms of what they do for the...Read More
Understanding Home Buyer Psychology It’s human nature to want what everyone else wants. Likewise, it’s also human nature to not want what everyone else is foresaking. So, if a happy, bustling household is the real estate equivalent of the popular girl — or guy — everyone wants to go out with in high school, what...Read More
Today’s Buyers: Looking for (Affordable) Cream Puffs My quick “snapshot” on the Twin Cities housing market as of St. Patrick’s Day, 2010? It continues to be a schizophrenic market, in which the lower end — defined as under $200k for single family detached — is selling (too?) briskly, and values are hard to find. I...Read More
