Technology Roadkill: Stock Brokers, Travel Agents, & Realtors FSBO’s “God is dead.” –Nietzsche. “Nietzsche is dead.” –God. Experts have been predicting the demise of Realtors longer than I can remember. Like stock brokers and travel agents a generation ago, advancing technology — and the democratization of information — were supposed to render Realtors obsolete. Instead,...Read More
Twin Cities Short Sales, Foreclosures Fall to 7% The general public may not be aware, but local Realtors certainly are: the percentage of distressed sales in the Twin Cities is now about 7%. That’s a far cry from the +50% level breached just four years ago. Amongst other benign effects on the local housing market:...Read More
Quality > Quantity Buyers (at Least Until After Labor Day) The Holidays . . . the post-Holidays . . . any stretch in Winter when it’s well below zero. And mid-to-late August. What do all of those periods have in common? They’re all predictably slow for housing transactions in the Twin Cities. Late Summer Slow-Down...Read More
From a Seller’s to a Buyer’s Market? The catalyst(s) and pace may vary, but the dynamics of a housing market shift — most recently from a Seller’s market to a (nascent) Buyer’s market — are unvarying. And that’s regardless of locale or calendar (i.e., it describes Las Vegas 2007 as well as Orange County in...Read More
Putting the Squeeze on Realtor Commissions?? Realtors track the housing market all sorts of ways. In my case, that includes monitoring the activity of my own listings; reading widely, both housing-related material and not; noting what I observe showing homes to my Buyer clients; and listening to what’s being discussed at the various Realtor meetings I attend weekly....Read More
“Business Days” The exact reasons are a bit of a mystery, but there’s no question that Buyers’ home inspections have become more drawn out in recent years. So, once upon a time, it was customary to allow Buyers three days to perform the inspection; one more day to provide the Seller with a written list...Read More
