The Ayes Eyes Have It, or “Holdover” Buyers & Sellers Anecdotally, Twin Cities agents (myself included) are reporting an uptick in the number of prospective Buyers saving or watching listings on MLS this Summer. A couple months ago, it was typical to have 2-3 Buyers save a listing; now, those numbers can be double or...Read More
October 2012 vs. February 2013 With Fall shadows growing and the thermostat dropping, many would-be Sellers are wrestling with a big decision: whether to rush to get their home on the market now, or wait for Minnesota’s Spring market (note to non-Minnesotans: the local “Spring” market actually kicks off in February, right after the Super Bowl)....Read More
A Brief Accounting (& Parenting) Primer As a former accountant (my first post-college job was as a CPA), I learned these inventory terms: FIFO: First in, First Out LIFO: Last in, First Out Weighted Average method: what it sounds like. To those, I’d add one more: FILO, for “first in, last out.” Specifically, that’s what harried...Read More
A doctor who wants to determine a patient’s health checks out their vital signs: their heart rate, blood pressure, lungs, etc. What’s the equivalent for the housing market? Trends in the following three things: One. Inventory. Falling inventory — also called “supply” — augurs well for future housing prices; increasing inventory, the opposite. Right now,...Read More
Wanted: ‘Something Not on the Market’ One of the puzzles of a supposed Buyer’s market, with 27,000-plus single family homes for sale area-wide, is having serious Buyers who can’t find what they’re looking for (see my earlier post, “Buyer’s Market Conundrum“). Which is why you increasingly hear Realtors who are networking for their clients say,...Read More
“I Can’t Find Anything I Like” “Water, water everywhere [but] nary a drop to drink.”–Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” One of the conundrums of a housing market supposedly flooded with inventory is Buyers who lament that they can’t find anything they like. What’s going on? Is it just their imagination? Actually,...Read More
