[Editor’s Note: You know there are a lot of recent storms — and storm damage — when a post that originally appeared 5 years ago suddenly starts getting hits. I’m re-running the post (below) as a service to anyone who’s digging out from under. My sympathies . . .] I don’t usually associate “balls” with...Read More
Eleventh(!) Straight Year on the List It’s out: the 2018 list of “Super Real Estate Agents.” Jointly compiled by Mpls. St. Paul magazine, Twin Cities Business, and Crescendo Business Services, the annual list identifies the top 5% of the Twin Cities real estate agent population. Their selection process: “Tens of thousands of home buyers who...Read More
Housing Market Finance, Then & Now “If you don’t have a job — or are afraid of losing one — it doesn’t matter how low interest rates are.” –Ross Kaplan Long before there was a housing bubble (seemingly, 3 lifetimes ago), there was a credit bubble. As a result, seemingly anyone who could complete a...Read More
Centerpoint Energy “Pipe Protection Plan” Never mind my almost 17(!) years as a Realtor. I’ve been a Minnesota homeowner now stretching back over three decades. During all that time, I’d never been pitched a monthly “(gas) pipe protection plan” — until last week. Here is Centerpoint Energy’s marketing spiel: “As your natural gas utility, CenterPoint...Read More
Man Bites Dog ” Real Estate Edition One of the odder anecdotes from a continuing ed class the other week was the hapless home seller who got sued not because their house was haunted ” but because it wasn’t. Apparently, the Seller had disclosed in their Minnesota Seller’s Disclosure that the home had experienced “paranormal...Read More
Nesting Instinct It’s not just would-be Buyers who are tirelessly searching for a home this Fall, before the arrival of colder temps and harsher weather. So are critters (and insects, if that’s a separate category). The list includes bees, wasps, mice, squirrels, & raccoons (a few years ago in the Twin Cities, it was even...Read More
