Gargantuan State + Local Tax Incentives = Pyrrhic Victory for “Winning” Bidder “Amazon Narrows Down List for HQ2 to 20 Cities” —Headline, Bloomberg.com (1/18/2018). Anyone hearing the news that Amazon had “narrowed” the list of contenders down to 20 cities might properly comment, “Good Lord! How many cities were on the original list??” (answer: 238). While...Read More
Craving “Clean Car Absolution” In Colorado — especially in mountain towns, in the Summer — a filthy car (ideally, a 4-wheel drive carrying bikes or even a kayak or two) is a badge of honor, if not a sign of virtue. It tells the world that the occupant is an outdoor enthusiast, a risk-taker, an adventurer. In...Read More
Purple Caps, Purple Jerseys, Purple Clipboards (Huh?!?) It’s hard to miss all the purple attire (the Minnesota Vikings’ team color) on display locally in advance of the NFC Championship game this Sunday in Philadelphia — and the Super Bowl here two weeks later. Still, I thought swapping out regular clipboards for purple ones at Park Nicollet (where...Read More
Bitcoin vs. Abstracts of Title, or, “High Tech Wine in Old Bottles” Mystified by Bitcoin and the technology it’s based on — something called “blockchain computing?” It’s just a digital version of the millennia-old, “analog” system used to track real property ownership rights. Called an abstract of title, it’s a cumulative list of all the...Read More
Square Pegs into Round Irregular Holes The input field on MLS for room sizes asks for two numbers: the room’s width and its length. Which works great if a room is rectangular. But what if it’s not? If the room has a dormer, is L-shaped, curved, or otherwise defies a standard “width x length” measurement,...Read More
Realtor Showings, Previews, and “Quasi-Showings” A Realtor showing is straightforward: it’s when an agent privately takes their client through a “For Sale” property. Just the Realtor and client (no homeowner), usually for an hour — much less, if it’s a “pass” for the client. Similarly, a public open house is self-explanatory: it’s when agents throw...Read More
