Answer: Summerizing a Home Minnesota homeowners leaving for the winter know the drill (or should): to avoid the risk of frozen pipes (and the resultant catastrophic flooding), turn off the water to the home, then drain the existing water in the home’s plumbing. Last step: turn down the thermostat to a chilly 55º or so,...Read More
When Older is Better Older may not be better when it comes to furnaces, roofs, and major appliances. However, if there’s any question about whether a home’s basement is wet, old is very good. Why’s that? Because carpeting that repeatedly gets wet and dries out becomes moldy, discolored, and generally starts to deteriorate. Ditto for any...Read More
Seller Disclosure Yellow Flags “Because of the extreme allergies of the seller’s daughter, PLEASE no food or drink in the home during showings.” –Agent Remarks, MLS When I showed the Golden Valley home with the disclosure above last year, my “Realtor antennae” immediately went off. That’s because I knew the Seller had been in the...Read More
“Pardon my French Condensation” Notwithstanding the oppressive weather in the Twin Cities the past few days, I’ve been busy showing homes. Which means viewing homes with tons of condensation on the windows; walking through basements with leaky or overflowing dehumidifiers; and seeing a/c coils that are laboring mightily. To their credit, in each case the listing...Read More
Damage Control: Advice to Prospective Sellers As Watergate made plain, the cover-up is often worse than the crime (although in Richard Nixon’s case, ordering a burglary was plenty bad in its own right). The same principle applies to selling homes. Here are three examples where covering up a problem is worse than simply leaving it...Read More
Metastasized Mold Jeff Foxworthy, the comedian, has a well-worn bit called “You know you’re a redneck when . . .” I suppose the real estate equivalent would be, “you know it’s a tear-down when . . .” In that spirit: You know it’s a tear-down when . . . the mold in the home has...Read More
