“Buy on Bread, Sell on Cheese” In the wine industry (which I otherwise know nothing about), “buy on bread, sell on cheese” means that if you’re a wine buyer, you’d be well-advised to eat a piece of bread in between tastings. Because bread is neutral, it will clear your palate for the next wine. By...Read More
How to Tell if a Seller (or at Least Their Agent) is Around in Late December Just because a house isn’t officially “TNAS” (“Temporarily Not Available for Showing”) doesn’t mean that the owner is around — and available to do a deal, if the Buyer likes the house and wants to make an offer. In...Read More
Passengers: “What’s the Catch?” What do you do with free drink coupons that are about to expire that you can’t use? (they were for Southwest, but I was flying Sun Country earlier this month). Give ’em to somebody else. Drink Coupons and Gift Horses, or, “Take My Wife Free Drinks, Please”* I walked over a...Read More
From 16,000 Houses Down to . . . a Dozen or So “Before you’re addicted to heroin, you have lots of worries; after you’re addicted . . . you just have one.” –George Carlin on the “virtue” of being a heroin addict. “I’m not in favor of abolishing the government. I just want to shrink it...Read More
But, $320k – $25k ≠$295k I can’t prove it, but at least when it comes to residential real estate deals, an offer for $300k less $5k in seller-paid points can seem more attractive to Sellers (if not their agents) than a $295k offer with no points subtracted. The explanation has to do with Seller psychology....Read More
Taking Yes Full Price For an Answer “He who governs least governs best.” –Thomas Jefferson “He who negotiates least negotiates best.” –Ross Kaplan Soviet dissident (and now Israeli politician) Natan Sharansky once explained how he and his fellow dissidents helped pass the time in solitary confinement. Adept at Morse code and held in adjacent cells, they...Read More
