Question #2: How Long Has it Been for Sale? Test your knowledge of the Twin Cities housing market, and guess how much this single family home just northeast of Lake Calhoun in Minneapolis’ Uptown neighborhood is listed for: A. $150,000 B. $237,500 C. $399,900 D. $1.1 million Answer: “D.” (believe it or not) While the...Read More
False Negatives and False Positives In a post earlier this month titled, “Who’s Watching the Listing?,” I talked about the utility — and lack thereof — of tracking how many times a particular property has been saved on MLS. Generally speaking, the more people watching a listing, the better; presumably, prospective Buyers like the home but not the price, and...Read More
“The 90 Days-on-the-Market” Showing (Preview?) Call it, “coming in through the back door . . . through the front door.” What I’m referring to is the practice of at least some agents to conveniently show any properties that have been on the market 90 days — and therefore may be about to expire. Their logic?...Read More
Defining the Denominator One of the more useful (ballpark) benchmarks for determining a home’s likely selling price these days is what Realtors call “sales price as a percentage of list (or asking) price.” Depending on what part of the Twin Cities you’re talking about (and what price point), the number that’s out there at the moment is...Read More
Q: When is a “new list” not new? A: When it’s a re-list. “‘Insanity’ is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” –Albert Einstein Late Winter in Minnesota is about melting snow, lengthening days (finally!), and — to Realtors — re-lists. Lots and lots of re-lists, especially this year. If you’re...Read More
“Re-hash” . . . “Re-Tread” . . . “Re-List” “Re-hash.” “Re-tread.” “Rehabilitate.” Detect a theme? Namely, the association with old and/or damaged goods. So, too, prospective Buyers tend to look at re-listed homes with one (or two) raised eyebrows. Even if the only stumbling block the last time around was a too-high asking price —...Read More
