“No-No’s” for Would-Be Home Sellers, or “What’s the Opposite of an Achilles’ Heel?” My #1 piece of advice for would-be home sellers prepping for market this Spring (or any other time of year) is, “make everything consistent.” Which suggests this corollary: “don’t over-improve.” In fact, there are two kinds of over-improvements: 1) within the home; and...Read More
Targeting Expired Listings With Buyer Bait-and-Switch Apparently, at least a few overzealous agents at one Twin Cities broker in particular are now trolling for listings using some variation of the following sleazy strategy: Step #1: target “For Sale” homes that have just expired, unsold, on MLS. Step #2: show up unannounced at the home with...Read More
(Adult) Kids Who Recommend Their Realtor to Their Parents As Millennials become more active in the housing market (yay!), their Realtors (myself included) are enjoying a fringe benefit: a leg up marketing to their Baby Boomer parents. I see two reasons why “the kids’ Realtor” has the inside track landing their parents’ business — often,...Read More
Too Many Showings? Far be it from me to tell anyone who to vote for. But, let me suggest borrowing a criterion from the world of residential real estate to pick the next President (or major party nominee). Letting Buyers Off the Hook When I work with Buyers who remain lukewarm about a home even...Read More
Double Whammy: Zillow’s Revenue, Realtors’ Expense* [Editor’s Note: The views expressed here are solely those of Ross Kaplan, and do not represent Edina Realty, Berkshire Hathaway, or any other entity referenced.] One of the biggest reasons that Zillow and Trulia — Websites that aggregate real estate listings and whose stocks are publicly-traded — make a...Read More
Bad Behavior, Bad Actor It doesn’t happen often, but I’ve certainly handled deals where a party I’m representing in a real estate transaction has been on the receiving end of, shall we say . . . “bad behavior.” What to do? The conventional choices are: 1) get mad; or 2) get even. Option #3 But,...Read More
