When Ignorance is Bliss — Realtor Version Show me an agent who knows the particulars of Buyer-Seller arbitration, and I’ll show you . . . an agent who’s just gone through arbitration. Which in turn means they were involved in a deal where the Buyer and Seller were VERY unhappy with one another. Or should...Read More
“You’re Represented? Terrific! Please Have Your Agent Call Me” At least a couple times a year, I field phone calls from folks who are already working with an agent, but call me directly to get into one of my listings. When I ask why they didn’t go through their agent, I hear things like: “I...Read More
When you see an overpriced home languishing on the market at the same price, seemingly forever, it’s tempting to think the home owner is greedy, stubborn — or both. The more sympathetic (and likely) explanation? The homeowner/would-be Seller is drowning in debt. Not Underwater . . . But Lapping at their Feet Specifically, the amount...Read More
I’ve never tried squeezing toothpaste back into a tube, but I’m pretty sure it’s equally futile trying to re-spool (re-thread? rewind?) a tape measure once it’s . . . in your hands. 😕 Which is what happens when the tape measure is shorter than the distance you’re trying to measure. That only occurs outside, measuring foundations;...Read More
Complying With The Golden Rule (Still) Admittedly, it’s not a perfect analogy: I’m hardly suggesting that all Realtors are wizards, and that lenders are all witches (sometimes, it’s the other way around). But, at least from the perspective of a Buyer’s agent, clients (especially first-time Buyers) can seem a little bit like Dorothy, and the process...Read More
Deciding Which Way to Err, or, “A Picture Showing is Worth 1,000 Words” In medicine, a “false-positive” refers to a test result that is incorrect because the test indicated a condition or finding that does not exist. Unsurprisingly, the opposite of a “false-positive” is a “false-negative” — a test result that is incorrect because the test failed...Read More
