“O-for-3” Realtor Look out, Modern Family, there’s another terrific TV show that’s sending up Realtors. Comedian Louis C.K.’s eponymous “Louis.” On a Season 2 episode titled, “Moving,” Louis is shown a Manhattan apartment by an agent who brightly announces, “you’re going to love this place. It’s completely updated, spacious, and very light.” Louis takes a look, turns to the agent, and...Read More
“So, How’s the Market?” People don’t say “How are you?” to Realtors; they say, “How’s the market?” So, it was fun — kind of — to watch TV’s best-known Realtor, Phil Dunphy of sitcom “Modern Family,” field that question in his doctor’s office on a recent episode: Doctor [making small talk while examining Phil]: ‘So,...Read More
Showing Condo’s The odds of a lockbox being unusually difficult to open vary directly with how pressed you are for time. –Ross Kaplan Q: When is being on time, late? A: When you’re showing multiple condo’s in an unfamiliar building. If you’re showing several condo’s in a building you don’t know, it’s always a good idea...Read More
Realtor “Loss Leaders” First of all, how can professionals who are paid via commission have such a thing as “non-billable hours?” Don’t you have to be a lawyer (I was), CPA (ditto, a long time ago), financial advisor, etc. for that to apply? Technically, yes. But what I mean by “non-billable hours” for Realtors is...Read More
Role Reversal [Editor’s Note: Thanks to Edina Realty colleague Kathy Dick for her contribution to the following post.] Wait a second — don’t Realtors try to get home sellers to reduce their price? And don’t most home sellers stubbornly resist, no matter how compelling the Realtor’s market data (or underwhelming Buyers’ interest)? Well . . ....Read More
“Bring Back the Pony Express?!?” First there was “slow food” — a reaction to today’s fast-food culture, it’s an actual organization (founded in 1986) that now has chapters in every state and dozens of countries. Next came slow travel, slow schools, slow living, slow books — indeed, an entire slow movement. So, in a world...Read More
