Zipping through my backlog of taped “Tonight Show with Jay Leno” shows the other night, I caught this exchange between Leno and an audience member: Leno: What do you do for a living? Young woman: I’m a Realtor. Leno: So, how do you like living with your parents? (big laugh). Are there some starving Realtors...Read More
Administering Financial Pain People famously dread visiting their dentists; after all, who looks forward to having cavities filled? Unfortunately, for home sellers whose homes are languishing on the market unsold, a visit to their Broker’s office may be more painful, at least financially. That’s because, after 60-90 days of market time without a deal, a 3%...Read More
Want two, inescapable signs that electronic signatures have arrived? Sign #1: The new, 2011 – 2012 standard Minnesota Purchase Agreement* now includes language stating that electronic signatures shall be acceptable for all residential real estate contracts and addenda (it’s buried in the fine print, just after the Integration Clause). Sign #2: The National Association of Realtors (“NAR”) is an...Read More
“Pardon my French Condensation” Notwithstanding the oppressive weather in the Twin Cities the past few days, I’ve been busy showing homes. Which means viewing homes with tons of condensation on the windows; walking through basements with leaky or overflowing dehumidifiers; and seeing a/c coils that are laboring mightily. To their credit, in each case the listing...Read More
Do Realtors Really Add Value? [Note: Since it appeared more than 3(!) years ago, this post has become one of the all-time most popular on City Lakes Real Estate — just on the earlier (software) version of this blog. I’m re-posting it now for the benefit of blog newcomers, and to make it easier for the search engines to find...Read More
2010 Year in Review — Realtor’s Version Looking back over 2010, a lot of Realtors had years like Felix Hernandez — minus the accolades. Felix who? Felix Hernandez is the Seattle Mariners’ pitcher who just won the AL Cy Young award, despite only having a measly 13 wins (he also had 232 strikeouts and a...Read More
