Trulia.com Hits — and (Mostly) Misses Like Zillow.com, Trulia.com promises to arm prospective home buyers with reams of data about homes for sale. Buyers can search by property type, price, square footage, zip code, etc.; get information about schools and other community info; and even pose questions to the Trulia. com “community” that generate email...Read More
Lender-Mediated Sales Swallow the Market[Note: the following dialogue, between local mortgage broker Alex Stenback and me, encapsulates a much bigger debate going on within real estate right now: how much do foreclosures and short sales “pull down” traditional sales?] “When “lender mediations” are 60% of the market, it’s getting tougher to say “just ignore that...Read More
Resuscitating a Cold ListingClients may not always appreciate it (or even know), but there’s a big difference between what an attentive, skillful Realtor does in the course of marketing a home (a “listing” in Realtor-speak), and what someone less capable or motivated does. To take just one example, consider what happens when a home fails...Read More
Want a Deal? How about *82% off?Where: 22xx Vincent Ave. North; MinneapolisHow much: $42,500Key Stats: 4BR/2BA; 1,363 FSFLast sale*: $240,000 (6/2006)Tax assessed value: $165,000 No, it’s not in Edina or Wayzata. And, yes, it’s a foreclosure, with all the headaches that can be involved (including less than pristine condition). However, this brick-and-stone rambler is just...Read More
Seller’s Lament: Always One Price Cut (or More) Behind This chart shows graphically the perils of initially pricing too high, then trying to catch up to a falling market (note: the X-axis is the number of weeks on the market). In this case, the home (not my listing, thankfully) came on the market last July...Read More
Foreclosures Explain Latest Housing Price DropThe most recent batch of housing statistics — from S&P/Case-Shiller and NAR — show that housing prices are continuing to fall nationally. Depending on how you slice and dice the market (sale pairs, top 20 markets vs. all markets, all homes vs. those under $417k, etc.), the year-over-year annual decline...Read More
