Lies, Damn Lies, and Housing Predictions “Government statistics are often questionable and sometimes turn out to have been highly misleading. Unfortunately for policy makers, such errors are most likely to be severe at precisely the time that the economy is turning around.” –Floyd Norris, “Doubting the Economic Data? Consider the Source”; The NYT (11/6/2014) “It’s...Read More
“Seller WILL Receive Feedback Directly” “You only find out who is swimming naked when the tide goes out.” –Warren Buffett The housing market equivalent of Buffett’s observation would be, “you only (especially?) find out who’s overpriced when the market shifts.” As local Realtors will tell you, the Twin Cities housing market experienced just such a shift over the Summer. From scarcity and...Read More
From a Seller’s to a Buyer’s Market? The catalyst(s) and pace may vary, but the dynamics of a housing market shift — most recently from a Seller’s market to a (nascent) Buyer’s market — are unvarying. And that’s regardless of locale or calendar (i.e., it describes Las Vegas 2007 as well as Orange County in...Read More
Calendar Confusion Edina Realty – City Lakes has eight homes on today’s Broker Tour (that’s a lot). And it’s not just my office: the list of homes on tour, market-wide, is more characteristic of March or April, not early August, when things are typically slower. That’s good news for Twin Cities Buyers, less so for Sellers, who...Read More
(More) Signs of a Seller’s Market I would never counsel a Seller to list their home with the condition that any sale is contingent on their finding another home. What Buyer wants to enter into a deal not knowing when — or even IF — their Seller is able to find their next home? What if the...Read More
“Shadow Listings” “Don’t be an undercover agent.” –Advice routinely given to new Realtors (i.e., let people know you sell homes) Here’s another explanation for the scarcity of local (Twin Cities) housing inventory, in what should be the busiest time of the year for new listings: stuff’s for sale — but it’s non-MLS. See also, “The...Read More
