“Distribute?!?” How About, “Palm Off?” Dis-tri-bute: 1 : to divide among several or many : apportion2 a : to spread out so as to cover something: scatter; b : to give out or deliver especially to members of a group. –Merriam-Webster dictionary According to The New York Times, as early as 2006, “company email messages...Read More
Calculating the “Rent Ratio” Sometimes, the decision whether to buy a home or not seems to require an economics Ph.d. Are interest rates headed higher? How strong is the economy? Are home prices now recovering, or will there be a “double-dip?” It’s enough to make your head spin — or hurt. If the foregoing (unanswerable,...Read More
Improving Consumer Sentiment Buoys “Medium Ticket” Items American consumers are finally coming out of hiding. After months of penny-pinching amid the recession, new figures “showing an improving job market, rising factory output and increased retail sales ” suggest that consumers are no longer restricting their budgets to necessities like food and medicine. They are starting...Read More
“How Much Do the Neighbors Trust Each Other?” One of the standard pieces of advice I give to my Buyer clients is to chat up prospective neighbors (also mail carriers, but only if they’ve been on the route at least six months). Who knows better than them if the neighborhood is safe, the local schools...Read More
Is it “Always a Good Time to Buy?” Never ask a barber if you need a haircut. –anonymous Barber’s corollary: never waste time on someone who isn’t sure they need a haircut. –Ross Kaplan So, The New York Times ran a piece last week basically saying that — surprise, surprise — Realtors always think “now”...Read More
Profile of a FSBO Are real estate brokers ” like travel agents and other middlemen coping with the increasingly digital culture ” in danger of becoming expensive anachronisms? After all, it is only logical that as people feel more empowered based on their access to information and their ability to connect without help, they are...Read More
