Winter 2018-2019: Twin Cities Goes From Bare Ground to +6′ Snow Banks in a Few Weeks [Editor’s Note: Seller liability for ice dams and other home issues is case-specific, and affected by local and state law. For legal advice, please contact an attorney.] At least until a few weeks ago, it looked like the Twin...Read More
Realtor Bragging Rights Professionals who are coached from Day #1 in the business never to be “secret agents” can hardly be expected to be shy when they receive a sales honor. Especially one as meaningful and hard-earned as an Edina Realty “Circle” award, handed out annually to the company’s top agents (mine is pictured above). “Birds...Read More
“The More Things Change” Department Once upon a time, when I started selling real estate in 2002, the worksheet that Buyers and Sellers signed at closing was simply known as . . . the settlement statement (or just the closing worksheet, to avoid any jargon). Then it became the “HUD-1” (HUD stands for “Housing and Urban Development,” the federal...Read More
Deafening Silence, Post-Inspection: When Hours Seem Like Days The inspection was completed, but the Buyer has been uncharacteristically incommunicado. What’s the likeliest explanation? A. The inspection was a disaster, and the Buyer intends to back out. B. The inspection went fine, but the Buyer got cold feet anyways . . . and intends to back...Read More
Ambulance Chasing — & Its Opposite When you first start out in real estate, you want to sell everything. Single family homes, apartment buildings, farmland, the Mall of America . . . you name it. Gradually, it dawns on you that you may not be qualified to sell one or more of those things — in fact,...Read More
Dow Jones Drops 414 Points to Close at 22,445 Say what you will about the housing market’s up’s and down’s. But, I don’t know anyone who bought a home in early October for $270,000, that’s suddenly worth only $225,000 scarcely 10 weeks later. Yet, that’s almost exactly what’s just happened in the stock market. Just subtract...Read More
