The Problem(s) With Blind Solicitations “To hell with all this waiting around. Let’s go kill something.” –One vulture on a tree bough to another. In a housing market characterized by scarce inventory and frustrated Buyers, it seems like an obvious tactic (if not smart Realtor marketing): proactive Buyers’ agents who send a blind letter to...Read More
“An Bird Offer in Hand is Worth Two in the Bush” It certainly seems like a reasonable request over Thanksgiving — or any other long holiday weekend, for that matter: a Buyer’s agent who connects with the listing agent (representing the Seller) to make sure that the Seller is available and able to respond to an...Read More
Better Than Blueprints: The “Jumping-Up-and-Down” Test One of the issues that can come up for downsizers moving from a single-family home to multi-family housing (condo or townhome) is privacy — specifically, noise. I don’t know about townhomes (see below), but I do know a surefire, albeit not-so-scientific way to test how quiet a given condo...Read More
Meticulous Record Keeping = Meticulous Maintenance? One of the first questions on the standard Minnesota Seller Disclosure asks whether the owner is in possession of the previous owner’s Seller Disclosure, and if so, whether it’s attached. As a Buyer’s agent, I always like to see the previous Seller’s Disclosure, for two reasons: One. It provides a more...Read More
“Buyer Hereby Removes Its Inspection Contingency” Whether or not you insist on a clause like the one above in any post-Inspection Amendment depends. Specifically, on whether you’re a Buyer or a Seller. Quid Pro Quo To preclude the Buyer coming back with more issues while the Inspection period is still open, Sellers should insist that...Read More
Dual Agency Dilemma #17 Never having represented both the Buyer and Seller in the same transaction (I consider it a classic conflict of interest), one of the questions I have for agents who do act as dual agents is, “how do you navigate things like the Buyer’s walk-thru inspection? Provided for in the standard Minnesota Purchase...Read More
