Realtor “Atta-Boy”: ‘Nice Listing!’ A new listing has a surprising number of parallels with the opening of a Broadway play. There’s the opening night anticipation. There are the hopes (and fears) about whether the audience (prospective Buyers) will like it. And there can be a sense of dread about what the toughest critics will have...Read More
The Check’s in the Mail Mailbox (for 4 Days) If you want to be timely paying your Q4 2016 estimated taxes — due Tuesday, Jan. 17 this year — yet still hold on to your hard-earned cash as long as possible, you could mail your payments on the deadline. Or . . . if you...Read More
From “Reinvesting When Terrified” to Investing Purgatory Investing expert Jeremy Grantham’s market calls have a funny way of being vindicated. In the 1990’s, he was early to sound the alarm about frothy tech and internet stocks. Too early. As a result, Grantham’s money management firm, GMO, hemorrhaged billions in investor withdrawals. What happened next? All the...Read More
Real Estate Fees: Flyover Country vs. the Coasts “The cost to register property in the U.S. has nearly quintupled from 2009, from .5% to 2.4%.” –Brett Stephens, “Doomed to Stagnate“; The Wall Street Journal (12/20/16) Given that the total closing costs for the average Minnesota home buyer come to about 2.7%, I can confidently say...Read More
Chances of Selling: “Possibly” vs. “0%, 100% Guaranteed” “In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is King.” –proverb The real estate corollary to the proverb above? “During a time of year when inventory of good homes is depleted, and lots of “For Sale” homes are temporarily off the market (“TNAS,” or Temporarily Not...Read More
Post-Fall, Pre-Winter At least in the Twin Cities, the interlude between Thanksgiving and Christmas can be dark and dreary: the days are short (sunset is now close to 4:30 p.m.); the Fall colors are long gone; but the brilliant white of winter hasn’t yet arrived. In the meantime, the dominant color seems to be ....Read More
