Who Should the Listing Agent Meet Personally? Test your knowledge of modern residential real estate practice, and answer the following multiple choice question: Q: Who should the listing agent (representing the Seller) meet at the home? A. The Appraiser working for the Buyer’s lender; B. The home inspector doing the city Truth-in-Sale-of-Housing (“TISH”) inspection; C. The...Read More
Projected List Price: $500k . . or $800k” Agents at a recent Realtor meeting got a chuckle listening to a colleague do some pre-list marketing for an upcoming property. Projected list price: “$500k — or $800k.” Umm . . . huh?!? It turns out the home needs significant updating, and the owner is trying to...Read More
Cost: More Than a Furnace, Less than a Roof One of the biggest stealth expenses for homeowners is a new driveway. Depending on its area and construction material (concrete vs. asphalt), the cost can easily exceed $10k. When should would-be home Sellers contemplate replacing it? (Note: even when the driveway is practically unpassable due to cracking, heaving,...Read More
Waiting for Supply to Catch Up to Demand According to Pat Hamill, chief executive of Oakwood Homes, it will likely take several more years before builders have the capacity to fully meet demand. “We lost a lot of builders, lost of a lot of trade contractors. We lost a lot of people to other industries,”...Read More
Explaining Inventory Pileups In a Seller’s Market Contrary to popular perception, the most common explanation for skydiving fatalities isn’t due to a parachute failing to open. Rather, the first parachute opens partially. Then, instead of cutting the first chute loose and pulling the reserve, the (understandably) panicked skydiver immediately opens the backup — which runs into the fouled,...Read More
Playing Offense vs. Defense About a dozen Twin Cities municipalities have them: a city-required home inspection that must be completed before homeowners can transfer title to a Buyer at closing. Leaving aside the merits of such inspections, when does it make sense for Sellers — and their agents — to market that the home has passed...Read More
