CMA (“Comparative Market Analysis”) Math I just showed an Edina home to clients who expressed serious interest, and want to know when they can double back to see it again. Their inevitable next question for me: “what do you think it’s worth?” While every house is by definition unique, the key to estimating a home’s...Read More
Lies, Damn Lies, and Housing Predictions “Government statistics are often questionable and sometimes turn out to have been highly misleading. Unfortunately for policy makers, such errors are most likely to be severe at precisely the time that the economy is turning around.” –Floyd Norris, “Doubting the Economic Data? Consider the Source”; The NYT (11/6/2014) “It’s...Read More
Step #1 and Step #2 What’s the easiest (and cheapest) to lighten a Minnesota home — at least between November and May? Start by removing the window screens (step #1). After last night’s hard freeze (lows in the mid-20’s), that’s now timely to do. With the screens gone, though, it can be all too apparent...Read More
From 16,000 Houses Down to . . . a Dozen or So “Before you’re addicted to heroin, you have lots of worries; after you’re addicted . . . you just have one.” –George Carlin on the “virtue” of being a heroin addict. “I’m not in favor of abolishing the government. I just want to shrink it...Read More
How to Show Up in Twice as Many Home Buyer Searches Psychologically, $299,900 somehow just seems cheaper to Buyers than $300,000 (just like $2.99 a gallon appears to be less than $3). But, it’s a mistake to price residential real estate that way — at least around century and half-century marks ($100k and $50k). That’s...Read More
Twin Cities Short Sales, Foreclosures Fall to 7% The general public may not be aware, but local Realtors certainly are: the percentage of distressed sales in the Twin Cities is now about 7%. That’s a far cry from the +50% level breached just four years ago. Amongst other benign effects on the local housing market:...Read More
