Many Agents, Small Market Share What do you call a Presidential candidate who loses four out of every ten votes? A landslide winner (indeed, even garnering 56%-57% of the vote is considered a victory of historic proportions). What do you call a major league hitter who hits into outs two out of every three at-bats?...Read More
Return of the Sub-Prime Lenders One of the surprises — at least to me — wading through all the foreclosures in Minneapolis neighborhoods like Phillips, Camden, and Powderhorn Park is the identity of the banks who now have title (i.e., they’re the owners). It’s a veritable “who’s who” of the most aggressive — and least...Read More
Wanted: ‘Something Not on the Market’ One of the puzzles of a supposed Buyer’s market, with 27,000-plus single family homes for sale area-wide, is having serious Buyers who can’t find what they’re looking for (see my earlier post, “Buyer’s Market Conundrum“). Which is why you increasingly hear Realtors who are networking for their clients say,...Read More
Cheaper — Not Necessarily Cheap In a recession, everyone’s looking for a sale. So it stands to reason that a home that has just had a big mark-down is a deal, right? Not necessarily. Simply knowing that a home that used to be “X” is now $10,000 less — or $50,000 — really tells you...Read More
Multiple Offer “Rules of Engagement”:Highest (Offer) & Best (Terms) Careful readers of MLS listings these days will notice more references to the phrase “highest and best” — as in “highest and best offers due by noon, Tuesday.” What exactly is the listing agent talking about? Two things. First, multiple offers have been received for the...Read More
Pricing Psychology & the “Too-Precise” Price Quick, which home is priced more carefully: the one that’s $425,000, or the competitor down the street that’s $424,975? You’d certainly guess the latter . . . and you’d be wrong. It’s simply not possible to price real estate with the exactitude of a pound of hamburger, or a...Read More
