Lender-Mediated Sales Swallow the Market[Note: the following dialogue, between local mortgage broker Alex Stenback and me, encapsulates a much bigger debate going on within real estate right now: how much do foreclosures and short sales “pull down” traditional sales?] “When “lender mediations” are 60% of the market, it’s getting tougher to say “just ignore that...Read More
Resuscitating a Cold ListingClients may not always appreciate it (or even know), but there’s a big difference between what an attentive, skillful Realtor does in the course of marketing a home (a “listing” in Realtor-speak), and what someone less capable or motivated does. To take just one example, consider what happens when a home fails...Read More
Demographics + New Construction + East Edina = Sold! In a market where new construction is supposedly dead, and high net worth Buyers are thought to be licking their wounds, some developers are still finding strong demand for their product. Case in point: 5420 Park Place in Edina. Built “spec” (speculative, as in no upfront...Read More
Want a Deal? How about *82% off?Where: 22xx Vincent Ave. North; MinneapolisHow much: $42,500Key Stats: 4BR/2BA; 1,363 FSFLast sale*: $240,000 (6/2006)Tax assessed value: $165,000 No, it’s not in Edina or Wayzata. And, yes, it’s a foreclosure, with all the headaches that can be involved (including less than pristine condition). However, this brick-and-stone rambler is just...Read More
The Right Stimulus for Housing There now seems to be a clear consensus that, to help the economy, government must first do something to help housing. However, there’s still no consensus about what. The two leading strategies are: One. Using taxpayer money to basically subsidize mortgage rates down to some previously unheard of number, like...Read More
Seller’s Lament: Always One Price Cut (or More) Behind This chart shows graphically the perils of initially pricing too high, then trying to catch up to a falling market (note: the X-axis is the number of weeks on the market). In this case, the home (not my listing, thankfully) came on the market last July...Read More
