Beauty in the Eye of the Beholder Buyer When should a listing agent (representing the Seller) explicitly acknowledge in their marketing that a home “needs cosmetic updates” (or the equivalent)? Less often than you might guess. Here are my three reasons why: One. The pictures tell the story. For years, websites like EdinaRealty.com have allowed...Read More
Getting You More Money For Your Home & More Home For Your Money A great football coach can take his’n and beat your’n, and then he can turn around and take your’n and beat his’n.” —Long-time football coach Bum Phillips (my paraphrase). Entering my 19th(!) year selling homes, I think I finally have come up...Read More
MLS: “$10,000 Agent Selling Bonus!” My gut tells me that Realtor sales incentives generally don’t work, based on the following, three-step logic: 1) Anything effective tends to be copied in the marketplace; 2) Empirically, home sellers (and their agents) seldom offer sales incentives to Buyers’ agents (above and beyond the payout commission, that is); 3) Ergo,...Read More
Home Measurements & Real Estate Conventions Real estate marketing is all about “putting your best foot forward”: accentuating (but not lying) about a home’s strengths, while defusing any negatives (one of the best ways: tackle them head on, to get them out of the way). That applies to a home’s measurements, too. So, Realtors will...Read More
MLS Style Category Definitions 1. (SF) One Story (ONEST) One story single-family house 2. (SF) One 1/2 Stories (ONEHF) One 1/2 story single-family house. Second floor only has adequate ceiling height in a portion of it. 3. (SF) Two Stories (TWOST) Two story single-family house. Has adequate ceiling height throughout upper story. 4. (SF) More...Read More
All Part of the (Ongoing) Job If you went to your estate attorney for a will in 2016, then needed an update now, you’d expect to be invoiced for the new work, right? Similarly, if your dentist put in a crown four years ago, then you needed a cavity filled today, you’d expect the dentist...Read More