The Limits of Statisticsin Valuing HomesIt’s only Wednesday, and I’ve already fielded three calls this week from appraisers wanting “scoop” on recent, closed sales that I’ve handled. A year-end pick-up in deals? Well, that, too. However, in each case the appraiser was working on a refinancing application. To approve the new loan, the lender needed...Read More
Lack of Information & Objectivity Not all Home Sellers misprice — or would if their Realtor didn’t convince them not to — but enough do that it begs the question: why? From my perspective, it’s usually a combination of three factors (none of which involve vanity or ego). One. Lack of information (about the Comp’s,...Read More
“Now You See it . . . Now You Don’t” In a post last month, I posed the question, “Did the Seller Leave Money on the Table? Four Ways to Tell.”That post came to mind as I scanned the particulars of 2900 Chowen Ave. South, which came on MLS this afternoon — I’m not kidding...Read More
Googling (Facebooking? Zillow-ing?) Your Buyer/Seller Financial institutions are subject to something called the “Know Your Customer” rule, to prevent identity theft fraud, money laundering and terrorist financing. I’m starting to think that real estate has something equivalent, called the “Know Your Buyer (or Seller)” rule. By that, I mean that I’m increasingly seeing clients “Google”...Read More
Realtor Dress Code Upgrade? No, I’m not seeing any Realtors don formal wear (like tuxedo’s) just yet. But there do seem to be more men wearing ties and sports coats lately, and women wearing fancy scarves and the like. What’s going on? “Dress for Success” I’d guess a couple things: –Older, more established Realtors are...Read More
To Twitter or Not to Twitter (that is the question) Non-Realtors wouldn’t necessarily know it, but there’s a huge debate going on within the Realtor community at the moment about the need to get up to speed with — “re-tool” for, if you will — so-called social media such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. Here’s...Read More
