Don’t Pick Your Home Based on Schools

When ever I speak with a buyer client who has children, the most important question they want answered is whether a home is in a good school district. Because of fair housing laws, the question is a difficult one to answer. As real estate agents, we can't steer people to only one neighborhood, but have

Just Let the Kids BE Kids

Sitting down this evening to watch the evening local news, something I rarely have time to do, I heard a story that blows my mind. Apparently there is a school in Minneapolis that has implemented a policy for their elementary school of "No Touching" on the playground. The new rule pertains to the games of

Take Time to Smell the Roses

The last few weeks I have taken a step back from blogging. One reason is that I have been really busy with buyers, and the other is that I am just enjoying time with the kids. Like John Lennon says, life is what happens while you're making other plans. I have found that sometimes blogging

Television is Not Always the Truth

This evening I had the privilege of being able to sit down for a few minutes to watch something on TV. I happened onto the show "House Hunters", and as fate would have it, the buyers were looking for a home in Minneapolis.The show looked to be taped in 2005 with the buyers searching in

Not Happy with your Tax Bill – Tough…

...at least that is what some local counties are saying to home owners.I get a call at least once a week with an upset home owner asking if I could let them know what their home is worth. Frightened of this upside-down real estate market, home owners this last week have been receiving their 2008

My Last Post Gives Me Chills

In my recent post about not showing one of my listings on short notice, I mentioned a real estate agent's safety as one reason for not doing so. It just so happens that I found out, a day later, that a Wisconsin real estate agent was killed by a man she was showing homes to.

Sorry, but I Cannot Drop Everything to Show You a Home

Wednesday morning I was contacted by another real estate company letting me know they had a buyer lead for one of my listings. I thought it strange that they would be sending a buyer my way, without helping the gentlemen themselves. After some questioning, I discovered that they will only show buyers homes that enter

Negotiate the Deal, Unless the Agent Kills It

I cannot believe I haven't written a post since Thursday....no, it couldn't be that long. Wow, time really does fly. Unfortunately, it wasn't all fun, more work than anything.Over the weekend, an offer came in on one of my listings. No big surprise but it was a low-ball offer. Needless to say, the sellers were

Ignore the Headlines!

My broker was kind to leave a copy of an article from Time magazine in my mailbox, titled "Ignore the Headlines". It pretty much backs up what I have been telling people about our current housing market, and why now is a good time to buy. This has nothing to do with the market bottoming

Flipping Homes and the Bad Rap it Gets

I will be the first to say that there are some good things that come out of our Realtor Associations, like consumer advocacy, Realtor education, and the option now for health care. But I don't agree with everything that comes out of the mouths of our so called "leaders" here in the Realtor world.Today I