Robert Guthridge's Blog

Many people think all debt is bad, others think it is okay to have good debt, and still some like all kinds of debt! Is there a difference between good debt and bad debt and what is good debt vs bad debt? Most people will tell you that good debt is debt that is against ... Read more from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8230700 https://ift.tt/2HZrgPm via IFTTT

“I Can’t Get Covid — Can I??” As stressful as selling a home and moving to another is for people . . . it can be even more so for animals. Specifically, the family pet(s). The obvious reason: there’s no way to explain to them what’s happening (at least that I know). The cure? Extra attention, exercise, and TLC — and if that doesn’t work, a (temporary) course of canine Valium (a real thing — and a life saver for at least one dog-owning client of mine). from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8230700 https://ift.tt/2JaUStI via IFTTT

Or Maybe They Should be Called “Dismaying Jeans” Yeah, yeah , I know what fancy-schmancy retailers mean when they refer to “distressed jeans”: jeans whose various holes and patches somehow make them look chic — and worth a huge mark-up (also referred to as “vintage clothing” in some quarters). My definition of “distressed jeans” is a little different. Namely, it’s the all the jeans I could fit into before Thanksgiving — or for that matter, pre-Pandemic — but now can’t. Oh, well. My loss, Salvation Army’s gain (and still in time for a 2020 tax deduction). from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8230700 https://ift.tt/2Jrs6ED via IFTTT

Everything You Didn’t Want to Know About Real Estate Title [ Note to Readers : The views expressed here are solely those of Ross Kaplan, and do not represent Edina Realty, Berkshire Hathaway, or any other entity referenced.  If you need legal advice, please consult an attorney.] First, a caveat:  Buyers who need advice about how to take title should consult their attorney — and, if appropriate — whoever is doing their estate planning, assuming that’s a different person. That said, Realtors (and closers) do get asked — at closing, if not before — about how couples should take title to the home that they’re about to buy. The standard options: 1) joint tenancy; or 2) tenants-in-common. Pick Your Metaphor What’s the difference? Think of sharing ownership of a swimming pool with a neighbor (not very likely, but go with it for now). You could share ownership, with each getting to use 100% of the pool. That would be the equivalent of joint tenancy. Alternatively, you cou...

[ Note to Readers : The views expressed here are solely those of Ross Kaplan, and do not represent Edina Realty, Berkshire Hathaway, or any other entity referenced. If you need legal advice, please consult an attorney.] Heads up, 2020 Minnesota home buyers! Anyone who purchased an owner-occupied property in Minnesota in 2020 — and occupied the property by December 1 — needs to apply for Homestead Classification for Minnesota Property Tax before December 15, 2020. Depending on the home’s value, homesteading can result in lower property taxes. Other potential benefits include lower home insurance premiums for owner-occupants; establishing Minnesota for domicile (estate tax) purposes; and, in the event of bankruptcy, qualifying for exclusions available under Minnesota law. Please note that you can only homestead one residential parcel in the State of Minnesota. Questions/Follow-Up If you have questions or wish to learn more about homesteading a property, you can: –Go to the count...

“Who Ya Gonna Call?” (When an Offer Comes In) As a Buyer’s agent, how can you tell if the listing agent (representing the Seller) is taking your client’s offer seriously? They call the Buyer’s lender — specifically, the lender on the Buyer’s Pre-Approval letter — and verify key information. Like, whether they’ve previously worked with the Buyer; the type of loan being applied for (conventional, FHA, etc.); and any other circumstances likely to affect that Buyer’s creditworthiness — and therefore their odds of getting a mortgage. Qualifying the Buyer — and the Buyer’s Lender When I’m the listing agent, I also like to vet the lender, their institution (if it’s not a “name brand” like Wells Fargo or U.S. Bank), and generally get a feel for whether they know what they’re doing. As I tell my selling clients, when I receive an offer, before I call them, my first call is to the Buyer’s lender. P.S.: A good omen is when you reach the lender on their cell, first time. A bad omen is whe...

Thanksgiving Eve 2020 Wait a second — when an otherwise well-prepped and marketed home isn’t selling, don’t listing agents try to get home sellers to reduce their price? And don’t most home sellers stubbornly resist, no matter how compelling the Realtor’s market data (or underwhelming Buyers’ interest)? Well . . . usually. But there are exceptions to every rule. In this case, I can think of three: One . A Buyer with imminent interest is circling. The circumstances can vary — they may have just come through an open house, had a terrific first showing with their agent, etc. — but regardless, the Buyer’s agent is signalling that there’s strong interest and that the Buyer is contemplating writing an offer. In such a situation, most listing agents will advise their clients to sit tight and let things play out. Two . (Too) close to a major holiday. Just like trees falling in forests, if the housing market is especially slow, not many Buyers are likely to notice a price reduction....

Experiencing That “Vujà De” Feeling** (Hat tip: George Carlin) Zoom call with extended family set up for Thursday afternoon? “Check.” Basement prepped for newly-quarantining, back-from-California college son? “Check.” Grocery run — complete with mask, disinfectant, and socially distanced wait line in front — successfully completed? “Check.” Fall leaves all raked? Umm . . . . Such is the post-Trump, pre-Biden, very much in-the-thick-of-the-pandemic Thanksgiving 2020. Back Re-Entry From College The skyrocketing infection rates and cold(er) weather are prompting many families — including mine — to revert to our Spring-time, “Defcon 5” alert level. So, returning college son #1 is quarantining in the basement until he receives the results from his Covid-19 test (scheduled this Saturday). Meanwhile, with fewer outings and (much) more at at-home time on tap the next few months, the rest of us once again seem to be inhabiting four, one Bedroom apartments with common areas (Kitch...

What do you get when you mix in a global pandemic, low housing inventory, a Fed that is juicing the markets, a mortgage payment moratorium, and baby boomers addicted to Facebook? You get a market that is being pushed up by house humping boomers while many younger Americans are struggling to get by in rentals […] from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8230700 https://ift.tt/2UORTJo via IFTTT

Earlier this year I sold my 200th house flip. These are not wholesale deals that I never technically buy or fix up, these are house flips that we buy, renovate and sell. It has been by no means easy to do this many flips and I have had my fair share of problems along the ... Read more from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8230700 https://ift.tt/38Re8H3 via IFTTT

Telltale Symptom:  Wavy or Uneven Floors How do prospective home Buyers (and their agents) know that a home has pronounced settling without setting foot in the home? (note: foundation settling is usually benign — up to a point — and typically results in wavy or uneven floors). A. The settling shows up in the (online) MLS photos; B. The house is priced $50k (or $100k) too low; C. There is an engineering report attached to the MLS listing; D. The Seller tells you. Correct answer :  “B.”, ”C.”, or “D.” Perhaps most surprising is “A.” — uneven floors are usually  not apparent in photos. Floor jack in basement to arrest settling. Meanwhile, “C.” and “D.” are essentially the same thing, whether or not the Seller explicitly discloses the wavy floors in the MLS “remarks” section. Of course, in my experience, the vast majority of home sellers with settling issues don’t disclose that fact; the feeling is that it’s a plainly obvious condition that Buyers can see — and...

“Virtual” vs. “Analog” Showings I certainly understand the temptation — in a worsening Pandemic — to substitute a virtual home tour for the real thing.** But, prospective Buyers should be aware that there are some critical limitations. Here’s my “Top Ten” list of things that are difficult (if not impossible) to detect online: One . The neighbors are noisy. That’s a little easier to stomach if the offending neighbor lives in another single-family house next door. But, what if it’s a condo or townhome, with at least some shared walls? Two . There’s a fire station down the block. A busy fire station. Yeah , such things show up on Google Maps. But, they don’t capture how big or little the nuisance the is (feel free to substitute, “train tracks,” “freeway,” or “neighborhood bar”). Three . The ceilings are low. Maybe it’s because I’m 6′ 2″, but I know from personal experience that a finished basement with 8′ ceilings (or higher) feels fine, but just a foot less can instantly mak...

Establishing — and Testing — Boundaries If you go to the Business section of any bookstore, you’ll see any number of books on negotiation titled, “Getting to Yes!,” “Win-Win Negotiation,” etc. In my experience, however, the key to effective negotiation lies not in getting to “yes,” but getting to ‘no.” Or perhaps more accurately: before you get to “yes,” you must first get to “no.” Tempered Steel (and Deals) By that, I mean that each deal’s boundaries need to be established and tested by the other side. Buyers and Sellers do that through a process of probing, offering, and counter-offering — and by ultimately rejecting what is above their ceiling (Buyers), or below their floor (Sellers). Like steel before it’s tempered, until each side’s ultimate boundaries are established and successfully (unsuccessfully?) tested by the other side . . . the deal isn’t very strong. P.S.: No less than Abraham Lincoln, as a trial lawyer arguing cases in front of juries (one of the purest forms o...

Do Real Estate Photographers Get Overtime Pay?? They Should I’m a huge fan of backlit home photos like the one above. While it’s purely anecdotal, at least in the Twin Cities, there seem to be more of them around the holidays and the dark(er) winter months than in the Summer. I can think of two reasons for that: One . The interior light is evocative of seasonal family gatherings like Thanksgiving and Christmas, which appeal to Buyers’ emotions (never mind that Covid-19 is likely to put a major crimp in such get togethers this year — or cancel them completely). Two . Dusk photos are more convenient to take during winter. In June in the Twin Cities, the photographer (and listing agent, who’s invariably helping to prep!) would have to show up at the home around 9 p.m. to get the shot above. Now? About 4:45 p.m. P.S.: Of course, an increasing number of photographers now offer to create the effect digitally . . . See also , “ Great Idea for Fall Listings: “Virtual Twilight” ...

Room (Kitchen) with a view (of the backyard and kids playing). Child-Friendly Floor Plan Test your knowledge of today’s housing market, and guess which of the following can be a deal breaker for many family buyers with young children: A. Not enough Bedrooms on one level. B. Dated Kitchen and/or Bathrooms. C. Busy street. D. No view of the backyard from the Kitchen. Answer : all of the above. Room With a View (of the Backyard) While choices “A,” “B,” and “C” should come as no surprise, veteran Realtors know that “D” can also be a deal breaker for many families with young children. Still, perhaps the biggest issue for such families is a floor plan where the kids’ Bedrooms are on a different level than the parents. Particularly challenging: when the kids’ Bedrooms are on the first (main) floor, and the Master Bedroom is on the second. P.S.: Unfortunately, while there is a long (and growing) list of MLS fields for everything from minimum desired room dimensions ...

Total Cost = 94(!) Hurricane Katrina’s The coronavirus crisis has cost the United States at least $16 trillion in terms of lost lives, lost quality of life, and lost economic activity. –Amitabh Chandra, Harvard health economist; quoted in The New York Times (11/14/2020). Just how big a wallop is the pandemic? It may be years before its true impact is known. Plus, the pandemic is still very much in-progress — in fact, it’s intensifying as I write this. But, perhaps the best way to convey the true magnitude of Covid-19 so far is by comparing it to the most costly hurricane in U.S. history, Katrina. Benchmark: Hurricane Katrina Using $170 billion as Katrina’s cost (in today’s dollars), and $16 trillion for the pandemic, that comes to 94 Hurricane Katrinas. To repeat: the Covid-19 pandemic’s total effect on the U.S., just so far, is equivalent to suffering 94 Hurricane Katrinas . Since last March. That the U.S. is bearing up under that strain, however wobbly it may feel...

  In the long run we are all dead.” –Economist John Maynard Keynes. With the Dow Jones Industrial Average** on the cusp of 30,000 — in the middle of a raging pandemic(!) and teetering economy, no less — it’s not long till prognosticators turn their sights to the next milestone. Most likely target: 36,000. Lest you think the authors of “Dow 36,000” qualify as seers, however, note that their book (pictured above) was released more than 21 years ago (October 1, 1999, to be exact), when the Dow was just over 10,000. On the way to last Friday’s record closing price of 29,479, it touched an intraday low of 6,470 on March 9, 2009. P.S.: I feel the same way about housing market predictions, i.e., being right eventually isn’t the same thing as being right. **There are not too many “Industrial” companies left in the “Dow Jones Industrial Average.” A better label today might be “The Dow Jones Services Average” or “The Dow Jones Software Average.” from RSSMix.com Mix ID 823070...

How Realtors Grade Clients Clients occasionally may have a select few words for their Realtors, but Realtors also have some favorite words for their clients. No , not “%!%#!” Rather, how “cooperative” they are. What do I mean by that? For Sellers, client cooperation boils down to these three things: 1. Pricing . A cooperative client picks a listing price consistent with what the Comp’s suggest is fair market value for their home. Should no offers emerge after a reasonable amount of market exposure (30 to 90 days, depending on the price point), they’ll entertain a 3%-5% price reduction, as market conditions and feedback indicate. 2. Staging and Prep . A cooperative client repairs anything that’s broken, and, if their city has a point-of-sale inspection, does what’s required to pass. Depending on their home’s size and condition, they also spend a reasonable amount — typically anywhere from $500 to $5,000 — on staging and cosmetic updates (painting, light fixtures, etc.). Or, t...

When it comes to the best time of year to wash a home’s windows in the Upper Midwest, there seem to be (at least) two schools of thought: School #1 : Spring-Summer is best (the most popular view). That’s because that’s when there is the most daylight — over 15 1/2 hours locally on June 21 — and sparkling clean windows are most noticeable. Which of course leads to the exact opposite argument . . . School #2 : late Fall/Winter is best. The rationale? You’ll appreciate clean windows the most precisely when natural light is in scarcest supply (personally, I’m in that camp). Which leaves alternative #3, also popular with ever-pragmatic Minnesotans: clean your home’s windows . . . when they’re dirty. P.S.: the Kaplan household strategy? I pay a professional to do the upper level, outside windows. Then, I conscript able-bodied family members to do the rest. See also , “ The Easiest Way to Lighten a Home in Minnesota (at least 6 months a year, anyway) “; “ Winter Humor: Minnesota v...

Porsches, Picasso’s, and Stradivariuses A Steinway piano is a hand-made marvel, full of intricate detail and workmanship, sought by collectors and valued accordingly. A true “piece of work,” one might even say. Ditto such treasures as a Stradivarius violin, a Picasso painting, a Porsche sports car, and a Rolex watch. So . . . how come calling a person “a piece of work” is almost universally regarded as an insult, not a compliment?? Just asking . . . “Isn’t That . . . Precious?” Interestingly, while five of the seven recognized definitions of the word “precious” are flattering (“financially valuable,” “greatly loved,” etc.), two are decidedly not: One. Affectedly or excessively delicate, refined, or nice (see, “precious manners”); and Two. Flagrant; gross (as in, “a precious fool”). See also , “ Why Is Calling Something (or Someone) “Tasteless” an Insult? “; “ Which ‘Done” Did They Mean? “; “The Many Guises of ‘Hot Dog’ “; You’re My Anchor”: Compliment or Dis? “; and “Re-Du...

Cost: More Than a Furnace, Less than a Roof (Usually) One of the biggest stealth expenses for homeowners is a new driveway. Depending on the driveway’s size and construction material (concrete vs. asphalt), the cost can easily exceed $10k. When should would-be home Sellers contemplate replacing it?** The Consistency Criterion; Eliminating Any Achilles H eels My 2¢: the most important variable in deciding whether to get a new driveway isn’t the condition of the driveway — it’s the condition of the house it’s next to. By that, I mean if the home is in terrific condition but the driveway is a mess, the Seller is well-advised to replace it. Prospective Buyers will be put off by the latter — some to the point of even skipping the home altogether (in which case the discount is theoretically infinite, never mind the $10k the Seller might have spent). By contrast, a new driveway in front of a tired home isn’t going to help the sales price. When that’s the case, Sellers shoul...

Letting Buyers — and Sellers — Off the Hook What do you do as a Buyer if you really like the first (or second) house you see, only to be told a couple hours after you went through that it’s in multiple offers, and that you have until 8 p.m. that night to make an offer? Scenario #2: you need a bigger house, but you’re expecting your first (or another) child imminently. Last one: you or someone in your household is immunocompromised, and you don’t want any additional exposure to strangers now — either in their home (as a prospective Buyer), or coming through yours . I don’t know about other Realtors, but my advice in such situations is: ‘the right house at the wrong time . . . equals the wrong house. Realtor Advice I say that because I know — better than my clients — what goes into a home sale and/or purchase. Namely, half-heartedly prepping a home for sale virtually ensures that it will take longer to sell, fetch a lower price — or both. And even though the sales process is fro...

“There Goes My Realtor!” Admittedly, the intended effect is for clients who see me in and around the neighborhood where I live (by Cedar Lake in Minneapolis) to see my car on the road and say, “There Goes My Realtor!” But, my custom license plate (above) is also a conversation-starter when I’m parked. Like today, in Linden Hills, where a builder who has an upcoming listing saw my car and asked if I was a Realtor. I know what to do from there . . . See also , “ Kindred (Car) Spirits “; and “ A Sea of Silver (Cars) .” from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8230700 https://ift.tt/3f6qg7Y via IFTTT

I bought a commercial property in 2018 for $2,100,000. It was a 68k square foot strip mall that had a grocery store, restaurant, office, and coffee shop as tenants. I bought this property in Northern Colorado and it was the most expensive and biggest property I had ever purchased by far! I thought this was ... Read more from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8230700 https://ift.tt/3kcdbes via IFTTT

I recently wrote an article about how to make $10,000 a month with rental properties. I have personally surpassed that number and will keep going, but not everyone is at that stage in their investing life. What about those who do not have much money and are looking to get started investing in real estate? ... Read more from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8230700 https://ift.tt/34Si5c9 via IFTTT