Time to get tuned up ffor the winter of 24-25

Posted on by Teresa Boardman
Antique Gravity Furnace

It is still Summer but Fall isn’t far off and it is a short season here in the North.

If you are a homeowner and live in Minnesota now would be a great time to have your boiler or furnace serviced, inspected and or tuned up.  There is still plenty of time to get it fixed or replaced before it gets cold and it will get cold.

Usually, there are specials this time of year too for those who get it done before the busy heating season.

I see a lot of houses with old furnaces that have been well-maintained. They really do last longer with regular maintenance. Personally, I am not a fan of the service plans but I am a fan of service.

If you are selling your home this fall or winter it is a good idea to have the furnace or boiler serviced and save the receipt or even tape it to the furnace. Buyers who are closing on homes this fall should either have the furnace tuned up or ensure that the seller has already taken care of it.

As for getting the air ducts cleaned that might not be needed. The dirt that collects in the air ducts pretty much stays there but it can be removed if needed.

Housing supply rises

Posted on by Teresa Boardman

Don’t get me wrong. Homes for sale are in short supply throughout the metro area, but right now the supply is higher than at any time since before the pandemic. The housing market strongly favors sellers yet the graph does show a trend.

In a balanced housing market we would have a six-month supply of homes. In a market that favors buyers, there would be more than a six month supply.

Here is St. Paul there is just over a two-month supply of homes for sale.  I’ll got out on a limb and predict that the supply of houses on the market will shrink along with mortgage interest rates.

 

College before cell phones and the internet

Posted on by Teresa Boardman
old phone
telephone

It is Friday and Fridays are for fun. I remember when I went away to college. There was no internet,  facetime or cell phones. Maybe there were “car phones” but the average family did not own one.

Most of our parents were not “snow plow” parents. We had to deal with our own stuff and while away at college if we wanted to talk to the folks we used the one shared phone in the phone room in our dormitory. There was one phone on each floor.

When parents called if someone answered they had to find us. Sometimes they just stood in the hallway and yelled. When something went wrong we had to handle it ourselves. In fact, as a young adult, I took pride in being able to manage my life without help from mommy and daddy.

Times have changed. College students and their parents keep in touch with each other with daily calls, text messages, and video chats. I feel lucky to have experienced college the way that I did. I graduated and was ready for adulting.

I also experienced this as a parent when my daughter taught in France for a school year. Our only communication was via email and a long-distance calling card. Sometimes I worried but I knew she could do it and she did.

 

New windows – new construction

Posted on by Teresa Boardman

The houses in St. Paul are old and they have old windows. If you are buying an old house expect old windows. Don’t ask the seller to replace all of the windows. If you want new windows purchase new construction or buy a house with old windows and have them replaced.

If you are selling your house be prepared. Home buyers will ask for new windows. If you are buying a house be prepared. Most homeowners are not going to replace the windows.

Windows can be repaired or restored. Sometimes new storm windows will make old windows more energy efficient.

Cat in window
cat in the window

I don’t care about your team

Posted on by Teresa Boardman
Team
Team

Teams are popular in real estate. They are made up of real estate agents and administrative staff. Teams are a great way to defuse responsibility. When something goes wrong, one team member can point to another as the responsible party.

Most teams have some kind of a “transaction coordinator”, which seems to be a bottleneck in the system. An agent representing a buyer will tell me that I need to wait for the transaction coordinator for a signed document. In my world everything is electronic and I can send out any document and get it signed within minutes even if I am away from my desk.

There are buyer’s agents on teams; all they do is represent home buyers. The buyers are leads that the team “captured”. A buyer’s agent can have many transactions in a year and they have to work that way because they often only get a small percentage of the commissions they earn. The rest of it goes to the team lead and the broker.

If you call one team member to ask about a home the team has listed for sale, the team member doesn’t know anything about it and will pass your call along to the listing agent.

Selling real estate isn’t really a team sport. The whole point of the team is profits for the leader at the expense of the broker.

Don’t be too impressed if you are a home seller and a real estate agent tells you they are part of a team and that the whole team will work for you. They won’t.

This may sound like a cliche but when I work with a buyer or seller the buck stops here. I take responsibility for the home sale or purchase. I do work with others as I pass contracts along so that the sale can be closed. I know inspectors, lenders and people who can fix things. In a way, they are all part of my team yet I am the one who is responsible and all my clients only need one contact.