"Minnesota ESPECIALLY Nice"

Christmas & the Housing Market

There are plenty of reasons to explain why the housing market decelerates around the holidays: it's customarily a time to celebrate with one's family; take a respite from work (vacation, even!); and generally reflect on one's -- shall we say -- existential circumstances.

Plus, the weather (at least in Minnesota) is lousy.

All in all, a time for spirituality -- not commerce.

No Time for Lowball Offers

However, I'd posit that another, related factor is at work: Christmas spirit doesn't exactly go with aggressive negotiations.

Even if the market is soft and a home isn't necessarily worth the owner's asking price . . . Christmas just doesn't seem the right time to make that point (at least to a real, live human being -- vs. say, a bank).

Wishing all my readers a peaceful, happy Holiday, and a prosperous 2011!

Minnesota Nice for "Back Off?"

Vanity License Plates

Not that I ever tailgate, but I'd think twice about getting too close to the car I saw yesterday with the license plate, "IRITABL."

Maybe that's their point.

Or, the owner is named Irit Abelson ("Irit" is a common Israeli name).

Bad Behavior Uptown

"Don't Mind Me"

I really don't care if you talk on your cell phone within my earshot in public (trust me, you're not that interesting).

And I don't necessarily lose it when you dawdle using the ATM while I'm standing behind you.

But -- and here's the part that seems self-evident -- if you're going to tie up the ATM machine while there's a line(!!), you may just want to delay taking that cell phone call.

I and two other people got treated to this exceptionally boorish behavior at an Uptown ATM earlier today.

(Try this in a less patient, "Minnesota-Nice" city than Minneapolis and you'll get more than cold stares.)

"You Don't Need a Realtor if . . ."

"Would You Take . . .?"

In the spirit of Jeff Foxworthy's "You might be a redneck if . . ." string of jokes (sample: 'you've been married 3 times and still have the same in-law's'), I offer up the Realtor equivalent:

You don't need a Realtor if . . . you want to go around verbally offering Sellers 50% on the dollar -- or less -- for their homes.

I don't believe that that's common in the land of Minnesota Nice, but I am hearing about and running into it.

In my experience, such offers are non-starters (see, "The Mulligan Market"), and take as much time to reject as the would-be Buyer put into making them.

And if the Buyer really is serious -- a big "if" -- starting out with an insultingly low offer is almost always a mistake.

Sunday Open Houses & "Minnesota Nice"

I'll Take That as a "No"

"Minnesota Nice" plays out in a lot of funny ways in real estate.

Like at one of my open houses this weekend.

I greeted one woman at the front door, directed her to the literature and disclosures on the dining room table, and invited her to look around.

Ten minutes later, as she was leaving, I asked her what she thought.

"Very nice, lots of space," she answered. "Let me go get my husband" (he was parked in front with their dog).

As I talked to another open house visitor, I watched out of the corner of my eye as they promptly drove off.

West St. Paul's Cesar Chavez Blvd.

One of the fringe benefits of being a Realtor is being exposed to parts of town outside your usual orbit.

So, in the course of showing homes earlier this year in West St. Paul, South St. Paul, and Maplewood (where my client ultimately bought), I discovered a two block stretch of Concord Ave. renamed Cesar Chavez Blvd (it's about a mile south of downtown St. Paul, and a couple blocks west of Highway 52).

Coming back from water tubing on the Cannon River yesterday, my family and I headed there to check out the varied selection of Hispanic restaurants and groceries.

Good move! (It also afforded a great opportunity to tell my kids who Cesar Chavez was).

P.S.: "Minnesota Nice" gets a lot of abuse from non-natives. But where else can you bum a few beers tubing on a river, as I did yesterday? (I think they saw my 3 small kids and took pity).

Showing Feedback & "Minnesota Nice"

"Minnesota Nice" for Non-Minnesotans

For non-Minnesotans reading this blog, first a definition:

"Minnesota Nice" refers to the locals' custom of being preternaturally pleasant on the surface . . . and seeming to be chilly and unavailable just below.

Non-natives, especially from bigger cities (like New York) invariably find the practice off-putting if not outright annoying; the most common complaint I hear is, "you never know where you stand."

The runner-up? 'it's passive-aggressive.'

Meanwhile, natives like myself understand "Minnesota Nice" for what it is: a collective agreement to . . . be polite, at least on the surface.

How different in principle is that, really, than 100 strangers jammed into a subway car all tacitly agreeing not to make eye contact?

Ultimately, "Minnesota Nice" is really just a regional preference -- a "default mechanism" -- for managing social interaction on a mass scale.

As such, it's no better, no worse (and certainly much less confrontational) than social styles in other parts of the country . . . or world.

What would you expect from a couple million, *stoic Scandinavians?? (still the most dominant ethnic heritage locally).

Minnesota Nice & Showing Feedback

So how does "Minnesota Nice" play out between Realtors?

A good example is the showing feedback form that Buyer's agents are asked to complete after taking a client through a home.

I would say that some variation of the following easily represents 25% of the responses I get from Buyer's agents on homes that I'm listing (representing the Seller):

How did your Buyer like the home overall? "Good."

On a scale of 1-10, what was your opinion of the home's condition? "7"

Floor plan? "8"

What did you think of the home's price (pick one): Above market/at market/below market (this one always cracks me up) "at market"

Any future interest? "No"

Social Conventions

Obviously, anyone who had continuing interest in my client's home would be communicating that, in a variety of ways.

So, I don't take umbrage at the above, or email or call the other agent hostilely asking for more.

I understand it for what it is: a "no thank you" -- politely conveyed, to be sure.

*the joke about the long-time local Congressman (and quintessential Scandinavian) Martin Olav Sabo was that he once got so worked up over an issue that . . he almost spoke up about it!