What's Selling: Hopkins

Days on Market: 12

Where: 301 13th Ave. North, near downtown Hopkins

What: 3 BR/2 Bath stucco bungalow with over 1,800 finished square feet; nicely updated.

When: listed 10/29; off market yesterday (11/10)

How much: asking $250k

Who: listing agents -- Stacy and Christina Cranbrook (Edina Realty); selling agent -- Nancy Bourland (Edina Realty)

"We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately."

--Benjamin Franklin

The secret to this sale?

The price, location, condition, and curb appeal all helped.

But my educated guess is that the key was the "mini-Broker tour" on Nov. 2 (a week ago Tuesday).

That's when 20 agents with "Active" Hopkins listings -- myself included -- collaborated to all hold our listings open between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., complete with drawings and catered lunches at many locations.

All that publicity generated lots of traffic, which raised everyone's exposure and resulted in at least two other deals that I'm aware of.

The home is officially "Pending" until it is scheduled to close Dec. 10.

Who's Buying Houses for Cash?

Cash Buyers at Extremes of Market

No, I don't have any hard data backing me up.

But anecdotally, at least, it seems like the two likeliest kinds of houses to be bought for cash these days are:

One. Bank-owned foreclosures selling for bargain-basement prices -- and in such tough condition no lender would accept them as collateral; and

Two. Upper, upper bracket homes, where the Buyers' balance sheets are so large that they are effectively immune from "the recent unpleasantness."

As a practical matter, the only way to flag a cash purchase -- at least that I'm aware of -- is to look for sales where the house's "off market" date and closing date are separated by only a few days.

Or, they're the same date.

By contrast, when the Buyer requires a mortgage, the interval is typically at least 15 business days.

That allows time for the appraisal, underwriting, re-visiting the appraisal, etc.