ARCHIVED BLOG POSTS
2010
In his first state of the union address and numerous other times, George W. Bush spoke of unity and cooperation among the two parties. Several times in the early part of his first term, he spoke of being the uniter, giving the impression that he felt that party differences could be set aside in ...
09/30/2010
If you're making tentative plans to buy a home when the lease ends in spring or early summer, now is the time to begin serious planning. According to studies, the average home buyer spends seventeen months in the home buying process. It’s surprising how time consuming it is to find the right ...
09/29/2010
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Comments
If you're looking to purchase a home and don't think you have enough cash to make it happen, there may be help available. There is a division of the Department of Agriculture called Rural Development which now has funds to provide loans at low interest rates with zero down payment and no monthly ...
09/28/2010
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There has been a lot of noise in the media about the wisdom in either buying or renting a home. Most of the discussion has been limited to the economics associated with one over the other. My opinion is that there are some things that you can't stick into a spreadsheet, and they are probably th...
09/28/2010
Reading Barbara Chatterton's post about the Wisconsin REALTORS® Association annual convention got me wondering. The state association in Minnesota does not hold a convention because, according to staff, there is not enough interest. It seems strange that the Mississippi and St. Croix Rivers ca...
09/27/2010
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Yes, as of today, we're inside the three month marker. The retail Christmas shopping season will begin sometime between now and Halloween, depending on how much space individual stores have allocated to spooky stuff. For consumers, the season is divided into two roughly equal halves. The first...
09/26/2010
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On August 30, my YAHOO address book was accessed and all addresses received a promotional email from a Chinese site. The emails were the usual, a personal note from "me" urging the recipient to go to this wonderful site and buy everything cheap. My YAHOO address book has been sitting in the acc...
09/25/2010
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If you're planning on visiting Minnesota this weekend, check road conditions first. No, there have been no blizzards yet. Floods in the southern parts of the state have closed parts of the two main roads into Minnesota from the south, US Highway 52 and Interstate 35. Pine Island has become ba...
09/24/2010
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There have been almost uncountable times when I have heard an inspector tell a buyer that the grading needs to be addressed or they could end up with a wet lower level. Over time, the ground around a house tends to repack itself, creating something not unlike a bowl with the house in the middle....
09/23/2010
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According to the Commerce Department, housing starts were up 10.5% in August. This is a level that is a couple percent higher than August, 2009. While this may be an optimistic sign, one of CNBC's Squawk Box regulars, I believe it was Becky Quick, raised an interesting concern. She questioned w...
09/21/2010
Rainmaker
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Mike Carlier
More opinions than you want to hear about.