$%#@?!! Ok, so 10¢ is only the wholesale price of a barrel of oil right now — specifically, something called “West Texas Intermediate crude” (“WTI”) — not the retail price (at the pump). And refining and transporting oil isn’t free. But, given that there are 31 recoverable gallons in a barrel, that translates to something...Read More
Subjective Tolerance Levels First, the good news: assuming the house is a couple of decades old (or older!), the settling is very likely historic. So, for a home that was built in say, 1925, the settling likely occurred (and stopped) by 1927. The bad news? It’s (very) hard to correct. It’s possible to use floor...Read More
When the Neighbors are the Dealbreaker Prospective Buyer: “We love the house. But we could never live across the street from that pornographic statue.” Phil Dunphy: “Oh . . . huh . . . I never noticed it.” Prospective Buyer: “Yeah . . . you can see it from inside when you look out the...Read More
The Art of Comp Selection One of the trickier home features to account for in a Comparative Market Analysis (“CMA”) is a busy street. For a family with little kids, a busy street may very well be a deal breaker ” in which case the discount is theoretically infinite. At the other extreme, an investor looking...Read More
Housing Market Misnomers One of the biggest misconceptions in residential real estate is that, to be a teardown, a home must first be falling down. Hardly. All “teardown” means is that the home is less valuable than the land underneath it. That can be the case for at least two reasons other than physical condition:...Read More
