“Now You See It . . . Now You Don’t” Once a “For Sale” home is under contract, the usual convention is to switch its MLS status from “Active” to “A,i” for “Sold, subject to inspection.”* That lets all other prospective Buyers know that there’s somebody ahead of them. So, what happens if the Buyer’s...Read More
Buyers Who Misunderstand the Scope, Purpose of the Home Inspection Here’s some advice to Buyers tempted to impose requirements like the one above following their home inspection. “Don’t.” There are two reasons for that: 1) it could easily cost the Buyer the home, especially if the Seller has other, serious interest (or even a backup...Read More
Is Bad Behavior “Stickier” Than Good? First, a caveat: good real estate outcomes — especially in the land of “Minnesota Nice” — are by far the rule. But, that doesn’t mean there aren’t any deals that end badly — or don’t end at all. See, “Get Me Out of the Deal!”: Statutory Cancellation for Beginners.”...Read More
Bluffing — or Not — About a Backup Buyer True or false: if a home Seller receives and accepts a more attractive backup offer from another Buyer (“Buyer #2”), they’ll tell Buyer #1 about it. Answer: false (usually). 2+ Birds in Hand In my experience, when the Seller has a more attractive backup offer already in hand,...Read More
“Maybe We Can Find Them a Job!” Thankfully, it happens relatively rarely — especially near the holidays — but it does happen. Namely, a Buyer all set to close on the purchase of a home loses their job, and no longer qualifies for the mortgage. No mortgage means no closing, and no closing means canceling moving...Read More
“The reason dolphins have a reputation for saving drowning swimmers is because you never hear from the ones they push out to sea.” As a Realtor, you seldom hear about the transactions where the home appraised at (or above) the sales price, and the deal went on to close smoothly. On the contrary, you hear...Read More
