What difference does it make if someone selling a home is a teacher, social worker, lawyer, or doctor? I’d say little or none: the home’s condition and features — plus the Seller’s Disclosure and Buyer’s inspection later on — speak for themselves. The exception? When the Seller is a master carpenter, and the home reflects their handiwork —...Read More
Avoiding “The Bowling Alley” Effect First, a caveat: unless there’s also a detached garage in the back of the house (typically, off an alley), converting a one-car garage into something else is a non-starter. That’s because going from a one-car garage to a no-car garage is guaranteed to destroy much more value than it creates. But, assuming that that’s not the...Read More
One of the ways you can tell that a product is dated or out-of-fashion — or people think it is — is that it acquires an adjective. So, for awhile, “Coke” became “New Coke.” In the wake of Watergate in the 1970’s, Minnesota’s Republican party became the “Independent – Republican” party (at least until Ronald Reagan...Read More
Qualifying Buyers #101 In the course of holding hundreds (thousands?) of Sunday open houses over the years, I can usually tell relatively quickly whether a given prospect is serious or not. See if you can tell which of the comments below indicate serious Buyer interest: A. “I LOVE this house. Why is it so cheap?!?” B. “What...Read More
Don’t Call it a “Traditional” Sale — It’s a “Long” Sale [Note: for the uninitiated, a “short sale” is when the homeowner’s mortgage(s) exceed the home’s fair market value — a condition referred to as being “underwater.” Depending on the specific housing market, short sales have receded from more than 50% of all sales five...Read More
The Opposite of Buying Down Rates Wait a second! Isn’t borrowers’ goal to pay the lowest interest rate they can on their mortgage? Yes, but — especially for first-time home Buyers — there’s the added consideration of closing costs. On a $200,000 home, a typical amount would be 3%, or $6,000. Conserving Cash A popular...Read More
