Taking Advantage of a 1st-Time Buyer (Or Trying To) First-time Buyers may not know prevailing lender fees — but experienced Realtors do. In that vein, a colleague recently reported that, to his chagrin, he discovered that the lender he referred his client to quoted her lender fees (origination, underwriting, appraisal, etc.) easily double the industry...Read More
The “You Know it When You See it” Test While it’s true that every Mid-Century Modern home was built in the 1950’s (or thereabouts), it’s decidedly NOT the case that every home built in the 1950’s is a “Mid-Century Modern.” In fact, in real life, very few are. On MLS, for every home that I...Read More
Negotiating 101 Here’s a thought: your negotiating leverage is only as good as your “or else.” As in, “if you don’t accept my last offer, I’m going to . . . ” Or, “if $3,000 towards your list of repairs isn’t sufficient, I’m going to . . .” Two Scenarios At one extreme, if your...Read More
Blast From the Past — Like, 2005 More signs that at least some segments of today’s housing market are overheating: I am hearing about — and running into personally — “For Sale” homes . . . that really aren’t. That is, they sell almost immediately after coming on the market, but the listing agent neglects...Read More
“Pick a Card House, Any Card House!” I’ve certainly heard the insinuation: by shuffling the order they show a series of homes, Realtors can subtly (or not so subtly) “guide” their Buyer’s decision to buy the home they want them to. Specifically, the supposed strategy is to show the most promising property either first or...Read More
Cherry Pies* — & Lots of ‘Em — for the New Neighbor Prospective Buyer: we’ve come to a decision . . . . we’re going to buy it! Realtor (showing model homes): which one? Prospective Buyer: all of them. –Pilot episode, “The Neighbors” So goes one of the opening scenes in new sitcom “The Neighbors,”...Read More
