Clean vs. Cluttery Offers With multiple offers breaking out all over the Twin Cities housing market now, it’s a smart idea for prospective Buyers competing for a home to know what, besides price, is likely to set their offer apart . . . for both good and bad. Good: a short, clean offer with a...Read More
But, $320k – $25k ≠$295k I can’t prove it, but at least when it comes to residential real estate deals, an offer for $300k less $5k in seller-paid points can seem more attractive to Sellers (if not their agents) than a $295k offer with no points subtracted. The explanation has to do with Seller psychology....Read More
How to Make $1 Worth Up to $1.38 True or False: the home Buyer gets to deduct closing costs even if the Seller pays for them. Answer: True (subject to the Buyer’s individual tax circumstances, e.g., whether or not they itemize their deductions, their marginal tax rate, etc.) What the foregoing means is that 3%...Read More
Of Apples and Houses One of the trickier concepts in residential real estate — especially for first-time home buyers — is seller-paid points. Think of it like this: if you buy an apple from me, is there a difference between paying me 97¢, or paying $1 and getting back 3¢? Not to me — either way,...Read More
Omitting Seller-Paid Points Want to know why many real estate Web sites — never good at estimating home prices — are off by at least another 3% now? Because Seller-paid points are a fixture of many house deals these days, yet the government data that many real estate sites rely on don’t report that. Instead, Hennepin County and...Read More
(And Why it Matters) Preapproval subject to the Seller paying 3% toward the Buyer’s Closing Costs. –Lender Preapproval Letter Lawyers — and Realtors who used to be lawyers 🙂 — know that if a term isn’t included in a contract . . . it’s not in the contract. That’s because of something called an “integration clause” —...Read More
