my old blog

Who would have thought that a modest home in an average neighborhood without A-rated schools would create a feeding frenzy?  But it did.  As soon as it went on the market, the showings started and every showing brought an offer!  The owners settled on one that brought smiles to their faces with t...

Conventional wisdom says to get the best price for your property, clean it up - Preparing a Home for Sale - Consider Professional Cleaning, make needed repairs, make it attractive -  Use Professional staging to Entice Buyers, and then price it right. Pricing it right seems to be the biggest chall...

You'd think that buying a foreclosure would be much easier than buying a short sale (which requires bank approval that can take 1-3 months), but in some cases it can be just as frustrating and time-consuming. After looking for months, my clients finally found the perfect home, which happened to b...

Most Realtors know stories about sellers who rejected a low offer soon after their property was listed, and then got offers that were lower than the first or no other offers at all. Time goes by and eventually the seller lowers the price to the amount of the first offer and wishes he had taken it...

Sellers are afraid of "giving their house away" and buyers are afraid of paying too much. Especially in a declining market, sellers need to be smart and help buyers perceive value. The strategy involves two simple ideas, but takes know-how and hard work to implement: Attract lots of buyers. The m...

In an unusually slow buyers' market in a declining economy, a house that has been on the market for four months with two price reductions suddenly has an $11,000 price increase taking it back to the original list price!  There are a total of four pictures, two (almost identical) of the front of t...

A strong offer is one that sellers will consider seriously;  it shows that you mean business and provides benefits for both parties.  You want to get the best possible deal on a property you've selected, so make a strong offer which is either likely to be accepted or will motivate the seller to o...

I believe that Buyer Brokerage Agreements are beneficial to buyers and in many cases, they sign up without thinking twice. For those who have never heard of them before, there can be some hesitation. I ran into an objection recently that is fairly common for those who don't fully understand them....

When homeowners start thinking about selling their house, many decide to get an appraisal to see what it's worth. But unless the appraiser is willing to buy your home, don't assume that the appraised value is the same as market value - what buyers are willing to pay. According to a recent article...

I recently met with some young homeowners who are ready to move up but first must sell their house.  It's been on the market only a few weeks and already has an offer!  Unfortunately, the offer is much less than they had hoped for.   There has been some back and forth and the offer currently on t...