The foreclosure market is starting to heat up in a big way, and more foreclosures are on the way. Being a smart foreclosure shopper, or at least including foreclosures in your search, is a smart move, but you must approach these homes carefully. Here's a brief primer on the topic. You may also wa
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01/03/2008
Home warranties offered by 3rd party providers cover certain items in the home for a period of 1 year after the date of sale.Typical items covered include appliances & HVAC systems.� You can also get extended coverage for items like pools & spas and other parts of the house.A policy typically cos
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01/03/2008
Learn how to leverage a loan type we really like called the "30 year fixed with 10 years interest only" to get a bigger house while paying the same monthly mortgage amount (and not feel bad about it) .
01/03/2008
A client asked us:Does the condo insurance cover the interior of your condo? -- this one I will probably be able to figure out from the condo docs, but if you knew off the top of your head that would be great.Our reply:The master insurance, which is part of the condo fee, is similar to homeowners
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01/03/2008
In a listing, you may sometimes see the acronyms "DOMM" and "DOMP".� Here's what they mean:DOMM means "Days on Market, Multiple-List" and it's the number of days on the market for that current listing.DOMP means "Days on Market, Property" and it refers to the entire time the property has been act
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01/03/2008
A client of ours writes:In your experience regarding mortgages, is it common for a lender (mine is Homecomings Financial/GMAC) to require you to maintain an escrow balance? Just curious, as I'd rather hang on to my money in a short-term CD or money market, versus sending it to them.Thanks!When yo
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01/03/2008
Most Realtors think that a bedroom must have three things to be officially called a bedroom: A door A window A closetBecause that's what's taught to us from the day we get our licenses. That is not always the case, however. For example, in Fairfax County, a room is constituted of any space that:
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01/03/2008
Yes, absolutely.Here is an example of a listing that states that the buyer's agent (NOT the buyer himself) will get a $5,000 bonus if they bring a "full price offer" (click images to enlarge):(Note - the image above references the "selling agent" which can be very confusing because you probably t
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01/03/2008
We have a new service that I’m very, very excited to introduce, which allows both consumers and REALTORS to map out the most efficient route between properties. We’ve been using it internally and I’ve been blown away by how useful it is. It’s integrated into our MLS search tool, www.TheBestHomeSe
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12/24/2007
In addition to DROdio Real Estate, we also run a commercial brand, Cardéa Commercial. We are hard at work on a new tool for our commercial lease & sales clients called Maptimizer.com. In fact, we think it’s so good that we’ve filed a patent on it (you can click on the image below to enlarge).Here
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12/24/2007