Jeff Pearl's Local VA and MD Blog

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Real Estate Agent - RE/MAX Distinctive / LIC in VA
RECENT BLOG POSTS
 I'm sure by now many agents are familiar with photography copyrights and Creative Commons. There are sevreral sources of photos available online these days, but we should always remember to read the Terms of Service which describes if any type of license is needed before using those photos.  The...
01/13/2015
If you're a potential buyer in Virginia, you've probably heard the statement " It is illegal for me to work with buyers in VA without a written Buyer Broker Agreement". You've probably also seen a similar statement posted on many agents websties. I'm working with buyers now that were told that by...
01/11/2015
The Virginia Association of Realtors sent out the following notice recently. This is totally unbelievable. How long this went on before being discovered isn't mentioned. I would say there had to be cooperation from the licensing testing company. So how many people received a license that never st...
01/10/2015
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) will be requiring the use of the “Closing Disclosure” starting August 1st 2015. This replaces the current HUD-1 closing statement.  The form shown in this pdf might change before 8/1, but this is probably close to what it will look like. http://file...
01/06/2015
Many agents have posted questions asking about which cameras are best for real estate photography. There is always more than one correct answer to that question. When buying a camera, many factors will come into play as, how much money do you want to spend?, will you be shooting video?, stills?, ...
01/04/2015
"Checking the couch for spare change? You may be owed an even bigger payout, courtesy of the Virginia Department of the Treasury.  The state has $1.7 billion in unclaimed money, stocks, bonds, dividends, utility deposits, insurance proceeds, tangible property and more, according to a Pilotonline ...
01/03/2015
Well, I try to do this about once per quarter, but in this case, it was approx 6 months since I last drained sediment out of our water heater. We have well and septic. But you can imagine how much dirt and grit accumulates in a hot water heater where this is never done. What are the benefits of d...
12/30/2014
Homebuyers, sometimes you have to start with the finished product costs and work backwards.  I got a call a few days ago from a buyer who had $750,000.00 to spend on buying a lot and having a new home built. Actually, it was his builder that called me because he knew I was working on developing s...
12/18/2014
Well, as usual, good news comes with bad news aattached. Since the average short sale forgiveness was over $70,000.00, sellers not having to count that $70,000.00 as income and pay taxes on it is good news.  However, I am showing some short sales now, so any contracts won't close until 2015. Will...
12/17/2014
Many buyers ask questions about laws, mortgages, and taxes. Whether they are doing a short sale, buying, or selling - tax,mortgage, and legal questions should be directed to persons licensed to provide those services. Even if I knew the answer to this question I received this morning:  " Let me k...
12/15/2014
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Jeff Pearl

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smartphone(703) 727-4876
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