The Crazy world we call Real Estate

   The past few years home buyers were coming out of the wood work looking to purchase. Mostly first time home buyers. What has really changed? Interest rates are now the lowest they've been all year, there is inventory galore, sellers are eager................. So what is stopping people from bu...

I was catching up on reading some of my favorite sites this morning and came across a couple fantastic charts that really illustrate long term trends.  House ValuesThe first is a fantastic chart posted by Merv at Northern Virginia Real Estate Guide. Click on the picture for a large view. The char...

What is a Short Sale? Short Sale is the sale of a home when sales proceeds do not fully pay off the existing loan(s) and lender(s) accepts a discounted payoff to fully satisfy the loan.The best part, the existing lender pays virtually all sales costs, including commissions, escrow and title fees ...

 If you're like my good friend -- who is addicted -- you've probably watched "Flip This House," the A&E TV show which seemingly regular Joes buy homes, fix them up and sell them for huge profits. Each episode follows a project from start to finish, and after watching one you always feel like you'...

Our homes are our precious possessions - to own a home for oneself is a goal many people aim for in life, even from childhood. After making a home for oneself and the family, it needs to be kept clean and well maintained. Home repair improvement plays a big role in the duties of owning a home. Ho...

Why would you want to register on a local real estate website?Realtor.com is an advertising site owned by a company called Homestore and while it's licensed to operate using the Realtor name it is a for profit company that has yet to turn a profit... forever squeezing out pennies and irritating t...

I had a client call me not too long ago regarding the tax bill they just received.  They moved into a new construction home in January of 06.  I need to set up this story by mentioning a few other facts here.   My market is in Northern Illinois.  We are about 2 hours due west of Chicago.  The sur...

With all the projected foreclosures on the horizon, I thought you fellow Realtors would like to know that A new brochure has been developed by the National Association of Realtors which is designed for us to give our clients or prospects who may be facing foreclosure. The brochure covers risky mo...

I, just as all of you, have heard the stories from other agents about a client that just "doesn't get it".  Well, now it's my turn.   I took on this listing about 3 weeks ago.  My CMA came out to 289,000 and of course, this client thinks their house is worth more and they put it on the market for...

It's always a breath of fresh air to have some new business strum up when the market is a little slower than normal.  I find out more and more each day how important a strong Internet presence is.  Like most of you, I've spent countless hours tweaking keywords and meta tags hoping to get the best...