Shari Posey's Diary of a Mad Realtor

It seems like bank failures are yesterday's news and today traditional companies we've known for generations are on the verge of collapse. On top of that, very sophisticated investors are losing fortunes investing with "trusted" experts. The more I read The Wall Street Journal the more I believe ...

If you feel that the value of your property has decreased significantly from when you purchased it, you can apply to get reassessed at a lower value. Some homeowners have gotten small automatic assessments but you can get potentially much greater savings by applying on your own.I can't guarantee ...

Which investment is better...real estate or stocks? If you ask a Realtor, you know which answer you will get and the same goes for a stock broker. Of course, common sense says you should have a little of both but if I had to choose only one, I would pick real estate. In early April, it was time t...

It seems common sense that the reason real estate prices drop is because there is too much supply and limited demand. BUT WAIT!! There are other factors at work behind the scenes.The housing market is not like your average retail store that puts products on the shelf and offers advertised special...

Several months ago I read an article in our local newspaper, The Grunion Gazette, about two homeowners in Long Beach who were planning to tear down their 1920s bungalow and replace it with a very environmentally sound home. They were looking for volunteers to help them build it because the costs ...

I love this quote from Will Rogers..."You don't wait and buy real estate. You buy real estate and wait."Every day I get calls from investors ready to get back into the market to flip and grow rich. Ironically most of the homes that are currently bank owned are flips that flopped. My philosophy in...

One of my buyer clients found several properties he liked equally and made offers on multiple properties at the same time. All the sellers knew they were in a multiple offer situation. Yes, the offers were low but not what I would consider offending. Out of 5 offers, 3 sellers came back with full...

Most buyers and many real estate agents are unaware of the enormous difference between a listing that is a "short sale" and one that is an "REO." Also, many people are not aware what it means when a home is in default/foreclosure.Short Sale ListingsThe homeowners of these properties owe more in l...

On Sunday I held one of my listings open, as I usually do on the weekends. And as usual, I had 5-6 buyers who love the house but are waiting to buy when the market hits bottom. A few buyers are making their move now but most are waiting. However, it occurred to me recently that each and every hou...

It is interesting to see how the sellers of newer listings, meaning those on the market less than 30 days, haven't quite caught on to the fact that it's not a seller's market anymore. I have presented several offers to "newbie" sellers and the counters came back at full price. These are not multi...