Houses and More

"Our newest data confirm last quarter's data that the housing market is in a decidedly different stage," said OFHEO Director James B. Lockhart in a statement. "With U.S. house prices growing less than 1 percent during the third quarter, it provides more evidence that the long-forecasted national ...

When your clients shop for a house, do they consider that the house style may wreak havoc with their current furniture?  I know first time buyers often plan to buy furniture for the first time with their new house, but what about your move-up buyers?  Sometimes they realize they have to have a be...

Unlike TLW, I hate shopping.  I hate it with a passion.  That doesn't mean it's a bad thing to do, I just don't like doing it.  I'd much rather sit down at my computer and shop on-line.  I can get it done in 1/10 the time and not have to hassle with crabby clerks, missing colors, missing sizes, l...

I never shop the day after Thanksgiving so when I heard the term Black Friday, I was surprised.  Black Friday?  What on earth?  I had to Google it to find out what it was.  My first assumption was that it was the time when merchants finally started to make money that didn't go for overhead and ex...

Some rules are meant to be broken.  I don't recommend it for rehabbers, but I'm as susceptible as the next person when it comes to emotionally buying.  Breaking the rehabbing rules can cost money, however!This little house is an example of broken rehab rules.  It's the latest project on my rehab ...

This should be a staging post or one on rehabbing.  I couldn't resist putting the after shots up for those who followed my vacancy from an 18 year chain smoking tenant.  Row 1:  I'm thrilled this unit is done.  Note the bathroom is fresh, clean (sorry the toilet seat is up), and newly painted in ...

It became my turn to do a pop tart showing last Friday.  My broker fielded the call from someone wanting to see a specific house at 3:00 Friday afternoon.  He asked the woman if she had an agent who could show her the property, and she hesitated ever so slightly before answering that she did not....

 An exercise in fantasy thinking for wishful thinkers! If the Public only knew what they don't know:They would not call the company listed on the "for sale" sign in front of the house to arrange for a showing of that house.They would interview agents to find out who takes agency seriously instead...

I've known since I took the CBR (Certified Buyer Representative) class that fiduciary is the most important value I bring to a real estate transaction.  When I switched from being an exclusive buyers' agent (working for a company that did no listings) to being a traditional agent I saw a differen...

Jamie Ramos commented on my post "Why Hire a Real Estate Agent?".  I had to check and see if Jamie was a man or woman so I didn't make the embarrassing faux pax of calling her a he when she was a she!  Her comment stood out for me because it's words taken from my own mouth.  My broker wanted me t...