home selling: What You Say Is What You Get???? - 05/26/12 04:02 AM
One of the places buyers and sellers go to find information regarding local real estate is www.trulia.com. Trulia aggregates a lot of great real estate information; crime rates, information regarding schools and to a lesser extent, comments from locals about the area. Truth is, it’s a great site that attempts make global real estate local. One thing I love about Trulia is a posting called “Real Estate Reality Check”.   A week or so ago, Tara- Nicholle Nelson posted an article entitled “What Sellers Say vs. What Buyers Hear”.  It was spot on in many ways.  The point of her posting was that well-intentioned but … (1 comments)

home selling: Tenant Notice - 07/08/11 10:03 AM
The contract you received on your rental property looks good. The buyer does, however, need to get a loan in order to complete the purchase. There’s also a short sale that needs to be processed; lots of balls in the air. Your REALTOR® explains that tenants, by law, are entitled to a 45 day notice to vacate. Being the faithful reader that you are, you recall that appraisals take at least a month to 45 days to complete.  You do the mental math and realize that 60 days for loan approval and 45 days for tenant notice equal almost 4 months … (0 comments)

home selling: When It’s Time To Take A Hike! - 06/24/11 06:50 AM
The standard provisions of our listing agreement obligate the seller to help sell the property, not only in a general sense, but specifically by preparing the home for showings, allowing access for required inspections, securing belongings and allowing a lockbox to be installed While we encourage seller assistance and cooperation, it’s sometimes counter-productive for sellers to actually walk potential buyers through the property. Here’s why. I spend a good amount of time with buyers prior to showings. Discovering their preferences is a large part of my preparation. While a house with a steep driveway may be a problem for one buyer, … (2 comments)

home selling: Sign, Sign, Everyone Must Sign! - 06/03/11 08:55 AM
My REALTOR® friend, Patti, reminded me of one of the most basic rules of real estate; it takes two to sell and one to buy. This adage echoes what should be common sense and yet, it’s fairly common for us to receive listings and offers signed by other than the principal (the real purchaser or the seller) or a representative with proper power of attorney. When listing a property, REALTORS® must usually depend (initially) on real property tax records and information given by the seller. Suffice it to say that there are sometimes ownership surprises when the title report is received.  … (0 comments)

home selling: The Times Are Exchanging - 04/08/11 06:39 AM
The tax consequences of trading spaces are fairly painless if you participate in an Internal Revenue Code Section 1031 tax deferred exchange. Such exchanges allow sellers to defer taxable gain on investment properties. The key to this concept is that taxes are deferred which means, of course, that at some point, they must be paid. While specific rules are but a quick “Google” or “Yahoo” search away, there are critical reminders and suggestions which aren’t part of any published guidelines. Your purchase agreement is one of the first places an exchange can get into trouble. It’s fairly common for me to … (0 comments)