Author: Monty
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Is a Do-It-Yourself major remodel a good idea
Reader Question: Is a do-it-yourself major remodel a good idea? We have outgrown our home as our children are growing up and need more room. We want to add about a twelve-hundred square foot addition and a full bath, plus update the kitchen and bathrooms with cabinets, plumber, and flooring. My husband worked construction in…
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Is 2021 a good time to sell our home?
Reader Question: Is 2021 a good time to sell our home? We are in our late fifties. Our kids are grown and on their own. Our health is good, and we have no mortgage. We are thinking of downsizing into a smaller home in a newer subdivision not far from our current home. There are…
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An appraisal killed our home sale
Reader Question: An appraisal killed our home sale. We accepted an offer on our home 45 days ago. The lender just turned down the buyer’s loan because the appraisal was $35,000 lower than the contract price. The buyer had a twenty percent down payment but no extra cash to make up the difference. We…
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Six points to check if our home is overpriced
Reader Question: How can we check if our home is overpriced? Our home has been for sale on-and-off for some time. We have tried it ourselves, and hired real estate agents to no avail. This time we are going on four months now. In the past, we felt that our house didn’t sell because it’s…
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Are real estate commissions fair?
Reader Question: Are real estate commissions fair? I’m the homeowner. I just listed my home with a real estate agent. I told a friend I was selling, and they want to buy it for cash. I called my agent to negotiate the $24,000 commission because it hasn’t been on the market 24 hours. My agent…
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Do open houses help find a buyer
Reader Question: Do open houses help find a buyer? We recently put our home up for sale. The presentation was very professional, and we both liked the agent. The emphasis was on how much the real estate business has changed. She mentioned the difficulty of keeping up with technology. She explained how their company was…
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Eight categories of real estate agent motives
Reader Question: A recent article you authored titled “What’s wrong with real estate” was insightful. The overview described conditions that contribute to the real estate sales environment. We will be selling our home soon and feel that expanding on the agents would help us understand real estate agent motives. Can you drill down to the…
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Different home pricing strategies when selling a home
Reader Question: We want to know the different home pricing strategies when selling a home. We will be selling our home in the spring. We have had an appraisal, two agent opinions, and done research ourselves. There is a range between the highest and the lowest estimate of 40K. We do not have a…
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Eight critical factors FSBOs should consider
Reader Question: We will be selling our home in the coming months. A friend who sold on their own talks about how she felt it was worth the time and learned a lot from the experience. Another friend tried it and said it was a big waste of time and money. He spent about $800…