Category: Home Buying
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Buyer lost a dream home and seller loses equity
Reader Comment: We lost a dream home when we didn’t understand the significance of what you recently wrote that there are “…no standardized rules in the industry” and that “the nature of the real estate transaction and how the sales develop is very fluid.” We had first made a written offer on the house…
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Variable Rate Commission Must Be Disclosed in MLS
Reader Question: We want to share our variable rate commission experience. Our agent and the listing agent both wrote offers on the property. We are friends with one of the sellers’ children, and he told us the listing agent had agreed to cut his fee if he found the buyer. We informed our agent, and…
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Seller asks buyer to occupy early – a switcheroo
Reader Question: I have signed a contract with a seller. I had ten days due diligence to have the home inspected. I did that, and the house looked like a good deal. 21 days later the closing attorney calls and says the home is in probate, and it will take a minimum 6-8 weeks…
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Five tips for dealing with an unrealistic seller
Question: We are dealing with an unrealistic seller. We made a good offer on a home. The seller countered with forty-thousand dollars higher than our offer. According to our agent, the house is not on the market, so they are saving about three percent with a lower commission. The house needs significant upgrades. The bathrooms and…
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Need to buy a vacant lot to build a house?
Reader Question: We want to buy a vacant lot. After looking for resale homes for more than a year, we have decided to build a house. We have tried to buy a pre-owned home, but the lack of choices, bidding wars, and unsatisfactory home inspections have helped us realize that paying a premium for the…
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Nine tips for real estate investing
Reader Question: We have spent the past two years reading for real estate investing. We have a plan laid out that we believe is achievable, and we are ready to buy our first two-to-four family fixer-upper. Once we identify what we think to be the right property, what are your best buying tips to ensure…
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Eight Helpful Actions Homebuyers Overlook
Reader Question: We sold our home last year to downsize and rented an apartment for a year to try the lifestyle and give us time to consider what we would do next. We are now going to buy a home, but being out of the home buying market for thirty years, what are the big…
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Five tips to buying and sharing a personal residence
Reader Question: My friend and I are thinking about buying and sharing a personal residence. We each have saved enough to pay twenty percent down on a $150,000 home, but by pooling our down payment, we could buy a $300,000 house. We may even invite a third person to join us. We live in a…
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Emotion trumps logic in home purchase dispute
Reader Question: We have an accepted offer on a home. We learned that the floor is vinyl, not laminate as stated on the listing data sheet. Unlike laminate, vinyl adds no value to the house. We asked for a $3,000 price reduction which was less than half of a new laminate floor price. We do…
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buying with a buyer agent
Reader Question: What are the pros vs. cons of buying with a buyer agent representing me on the buying transaction? Monty’s Answer: Buyer agency, and for that matter, seller agency, is a concept in the law. Agency law varies somewhat in the statutes from state to state, but my experience is that interpreting the meaning…
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Pay attention to post closing occupancy when you make your offer
Reader Question: We have a post closing occupancy problem. We closed on our home purchase in December. The contract calls for the seller to vacate 30 days after closing. The date and time set to deliver the keys and final walkthrough were today. This morning, the seller called to say they hadn’t finished moving out and…
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Can we knock on doors near a home we like?
Reader Question: Can we knock on doors near a home we may want to buy? We are interested in a home in a neighborhood that is a perfect location for us. We are unfamiliar with the area, and we are considering knocking on a few doors to develop a better sense of place and possibly about…
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Ten Common Real Estate Scams
Reader Question: What would be your advice concerning the different real estate scams going on. For example, is being a for sale by owner dangerous today? What are some of the warning signs of real estate scams? Monty’s Answer: Scams have always existed as there are elements in our society that lead nefarious lives. While…
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Six tips to negotiate a brand new home purchase
Negotiating a new home purchase is very similar to buying a pre-owned home. There are differences. Most new-home buyers don’t think to have the home inspected by a home inspector, because the municipal building inspector has to sign off. That inspection is for code compliance. Builders, or their subcontractors make mistakes that have nothing to…
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Home buyer wants to offer more than full price
Reader Question: We have been combing the market for several months, but nothing has hit on all cylinders until a new house came up yesterday and it has everything we need and more. It’s pushing our price limit at an asking price of 449k. We met our agent to see it this morning, and it…