Things to Consider Before Buying a Foreclosure

Your buyers may be drawn to distressed properties. After all, “the No. 1 reason to buy a foreclosure is the potential for a good bargain,” Read more

How to Get a Great Price on a House

To swing a deal in today’s buyer’s market, it pays to sharpen your negotiation skills.

Even in a buyer’s market, it pays to be prepared. Read more

What Is Real Estate Due Diligence?

Purchasing and owning real estate is always high risk — whether it’s a single family home that you’ll occupy or a 50-unit apartment building for income. You’ll hear experts say to make sure to “do your due diligence” when buying property, but what does that actually mean? What is due diligence? Read more

What to Expect When You’re Inspecting

If you’re a first-time buyer who just nabbed your first place, you’re likely in one of the scarier places in the real estate transaction. After weeks or months of looking, your new home is becoming a reality. Read more

Horrors! Scenes from a Home Inspector’s No-No Book

As a home inspector, once you step foot inside a home to inspect it for a customer, there’s usually a surprise or two awaiting. Because when a homeowner faces an “issue,” they take it upon themselves to fix it. There are good fixes, workarounds and then jury rigged solutions that are just plain bad ideas for a number of reasons, but mostly because they are dangerous.

Here’s a glimpse of some of the most notoriously silly things ever attempted on homes that were in need of repair. In other words, here’s a round-up of what NOT to do. Read more

5 Things Homebuyers and Sellers Should Know About Credits

After months of searching for the perfect home, writing multiple offers, and dealing with sellers who won’t budge on price, you’ve finally got a contract on the perfect home. It took you and the seller weeks of negotiations and several rounds of offers to get there. But, you have a deal at last.

Or do you?

Too often, getting a signed contract and putting your money into escrow is simply the beginning of what can become yet another round of negotiations. Here are five things every home buyer and seller should know about last-minute credits. Read more