In today’s sagging real estate market — where homes often remain unsold for months on end — sellers sometimes have no choice but to move and leave their properties vacant for a time. If you’re one of those owners, you might be surprised to learn that an insurance provider could drop your homeowner’s policy coverage. That’s because empty [...]
There are several different types of listing contracts, but very few of them are used. The “Exclusive Right to Sell” is the most common, but there is the “open listing,” the “exclusive agency listing,” and the “one-time show.” The “open listing” is mostly used by people trying to sell their home ‘by owner’ who are [...]
Congratulations! You’ve found the home of your dreams. But before you make a formal offer, you need to make sure the home is priced correctly. You don’t want to overpay. Typically used when selling a home, a comparable market analysis (CMA) lists the recent sale information of nearby homes, including how long each home stayed [...]
Once you own one home, what might pop into your head is the idea of owning a second home as a money investment. Though the real estate and housing market is low, if you have some fortitude and some patience, now might be an excellent time to invest in real estate. After you invest in real [...]
If you have your real estate licence and are thinking about your next move, don’t ask yourself how you should begin, but how should you excel. The first thing you need to think about is connections. Build and maintain relationships with your clients because returning customers and referrals is where you will get the majority [...]
Have you ever wondered what the difference is between a commercial real estate agent and a residential agent? It is not all that complicated, really. Commercial real estate agents market and lease apartment buildings, office buildings, shopping centers, hotels and industrial buildings. They typically work for large commercial property brokerages in a formal, high-pressure and [...]
You’ve seen them, as we all have: Foreclosure homes that are being sold for a fraction of the cost of market price. Who doesn’t want to hit on a good deal and get their future home or future rental property for 1/3 or less the price it would cost on the traditional market? But this [...]
Home buying is a big and stressful ordeal. A bad outcome can be right around the corner, unless you are diligent and watch your step – every step – along the way. One of the keys to ensuring that your real estate venture will have a happy ending is to make a commitment to stay [...]
If you’re looking to buy a home in Maryland and you don’t know the state, you will need to do some research first to ensure you select the right area for your research. For many new residents, their move is motivated by employment so the general area will be known, but sometimes you need to [...]
Part of the home buying process is the negotiation phase where buyers make offers and sellers make counter offers. It doesn’t always follow that trend, of course. There are times when a seller will reduce the advertised price hoping to attract interest and then be unwilling to negotiate any further reductions. When it comes to [...]
There are a lot of home buyers in the market at present and along with them are probably ten times as many home sellers. As a home buyer, is it worth the cost of engaging a buying agent? It’s a good question yet as a question it is factually incorrect. Let me explain. Real estate [...]
Real estate in Washington DC is no different to any other part of the country. There are high priced homes, low priced homes, homes in high demand areas and homes in low demand areas. You can get a feel for what is happening real estate wise by searching through the MLS. You can get an [...]
Good real estate agents are around for a long time. Over time, they learn a few little tricks of the trade that help them to stand out from the rest. One example of this is the way marketing materials are used for those wanting to sell their properties. We have often mentioned the use of [...]
It’s not a part of the home buying process that many people would consider but it is slowly growing in popularity. What am I referring too? Social media, of course. How can it help you? Do you have a couple of hours? Social media, as the name suggests, is all about being social. Being social means [...]
We really are moving into a technology phase in our society considering the recent news that e-signatures are now acceptable for real estate contracts. Inman News has the story and their opening paragraph really says it all: The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development today announced that the Federal Housing Administration will accept e-signatures [...]
We could be called brave, we could be called gullible but most of the time we are just plain ignorant when it comes to buying real estate. In fact, we are often not helped by the very people we rely on for help – the real estate agent. As a buyer, you have to be [...]
The world of business can be a strange place sometimes and one of the strangest of them all is that of real estate and the real estate agents that operate in that area. Over the years we have seen agents who appear to have only one interest – their own. As any sensible person would [...]
Welcome to The Real Estate Briefings Blog. Our goal is to help you find the right home if you are a home buyer and to sell your home to the right buyer if you are a seller. On this blog we’ll discuss different real estate strategies and topics of interest to anyone who has any [...]
