Hello & Goodbye – Lenders Selling Loans or “What Happens if my Loan is Sold?”
You're sitting at the closing table, your lender (if you've wisely chosen a good, local lender) is sitting at the table and the attorney tells you that your loan is likely to be been sold by the time you make your first mortgage payment. What? …
The “Quiet Period” of the Residential Real Estate Transaction
I remember well the quiet period, from when I bought my first house ... anxiety, questioning, wondering what I was doing that was inevitably going to screw things up. What is the "quiet period," or the time with little communication just before closing on a…
Who Are the Players in a Real Estate Transaction?
Who are the Players? I have written about the value in assembling the A-Team and I’ve detailed those who touch your loan. I’ve advocated vigorously for using local lenders (here are two). But Who are the players involved in the transaction/real estate experience? Your Agent The person you hire to represent your best…
What’s a Kickout Clause?
From time to time, I'll see a house that's still active on the market (I showed one on Wednesday in fact) but is under contract with a kick out clause. Right now, there are 6 such instances out of 1764 active listings in the Charlottesville…
What is “Usual and Customary” in Charlottesville? – Part 1
Part 1 of 2. What's “normal" in your market may not be (and probably isn't) normal in the Charlottesville real estate market. So what's “normal” in the Charlottesville real estate market? It's a question that's asked of me by buyers coming from other markets…
When Do Homes Close in Charlottesville?
I've always known/believed that homes in Charlottesville (and more real estate markets) close at the end of the month … But I've never looked at the numbers until now. Because I had to look at each day individually as there's no automatic report, I chose…
Difference Between Clients and Customers
Question: What's the difference between a real estate client and a real estate customer? Answer: Quite a bit. I was with a a customer a few weeks ago and and we had an interesting conversation about the differences between a customer and a client. Some…
Why Home Inspections in the Rain are Good for Home Buyers
Why do I like my buyer clients to have home inspections in the rain? (more…)
Pre-Offer Home Inspections – A GREAT Idea
Every real estate market is different; this one has brought more pre-offer inspections than I have ever seen (in part because I'm more comfortable suggesting them to my buyer clients). 1 - Allows for an As-Is Sale 2 - Removes one phase of negotiations from…
When Do Homes Come on the Market in Charlottesville?
"When Do Homes Come on the Market in Charlottesville?" is one of the most common questions I get. Using the data from 2010 for the Charlottesville MSA*, it's clear that homes come on the market in the early part of the year. A bit about…