Home sellers generally have several reasons to sell. When is it a good time to sell? When you have a good reason to sell. Often spouses or partners are split over ... Read More

Should you worry about protecting privacy while your home is for sale? You bet. My late father-in-law, a journalist at the Chicago Sun Times, used to refer to himself as a ... Read More

You don't make your first mortgage payment at closing. But you do pay everything else at closing. In California, it is customary for the buyer to pay for an appraisal in ... Read More

If you owe more than your home is worth, you may still be able to sell it on a short sale and get out from under that debt. Short sales are ... Read More

More and more investment brokers are now advising groups of buyers to purchase property as tenants in common, bypassing traditional methods — such as forming limited partnerships or corporations — ... Read More

How do you know if you're ready to be a home buyer? For starters, most buyers spend a lot of time thinking about their dream home. They know how many bedrooms ... Read More

Retirement isn't the only reason to get a reverse mortgage. Some home owners take out reverse mortgages to pay off debt, make repairs or go on a vacation. Others get ... Read More

Discount brokers typically charge less than full-service brokers. Most home buyers and sellers are interested in saving money. Discount brokers offer lower prices. But with those lower prices generally come ... Read More

Many home buyers and buyer's agents are complaining that REO agents don't call back. It's hard for a prospective home buyer to fathom why REO agents rarely return telephone calls. Usually ... Read More

It's not unusual for a seller to insist on selling contingent, subject to buying a new home. Last week we discussed contracts contingent on the buyer selling a home. But ... Read More

A buyer for one of my listings hired such a bad home inspector that the guy couldn't tell the difference between a flood line on the wall and a paint ... Read More

Waiting for short sale approval can be agonizing, especially for first-time home buyers. Some banks such as Countrywide, for example, move files through a minimum of two phases. During the first ... Read More

When I bought my first house under the buy, fix and sell concept, I didn’t know the difference between a framing hammer or a ball-peen hammer. My hammer was actually ... Read More