Blog

What happens when you overprice your home?

by chris dugan


What happens when you overprice your home?

    When the real estate market favors sellers, it’s almost like there’s a feeding frenzy among buyers trying to secure listings that seem to get snapped up within hours of being put on the market.   Such demand drives the prices of homes up rapidly, which only feeds into the perception that the good times will last forever.   Unfortunately, trees don’t grow to the sky and there will always be a top of the market. What this means is that even...

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Why Get Pre-approved? Structuring Your Offer to Get the Best Deal

by chris dugan


Why Get Pre-approved? Structuring Your Offer to Get the Best Deal

    Buying a home is a dream come true, but the process of getting an offer prepared and accepted can be a nightmare if you don’t know what you’re doing.   There are over 80 variables that need to be managed properly when buying a home and mishandling just one of them could cost you tens of thousands of dollars in unnecessary expenses.   Making a home purchase is expensive enough that you don’t need to part ways with any more of your hard-earned...

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Why You Should Have A Home Inspection Before You List

by chris dugan


Why You Should Have A Home Inspection Before You List

        One of the largest home sale killers is the home inspection.   Nearly one-third of all terminated real estate contracts fell apart because of the inspection results. Inspections also ranked as the number three cause of delayed settlements, accounting for 13 percent.   For some reason - and I’ll never get it - a home inspection that comes back with anything less than a perfect report strikes fear into the hearts of buyer agents and home...

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10 questions you must ask an agent before you list your home

by chris dugan


10 questions you must ask an agent before you list your home

Currently, there are over 1.3 million Realtors in the United States alone. The number of people that have joined the real estate sales force over the last 10 years is staggering.   No two agents are the same and less than 10% of the total number of Realtors to 90% of the business.   In addition to that, not all agents are created equally. Many of them don’t get you the best results for your specific needs.   In 2017 — one of the hottest markets in recent history...

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How to beat other buyers to hot, new listings (Before they even know about them)

by chris dugan


How to beat other buyers to hot, new listings (Before they even know about them)

    Buyers want three things when they’re making a purchase:   Selection: Have the largest number of options from which to choose Price: Get a smoking hot deal on what I want to buy Ease of doing business: Don’t make it hard for me to buy it   It doesn’t matter if you’re buying shoes, a toaster or a house, all three of them matter and they usually matter in that order.   And when it comes to buying a home,...

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When is the Best Season of the Year to Buy to get the Best Deal

by chris dugan


When is the Best Season of the Year to Buy to get the Best Deal

    Since the market meltdown in 2008, the US housing market has rebounded dramatically. In fact, even if you purchased a property at the lowest point of the market crash and held onto it until today, your home would have appreciated by roughly 25 percent. What’s even better news is that It’s expected that the housing market will continue to climb in the future due to the changes that were made in the lending market coming out of the mortgage debacle.  Plus,...

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How much you should put down to purchase your new home?

by chris dugan


How much you should put down to purchase your new home?

      Historically, home buyers seek to put down 20% when they purchase a home.  However, according to a recent survey by The National Association of Realtors (NAR), the actual national average is much closer to 10%. When it comes to first-time homebuyers, the average down payment is at 4% as per the same survey. While down payment requirements vary based on the lender you choose to work with, the amount required will usually depend on your credit score and your...

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Why You Should Get a Home Warranty When You List Your Home

by chris dugan


Why You Should Get a Home Warranty When You List Your Home

    Home warranties aren’t just for buyers anymore. In the past, buyers have asked sellers to pay for a home warranty to give the them a year of protection after it sells on roughly 16 major systems in the house including things like the electrical system, appliances, hot water heater, furnace, etc. Overall, it makes sense because the first time claim on a home warranty for most buyers runs around $1,100 - $1,200 including the $75 deductible that comes with making the...

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How to get qualified to purchase a home for no money down

by chris dugan


How to get qualified to purchase a home for no money down

      Even with all the insanity that happened during the mortgage meltdown and all the changes that resulted in how money would now be lent to buyers, there are still some amazingly affordable loan programs out there.   Included among them, believe it or not, are no-money-down options for buying a home.   Here are some of the best programs that are out there today and how you need to get qualified to purchase a home using them to buy a home for no money...

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How to get the home with the furniture included

by chris dugan


How to get the home with the furniture included

    So you like the dining room table in the house you want to buy, but your agent tells you it’s not included with the sale.   What do you do?   In short, you ask for it. Well, you negotiate it as part of your offer to purchase the home from the seller.    To effectively get the home you want with the furniture included, you should identify in advance any furniture that you are interested in buying and let the seller (or your agent) know...

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