When I wrote for Boston.com, I got this question: How does a buyer figure out which problems common in “compromise” houses are fixable and which should signal the call “run away! How can buyers in a price bracket (say $50k wide) maximize their housing purchase – are there solutions to problems that are common in
A problem is not infinite if the house could be torn down and rebuilt. But who wants to do that? Some house problems are not finite; but “infinite” is not the right term. What would be an infinite problem? There are some houses that never should have been built. They cannot be leveled and another
In the process of choosing a house or condo to buy, house-hunters find themselves in a lot of old houses. Some are totally renovated. Some have been repaired along the way. For recent renovations, look at both the materials and quality of the installation. With a maintained house, look for the quality of the repairs,
How does a seller’s market end? A seller-favoring market exists when there is more demand for housing than supply. Since about 2012 or 2013, buyers found fewer properties for sale than they did during the recession (when foreclosures added to the number of houses and condos for sale.) Limited supply created the seller-favoring market we’ve
If you are only vaguely curious, the simple answer to the question in the title is about $15,000, according to Daily Finance. When my client asked me about this, I decided it was time to do some checking. In a national study, the answer was qualified with more data. All PV (photovoltaic) systems are not
Attention Happy Homeowners! Time to learn some basic carpentry from Leah at See Jane Drill. Here’s the video: (link) https://youtu.be/IMZI5-P8TWQ Table of contents: How to prevent spontaneous combustion. (Really, this is a thing. Not just something that happens to Spinal Tap drummers!) How to determine if something is plumb, level, and square. How
Almost all of the data designed for marketing is, well, marketing. It is designed to give consumers a sense of urgency, so they will buy and sell. A former client wrote me: Hey Rona, Hope you are well. Do these numbers look accurate to you? -J. Are the numbers accurate? Yes. A licensed real estate agent
Did your buyer's agent tell you to waive home inspection in order to be more competitive? We don't recommend that, ever! We want to you know what to expect, in terms of care and maintenance on this high-priced investment you are making. With average sales well over $600,000 in most areas we work in, we
We recommend that house hunters choose an attorney and an inspector (and a back-up for each) early in the house hunting process. That way, when you find a house and start making offer, you are not scrambling to interview attorneys and inspectors during a busy week. You need to know what they are going to
I’m curious about houses. Wherever I go, I wonder why they are built the way they are. I can’t turn off my inner house-nerd, even when I go on vacation. You can call this post: “House nerd on vacation.” Roofs Almost as soon as I arrived in Key West, I noticed that all the roofs