There's a new scam in town. It is the child of an old scam. It is very lucrative for the perpetrators, until they get caught. Here's how it goes: Unsecured emails have been tapped by the evil-doers. The perps write to the buyers, just before closing, from the email address of their agent, lender, or
Mortgage pre-approval is needed in order to make an Offer in our area. Anyone without one appears disorganized, at best, and is likely to be written off by a seller as not worthy of consideration, at worst. The first question from a seller or seller's agent about an offer is "How much?" The second is
We have a client who bought in a condo association a couple of years ago. He wrote me about the rules for running his association correctly, in terms of reserve funds. His place is in a six unit association, but I also found out what is expected for the more typical two-unit and three-unit condos
Q: What does an exclusive buyer’s agent know about the work of a seller’s agent? A: Almost everything. What does a good agent do? Pricing: In the current — seller-favoring – market, housing that is slightly underpriced is getting the highest sale price. It takes a skilled agent to find that asking price. If it
In summer, my heating system is set to 55 degrees. Yes. I am a wimp. I do not want to wake up some night in August because I am cold. When it becomes “autumn,” the temperature gets cold enough to start running the program on the thermostat because it could be below 55 degrees any
How well do exclusive buyer’s agents do, in the face of a tough seller’s market? Here are results for the hardest seller’s market we have faced, ever! Our report card for the first three quarters of 2015: No clients waived their home inspections in order to buy a house. No clients waived mortgage contingency unless
Merry Christmas to all Christian house-hunters. Mary, Mother of Jesus, can be seen in yards throughout the region. On December 13, I ran into this pretty Mother in front of an open house. She was a well-maintained pious statue in front of a house that was in generally poor condition. This Blessed Mother is considered
When there is a yellow sticker like this on a hot water heater, it means that the unit has been replaced under warranty. That's good news, right? Wrong. If the unit was replaced, there is no warranty on the replacement unit. If you buy this house, you will not get a new hot water heater
Merry Christmas to Frosty and his twin. Old asbestos-covered boilers are nicknamed "Snowmen" here in New England. These boilers were installed in local houses until the early 1960s. Many have been around so long that they used to burn coal and were later adapted to burn oil or gas. Over the years, I see fewer
This is one of my favorite home inspector experiences of the year. It started at the house visit. At that tour, there was an insulation that looked different than I am used to. My client was concerned that it was vermiculite. I didn’t think so. I’ve seen vermiculite and it is more rock-like than this.