When selling residential real estate, there’s no escaping all sorts of inspections—home inspections, pest and fungus, septic, well, soil, roof, and more. Streamlining this process not only speeds up the sale, it can be the difference between a sale that closes and one the falls apart. When you get inspections up...
The two biggest buyers of home loans just increased their fee on refinanced loans by a half of a percentage point, thereby reducing the price they’ll pay lenders for those loans. This will make home loans a bit more expensive for borrowers as lenders pass on that fee. This got...
Spring is a wonderful time to sell your house. The sun is out. Flowers are blooming. And especially this spring, people are ready to do something other than stay at home. Smart sellers are preparing to put their houses on the market. If you want your house to stand out...
Owning a home can be costly in the best of times, so there’s no reason to waste money on expensive mistakes. Here are a few to avoid. No Building Permit If you plan to undertake major repairs or structural improvements to your home, you will undoubtedly need a permit to do so...
Right now, people who want to sell their current home and buy a different one find themselves in a bit of a quandary. The market is hot and residential properties are selling like hot cakes, so sellers are understandably eager to get their property on the market. However, what do...
I recently received an email from a reader asking about how to deal with a big, corporate landlord in another state giving smaller, more responsive landlords a bad name. Unfortunately, there are bad apples in every profession, be they police officers, teachers, lawyers, politicians, and even real estate agents. Having...
The pandemic has put many people in the mood to renovate their homes. Between spending way more time at home and not being able to spend money on traditional entertainment such as travel, sports, shows, and fine dining, homeowners are wondering whether now is the time for that new pool,...
As if historic droughts, seasonal wildfires, and a pandemic aren’t enough, pests have decided to join the fray. Rodents have come in from the less inhabited parts of Mendocino County to take advantage of all the food, water, and shelter humans have to offer. I know this because until recently, my...
I recently ran across an interesting article about some of the challenges millennials face when it comes to buying their first homes; one of the biggest challenges is their own misconceptions about what it takes. Millennials were born in the 1980s and early ‘90s, so they are mostly in their 30s...
If you’re thinking of buying a house (or a car, or a business, or anything else that requires a loan), be aware that lenders will use your credit score to determine whether to make the loan, how much to lend, and cost of the loan. Because credit scores consider so many...
