Many new buyers are intrigued by new or newer (say built since 1995) construction. Looking at older homes depresses them because they often need updating or don’t have more modern layouts with open floor plans and family rooms. Some buyers don’t want to take the time or have the money to put in updates immediately, so they lean towards newer construction in their search. I’ve even come across a few buyers that believe older homes
In more than half of the buyer transactions I represented last year, my buyer clients decided to ask the sellers to pay a portion or all of their closing costs. We’ve talked about Financing Closing Costs before. Some buyers ask sellers to cover these costs for them, as the buyer is trying to maximize their downpayment or conserve the amount of cash they will have left over after the transaction. Deciding to ask a seller
There have been a number of interesting articles about real estate in the financial press over the past couple weeks. Here’s a quick wrap-up of what you may have missed while you were off for the holidays… Wall Street Journal, December 23rd: Data from the National Association of Realtors shows that Home Sales, Prices Brighten (subscription required). Though the current data is positive, the author expresses concern about “a continuing flood of foreclosures and the
Don’t worry, we still exist! 🙂 December was a refresh and recharge (and work) month for us, so we decided to leave the blog alone for a bit, as we figured most of you had other things to be doing too. We were doing real estate during the month though, of varying degrees of importance. I received several calls from people that are thinking about selling their homes this spring, so I’ve started meeting with
For last month’s market statistics post, I made this statement…”It will be interesting to see the results of November, as I feel they will also show an increase over last year as people try to jam in their closing by the November 30 $8,000 first time buyer tax credit deadline.” This was of course before we knew that they would be extending the first time buyer credit beyond November. So how did the closing numbers