Collaborating with the GHREB

We enjoy writing this blog. It’s an outlet to share our knowledge with a diverse reader base, exercise some creativity, and have a conversation with the Greater Hartford community about real estate. Lots of different people read this blog; folks curious about real estate in general, those thinking about buying or selling a home, newspaper and TV reporters, other real estate agents, and an occassional friend or relative. Most of the feedback we get about

Remodeling Cost versus Value

The November 2009 issue of Remodeling Magazine included the 22nd edition of their annual report about the financial impact of various home improvement projects. They look at both midrange and upscale projects, and hit on all the major renovations, calculating the percentage of the cost that could be recovered in a sale. Data is broken down by region and even by major cities within a region. I was excited to discover that Hartford is one

Getting Sellers to Pay Your Closing Costs

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

Real Estate Stories of the Past Couple Weeks

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

Welcoming 2010

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