10 “Common” Home Inspection Findings

Most real estate transactions are contingent upon an acceptable home inspection to the buyers satisfaction.  

They can also be contingent on other inspections as well, however, these inspections are not as common as the home inspection.  A qualified and experienced home inspector should find something that could be corrected, upgraded, or repaired in every home that they inspect, even newly built homes!

Just like no man is created equal, no home is created equal and each inspection report will be different.  There are items that are more commonly found during home inspections then others.  We thought it would be helpful to create a top 10 list of the most common home inspection findings that we see inspection after inspection.  This list can help a…

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How to Interview A Realtor When Selling Your Home

When selling your home, choosing the Realtor who will represent your best interests is one of the most important and one of the first steps in the process.

 Unfortunately, many sellers do not understand how important this is or believe that to be the case.  There are specific things that you should expect from your real estate agent when selling your home.

A piece of advice if you are thinking about selling your home, do not hire a Realtor because they are just your friend or because they are a colleagues spouse.  Every Realtor is different, period.  There are many consumers who believe every Realtor is the same and they all do the same things to sell homes, which is the farthest from the truth!  Each Realtor runs their business differently,…

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Home Staging Tips to Captivate Buyers and Win Offers

One of the first things a potential buyer does when searching for their next home is to imagine themselves in that living space.

Unfortunately, a poorly staged home makes it very difficult for potential buyers to project themselves into the property you’ve worked so hard to sell. To help, we’ve created a list of home staging tips and ideas that everyone can use.

Tip # 1: Get Rid of the Clutter

Think of a catalog and imagine what those images look like. They are perfectly staged with no unnecessary clutter. Now, that doesn’t mean having your seller empty cabinets or bookshelves, moving large pieces of furniture, etc. It simply means putting away anything that doesn’t showcase the room – dirty clothes and dishes, kids’ hockey bags, etc. A little…

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5 Negotiating Mistakes Sellers Make

You have decided to put your home on the market with the hope of selling quickly for top dollar.

Those are the goals of all sellers! Unfortunately, listing your home for sale is just the beginning of what could end becoming a long and unpredictable process. One of the keys of home selling that can speed up or slow down the process is the negotiation.

The negotiation is one of the most crucial steps to determine the success of the deal. It has a direct impact on how fast your property sells and how much of a return on investment (if any) you will see. Sellers need to be open-minded as their attitude towards the negotiation process will dictate whether the transaction stalls or moves forward toward closing the sale.

It is important to remember…

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3 Tips to Select a Mortgage Lender

The process for selecting real estate agents and mortgage lenders is often similar, with the main difference being your search will turn up several non-local lenders that may be a good fit for your particular lending needs. Whatever your methodology is, these tips to select a mortgage lender can make the process seem less scary and non-evasive.

It is critical that you have a local real estate agent who knows street-level and regional pricing dynamics in your target neighborhoods intimately. But since mortgage lenders can lend anywhere and mortgage rates and fees are generally the same nationally, non-local lenders claim they can handle your transaction as well as local lenders.

To examine which lender will work best for you, look at 3 of the ways…

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Should Sellers Get a Home Inspection Before Listing

Most buyers understand the importance of getting a home inspection prior to finalizing their new home purchase. Otherwise, they risk potential costly repairs, usually related to the electrical, foundation or any structure that is not visible to the naked eye. After inspections, buyers can negotiate with sellers to come to a fair sale price that covers the cost of damages or agree to repairs prior to closing. Without an inspection, the purchase price does not reflect the potential cost of thousands of dollars needed to achieve a safe, functional dwelling. One of the reasons why fixer-uppers are often on the low end of median home prices in any given region.

Sellers on the other hand can hire an inspector to complete a pre-inspection to ensure their…

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Understanding Real Estate Appraisals..

Understanding Real Estate Appraisals

Understanding how appraisals work will help you achieve a quick and profitable refinance or sale.

When you refinance or sell your home, the lender involved will insist that an appraisal be performed. An appraisal is the process of valuing real property and is simply an opinion of the market value of your home based on what similar homes in your area have sold for in recent months by a licensed appraiser. But what is market value? Market value is the estimated amount for which a property should exchange on the valuation date between a willing buyer and a willing seller in an arm’s length transaction, after proper marketing and where the parties had each acted knowledgeably, prudently and without compulsion.

The…

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Top 10 Reasons Why For Sale By Owners (FSBOs) Fail In Real Estate

A FSBO, also known as a for sale by owner, can easily be described as a homeowner selling their property without the representation of a real estate agent or broker. 

There are many reasons why homeowners attempt to sell their home on their own.  A few of the most popular reasons for FSBOs are they want to save the money that would be spent on real estate commissions or that they feel they don’t need a real estate professional to sell their home.  No matter the reason, according to the National Association of Realtors, less than 10% of FSBOs actually sell.

There are many reasons why FSBOs fail and do not sell.  Whether it is because the FSBO doesn’t understand how to price their home or whether it’s because they don’t know how to screen potential…

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Things Every Seller Should Know About Today's Home Buyers

The internet has changed the way we buy and sell our homes.  

If you're ready to sell your home, here are some things you should understand about today's buyers.

Today's Home Buyers are Informed 

The internet has made it easy to access information about the real estate market.  Home Buyers can and will find out what you paid for your home and when you bought it.  They will know what similar homes have sold for.  With so much information at their fingertips, they will avoid your home if you over-price it.     

Don't Rely on Computer Generated Home Values When Pricing Your Home

Buyers are likely to check the online estimates of your home's value.  Unfortunately, the information they are viewing isn't always accurate, the market changes…

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B.C. housing affordability crisis is regionwide

It’s not just Vancouver residents who are angry and frustrated about increasingly out-of-control housing costs, says an NDP MLA leading the charge on the issue.

The much bigger scope of the problem will be obvious, David Eby says, when people come out to B.C. housing forums he’s organizing for Victoria, Maple Ridge, Surrey and elsewhere that are similar to the one held in Vancouver this week.

“This is a regionwide affordability crisis we’re facing,” said Mr. Eby, whose event for his Vancouver-Point Grey riding Wednesday drew about 600 residents concerned about everything from the lack of rentals to money laundering that is allowing foreign speculators to drive up local housing costs.

“It’s the number one issue in Metro,” he said.

NDP Leader…

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