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What You Must Know About Insurance When Buying a Home

October 17, 2014

in Home Buying Guide, Home Insurance | Tagged , , , ,

Purchasing a home involves getting to know a lot of financial terms and processes that most first-time homebuyers have never been exposed to. One of the most confusing is insurance. If you’ve never owned a home before, your familiarity with insurance most likely centers around auto insurance, health insurance, life insurance and, perhaps, renter’s insurance. […]

What to Look for When Buying an Older Home

September 26, 2014

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Anyone who has visited San Francisco or Cape May, New Jersey knows how beautiful historic architecture can be. In San Francisco, they’ve even named their stately, restored Victorian homes “Painted Ladies.” But, are these older homes good buys? Considering that most of a home’s components deteriorate with age, you may be not only buying a […]

Avoid These 5 First-Time Homebuyer Mistakes

August 29, 2014

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According to the dictionary, a mistake is an error resulting from deficient knowledge or carelessness. While we can’t do anything about carelessness, when it comes to counseling first-time homebuyers, it’s up to the real estate agent to cure any deficiency in knowledge. That homebuyers lack knowledge about the process only makes sense when you understand […]

3 Tips for Moving With Kids

July 18, 2014

in Home Buying Guide, Job Relocation, Tips When Selling a Home | Tagged , , ,

If ogres are like onions, so is moving. As Shrek says, “They both have layers.” Moving is complex. Add a layer of children and it becomes even more challenging. Some of their anxieties and fears over relocating may seem petty to adults, but they are nevertheless real. You could probably tell your children they are […]

Are You Ready to Move Up?

July 4, 2014

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Houses are a little like the clothes you buy your kids – they get outgrown. It doesn’t happen quite as frequently as your child needs new shoes, but at some point, the house you bought pre-family won’t fit anymore, and you may start entertaining thoughts of moving up. It’s easy to imagine that if you […]

3 Things to Consider Before Buying a Town House

June 20, 2014

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Have you ever noticed how the terms “town house” and “condo” are sometimes used interchangeably? This is most likely because both types of housing structures may be governed by homeowners associations. That, however, is where the similarity between the two ends. Conflating condos with town houses is akin to comparing apples and oranges. When most […]

Writing a Home-Offer Letter – Is It a Good Idea?

June 13, 2014

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The most important letter you’ll submit to a home seller is the one you’ll get from your lender stating that you are preapproved for a mortgage. Savvy listing agents will counsel their clients to refuse offers from unapproved buyers, so all the flowery prose of a home-offer letter will mean nothing without loan preapproval. Assuming […]

How to Avoid Buying a Money Pit

May 30, 2014

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There’s an old saying that a boat is nothing more than a hole in the water that you pour your money into. Boats are expensive – from the purchase to the ongoing maintenance – and boat owners throw a lot of money into that hole. If that’s true, then it’s easy to imagine a house […]

Suburban, Urban or Rural: Which is Right for You?

May 23, 2014

in Home Buying Guide, Regional Real Estate Tips | Tagged , , , ,

If you’re unfettered by a particular job in a particular locale, deciding where to live isn’t as easy as it may seem. Often, a battle ensues between our heads and our hearts. And the real estate mantra of “location, location, location” does nothing to help us decide which location we might prefer – the city, suburbs […]

What is a Contingency?

May 2, 2014

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Think of the word “contingency” as akin to “if.” When a homebuyer signs a contract agreeing to the purchase of a home, she is saying, “I agree to purchase this home for this amount of money if …” The “if” is the contingency. Contingencies are those items that must come to pass before the sale […]