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With our healthy real estate market, many sellers realize they will receive a decent amount of money when they sell their home.  If you are single, you can potentially exclude paying taxes on up to $250,000 of capital gains profit.  If you are married and file a joint return with your spouse, you can exclude […]

So you found a perfect home for $250,000 which is well under the $300,000 loan amount the lender preapproved you for.  The seller accepted your offer and the home inspection turned out great.  The lender asked for updated financial statements now that you are under contract.  And, out of nowhere, they disapprove your loan! What […]

Purchasing a home is a very complex financial transaction.  There are many factors to consider to ensure the transaction closes successfully.  These basic principles still apply even in the slower winter months. Your loan officer may have “preapproved” you for a home loan this past summer.  But, keep in mind that the lender will still […]

A lot of buyers try to avoid purchasing a home that has a homeowner’s association (HOA) to avoid the monthly dues and because they feel the covenants, conditions, and restrictions (CCRs) can make life difficult.  But, there are actually benefits to having an HOA. Often buyers think that if a neighborhood has CCRs, there is […]

Many people are asking if this is a good time to sell their home.  Try taking a macro view and ask yourself…should you even sell your home in the first place? Here is some background information about me.  I purchased my first home in 1994 when I was first stationed at McChord AFB.  I paid […]

It is still a competitive seller’s market out there.  It is really difficult to negotiate with sellers when there is so much competition from other buyers.  It is even more difficult to negotiate with builders selling new homes.  They have a steady stream of homes they are trying to sell.  The last thing they want […]

Everyone loves looking up their home on Zillow or Redfin to see the estimates of their property’s value.  How accurate are these estimates?  These websites use algorithms based on recent sales of similar properties to calculate this value.  This is similar to the Kelly Blue Book that lists an estimated value for your car based […]

It is important that you know how much home you can afford.  There is an ambitious (high) value and a realistic (low) value.  Your final answer is somewhere in the middle. The ambitious way to view this is the maximum amount the lender will loan to you.  This is based on a ratio of how […]

Many sellers think their ownership responsibilities are over once they sign their closing documents.  This is not true.  The buyer becomes the legal owner when the county transfers the property deed from the seller to the buyer.  If you sign closing documents the morning of closing day, this transfer will probably happen within a matter […]

A real estate transaction is a very complex transaction with many moving parts.  There are many things that can derail a transaction.  Sometimes a serious issue can emerge and the best course of action is to walk away from the transaction.  An example of this may be realizing there is a foundation issue that will […]