The following Special Stipulations are real. The names of the parties have been changed to avoid embarrassing the agents who are sure to never commit such errors again. Buyer Clara Careful entered into a binding agreement on July 1 to purchase a home through her buyer’s agent, Sally Speedqueen. The home Clara wanted to buy was in “rough” condition and there were several obvious repairs which Clara wanted the seller to complete prior to Clara...

As summer kicks into high gear, we’re all starting to plan our summer projects. If you’re looking to sell your home, you might want to consider adding “working on my front entrance” to your to-do list. From the moment a potential buyer steps through the threshold of your home, you want to do everything you can to excite and impress them. As they always say, first impressions are everything, and sellers could lose a potential sale if their...

“What are your rates today?” This seems like such a simple question. However, there is no simple answer to this seemingly simple question. Interest rates vary greatly based on loan type, loan size, loan term, and lock-in time, region of the county, world markets, bond prices and many other volatile indexes. These factors have a major impact on the movement of interest rates, but this list does not include the most important factor, the specific...

In a perfect world, all sellers would finance the sale of their business and realize the additional financial gain associated with the loan interest. It seems like a great opportunity until the buyer decides not to pay the seller. So what are seller financing pros and cons today? First, most small business owners have an immediate need for the cash or capital generated by the transfer of the business. The seller may be planning to purchase...

It’s billed as the American Dream and yet for some it’s been an all-time American nightmare. Still “the home is central to American life” writes the National Association of Homebuilders in its report titled: Homeownership Works, released earlier this year. Of course the report aims to show how housing is vital not just to homeowners but to the nation’s growth. The publication looks at the contributions that...

It’s 2012, and what’s a better way to start the New Year than saving money! Energy costs continue to rise, and there are many ways to whittle away at those utility bills. Replacing an older furnace, swapping out single-pane windows for more efficient double- or triple-pane models, and considering a move toward solar energy are all ways to make a dramatic difference in your home’s energy consumption, but none comes cheap. While you wrestle with...