Answers by David Mount

Sometimes, but not usually. They're more concerned with what market value currently is. Just make sure your listing agent is equipped to be able to confidently speak to buyer's agents about why you're re-listing so soon after buying.

Hey Natalya, make sure your agent runs the comps and shares with you what he or she thinks is a pretty confident range of low to high end of market value for that specific property. Make your offer, even if it seems way lower than the list price. I wouldn't waive contingencies unless you really don't care about them (ie inspection especially). I find that sellers in our area won't give much off the list price just because an inspection or appraisal contingency is waived. I'm local here in Northern VA and work with 20-30 clients a year, so this is from first-hand, local experience. Hope this helps!

One other thing I forgot to mention, a good buyer's agent will email the listing agent with all the pertinent comps and associated reasons for why your offer is at the price that it is. Make sure your offer sounds rational and not just like it's an investor who just wants a steal.

Sounds like there's not much you can do if it's been an investment property since the housing crash (2008 ish?). You'll need to pay the capital gains tax if you want to cash out of it unless you wanted to buy another investment property. But you can't avoid the capital gains tax if you want to use the proceeds to buy a personal residence.

Hi Kelly, it probably won't hurt you at all and *might* help but no guarantees. Now that it's 4 months after your post, I hope your property has sold!! How did it go?

Hi Taryn, it's not "dumb" necessarily. The bigger question is whether you have enough cash available to make the size down payment you'd need to purchase the bigger house that you actually want. If you want some help running the math, just let me know. I'm a local Realtor here in Fairfax, VA.

They don't vary enough between VA and MD to make much of a decision-making difference in my opinion. I'm licensed in Virginia and have team members licensed in Maryland. Given your location is Sterling, I'm assuming those are the states you might be considering. Also, if a house has been on the market a little while and you're the only offer, often you can get the seller to pay for most, if not all, of your closing costs.

Hey Jamie, I hope you've been successful in purchasing your first home by now! If you need any local assistance, I'm a local Realtor based in Fairfax, VA and happy to answer any questions you might have about the local market.