Answers by Keith Jean Pierre

Good old saying, Bird in the hand. If the property was actually priced correctly when compared to the comps in the immediate neighborhood, run and take the offer. I have seen WAY too many clients that think a fast offer is a bad thing, only to end up taking significantly less at a much later timeframe.

Just keep in mind, every time you refinance, you reset the clock. Sadly this is something that people tend to forget each time as our society has become a monthly payment society vs a debt-free society. There are also many calculators online that allow you to determine if it makes sense to refinance.

Home Warranty is your best play here. You can even extend after a year with a few companies now. Also sometimes your utility companies offer a warranty options as well for a small monthly cost.

The most important thing I tell my clients to do is to do inspections in every stage. You want to make sure everything behind the walls was done properly.

Look can look at past historical data on some of the major real estate websites. Also you can have a competent agent run an MLS report for you as well.

This has been pretty helpful for a number of my clients: https://www.mysmartmove.com/blog/9-must-know-tips-new-landlords

It will affect your Debt to Income Ratio.

Put yourself in the buyer's shoes, would you look at a house that did not present itself in the best possible light? Photos are the first thing the potential buyer is going to see. If those are horrible, then you have a much lower chance of selling for your desired figure. And the fact that photography is so inexpensive in relation to the value these days, I have no idea why I still see some agents or homeowners doing it themselves. If I see a homeowner or agent in a bathroom photo, I know they have no idea what they are doing and can probably negotiate a great deal for my client or myself.

The good old saying of you get what you pay for holds true here.

There seems to be some important information missing here. Most importantly, is your husband still alive?

Given that there are no current issues, the seller is not obligated to offer any credits. You can ask, but honestly don't expect much. I always instruct my sellers, when negotiating home inspection issues, if it was visible when they toured the house, you don't NEED to offer a credit; especially if it was mentioned in the Sellers Disclosure.

Depends on what you are looking to use it for to be fair and how much risk you want to inherit so to speak.

Escalation clauses, if done properly, are a true asset. When I have a client win an offer while using an escalation clause, I require proof of the second highest offer.

This is unfortunately the downside of fluctuating rates. Also keep in mind, this can happen during the qualifying process as well if the period before purchasing and finding a home is a long period. Those expiration dates on those pre-approval letters are being held more stringently more and more these days.

If your market is heavy on Airbnbs, there is the option to market to those individuals looking for investment property.

Two weeks is WAYYYY too long. You will loose the momentum. As a person that does this with about 25% of his listings in 4 states; this is a bad idea. Never longer than a week.

Little reductions will kill you. If you discount a $500,000 home, say $3,000, yes it shows as a discount on the major sites to capture the eye, but when the consumer actually reviews it, and sees that it’s not significant, they tend to dismiss it. Consumers operate in brackets, meaning they shop up to their next price point. If your home is say, $495,000, they will shop up to $500,000. If you price at $505,000 but are willing to accept $495,000, they most likely won't see you. In this specific price range, a reduction of a minimum of $10,000 would be recommended and ideally $25,000.

Zillow is the number one website for these, and they used to be very highly rated, but as time has progressed, the consumer has realized that these values are terribly inaccurate. The only time I ever have someone site an internet estimate these days are people that have lived in their home for 20+ years and are not very in tune with the market

You can search sites like this, Zillow and Realtor.com for agents in your market that can assist.

Conventionally speaking, investments that people cannot "see" don't tend to carry the same financial return as "visual" enhancements. Doing this 20+ years, the new kitchen or bathroom has always brought more consumers in than the brand-new hot water heater or furnace.

Each market is different. 3 out of the 4 markets we operate in wouldn't even get 25% of that back. Florida is the exception but even then, $70,000 is steep unless the property is of major significance.

There are forms online that can show you estimates of breakdowns.

HOAs are how condo communities tend to function as well as some single-family communities. They handle anything from general maintenance to exterior property insurance, and everything between. Unfortunately, you are not able to opt-out and if there is a fear of increased HOA fees in the future, I would highly consider looking at properties that are not in an HOA. It is not uncommon for budget deficiencies or unexpected repairs to raise your monthly HOA fees significantly.

Zillow, Realtor.com, Homes.com & Craigslist should be good starts. That will give you a massive overview of the market and what is available.

The most common issue will be a buy out if this goes south, where one of you has to buy the other out, find a replacement person to take over, or sell the property.

We have had this arise many times in deals across the country. Most of our clients end up purchasing the property assuming it passes a home inspection and then only worrying about it when they go to resell the home. Many townships are rather understanding and if things need to be truly rectified, living in a home for 10 or 20 years with the feature tends to outweigh the remediation costs the township would require.

Yes assuming that you have enough equity in your current home to do so.

The best place to start would be to have a financial review and then determine where the best place is for the recently inherited funds.

Simply knock on their door on a nice day, I have found this to be the easiest way to do it. Very rarely do I have a negative reaction.

A co-op will run your financials so there is a chance this will be an issue.

Unfortunately, outside of reviewing the current HOA financials, there is no sure-fire way to determine if the HOA fees will ever increase. I always tell our clients that have this fear to plan for them to go up 50% over the next 5 years as a worst-case scenario.

More details would be necessary as "creepy" could be anything from weird noises to someone passing away. There are different disclosure laws in different states.

Rose Bushes are like a fixture inside of your home, an exclusion notation would be required to do so.

Usually there is a "Clear" feature which allows you to transfer or delete your information. If not, you can always replace the system with a new one.

Depends on the condition of the repairs and condition of the home currently.

More details would be required to properly answer this question; such as your current financial situation, comfort level, etc.

You do not "need" to replace the carpet, but the newer carpet will definitely draw the eye as opposed to "bad" carpeting. The happy medium, if it is still very usable would be to get a good steam cleaning done.

The key detail missing from this story is whether or not you signed a buyers agency representation agreement with this agent. That is going to determine your next move.

Dual agency seems to be accepted in your state so this is possible. This is absolutely normal. The major question is, has your agent given you any indication that she is not trustworthy? If not, I would say you should go for it, especially given it is the only offer currently on the table.

Definitely a little odd given on the context in this statement. I assume this is on the purchase side. I learned early on in this business, some things are better to not be further discussed. Me personally, I would not mention it again unless she does and then ask for further clarification at that point. People are people and as a result, things like this sometimes happen that are really not explainable.

Having a very specific timeframe for departure when selling a house is a difficult challenge as it rarely lines up perfectly. Your two best options are to wait until it is closer to your timeframe, but then you run the risk of not selling in time or selling now and then asking for a rent back until your desired timeframe. Best of luck with the move!

Typically buyers are present, especially if it is their first home. Not required, but typical.

Ask your inspector to be upfront with you. Typically, during the home inspection, he is going to show you things to be aware of. It will be very obvious if the home is in severe disrepair.

Go around with the inspector, good inspectors tend to point things out to you that they think you should be aware of.

Pay attention to your inspector during the home inspection.

This is really personal choice. The benefits are that homes on main roads tend to be cheaper and have easy access, but the cons are lower resale and possibly alienating certain types of buyers, for example, ones with kids. Best of luck!

You can always do a hard money loan but the rate will usually be twice the market rate and that is a temporary solution you will need to refinance out of shortly after.

To you no, but to resale it might be an issue as homes in better school districts tend to sell higher than properties that aren't.

Seems like the police intervention was the proper move. Outside of speaking to the broker of the real estate firm, you have conducted the proper moves.

A GOOD home warranty tends to be worth it for older homes.