Answers by Keith Jean Pierre

HOAs are the major difference between the two, followed by "stacked" living which can sometimes result in hearing your neighbors. The benefits of condos are that you typically don't have to worry about the exterior (unless fee-simple) and they are cheaper in terms of cost. The cons tend to be the HOAs fees if they raise exponentially and the sound of neighbors / lack of private space. I personally do not like the risk of HOAs so I tend to avoid condos if I can. I also like having a front and backyard, along with some private space.

Turkey vs fixer upper is a personal choice. A turkey home always comes at a premium price vs a fixer upper, but a fixer upper has the ability to customize to your desire but does require you to have the funds to do the repairs as you can't write it directly into your mortgage in most cases.

There is always the option of refinancing after purchase if you are waiting for rates to drop.

You can ask your agent to run the comps for you, which they already should be doing if you are drafting an offer

Zestimates do not see the interior of a home, and only uses exterior data and tax record data such as square footage and number of bedrooms/bathrooms. It can give you a ballpark, but it cannot hone in on exact value. I have regular occasions of their data being off by 10% or more. It's also ironic that when you list a home, the Zestimate changes almost immediately to a number relatively close to the list price of the home.

This is just the new normal in my opinion. Inventory isn't getting better any time soon sadly.

Not knowing how the process works will definitely put you at a significant disadvantage.

Cost effective renovations always produce a return if done properly and also allow the home to sell faster. You must also keep in mind, homebuyers, especially first-time homebuyers, do not have the capital for renovations typically so they like the fact that they can write everything into a mortgage if the home is already done.

You can sell yourself but not knowing how the process works can put you at a significant disadvantage.

Making an offer on a foreclosure is not an easy task if it is not publicly listed. Banks have a process that they rarely deviate from and use REO agents. In 99% of these cases you would have to wait until the home is listed.

I always tell my clients that seller financing should always be a last resort due to the monumental risk if things go wrong. I would highly suggest a traditional sale with an aggressive launch campaign to get the momentum going.

Waiting for rates to drop is not the smartest thing to do in this market as there is no guarantee there will be any significant changes and you might end up waiting for longer than 2027. Given you have been on the market for 45 days with no traction, there is a 99% chance this is price related. Evaluate the comps aggressively and price appropriately.

Yes this is legal. Homes that are not offering a buyers compensation tend to sit on the market longer and have less traction / momentum.

Unless there is a SIGNIFICANT increase in inventory in your particular market, there would not be any measurable difference in pricing.

Bird in the hand is always better than two in the bush. If the property is priced properly and on par with the comparables, take it and run. Greed tends to lead to demise more often than not and the first offer statistically speaking tends to always be the best one.

This would be based on your specific use case. If you run the financials and you are comfortable doing so, go for it. Life is short!

Upgrades, upgrades, upgrades. That is most dangerous game. Also, builder upgrades have crazy margins for the developer. You can typically get the items done for significantly less cost but you are not able to write it into your mortgage if you go that avenue.

Not necessarily, but I would definitely do my own due diligence. I would suggest and OPRA request with the township and a comprehensive and thorough home inspection.

Not required but anything less than 20% down requires PMI Insurance which can exponentially increase your payment and is now for the life of the loan requiring refinancing to remove.

Highly recommended to do so.

The buyer rarely pays their own agent, it is almost always written into the contract. Selling a home without offering a buyers side compensation will significantly reduce the traction at your home.

It is up to the buyer and seller to come to terms on an agreement or the deal terminates. Typically, the buyer will foot the difference, or the buyers/seller split it in some sort of percentage; ideally 50/50.

If you feel your property is priced to high, why not have a conversation with your agent about a reduction?

There is usually an escrow (security deposit) held in this case so typically the risk is no more than a traditional lease. I would even argue it is less risk as they were the previous homeowners and have a vested interest in the property.

March to July is the hot market with August being the carry over month.

A seller can always back out, the issue is at what stage. Late stage termination can have them remain liable for damages if a lawsuit were to take place.

Yes, typically a mortgage company will want to see a payment plan. More people owe taxes than you think, this is another standard monthly payment situation that would appear like a credit card payment or car payment in your Debt to Income ratio calculation.

Yes, the payments will be counted in your Debt to Income Ratio, just like a car payment or credit card payment would.

All depends on your comfort level of course, but a minimum of $100,000 should be possible with no other outstanding debt. Keep in mind property taxes and HOA fees (if applicable) will also be factored in. I would suggest speaking to a mortgage professional for a better idea of where you stand.

Typically bad credit which usually comes from payment defaults and insufficient income.

Depends on your situation but if you plan to remain somewhere long term, purchasing tends to be the better play over the long term

More than one home inspection is not typical. Just hire a qualified thorough home inspector and you should be fine.

Living in the house while renting out rooms or the other apartment / side / duplex (in multi-family homes).

Typically, you obtain proper estimates from licensed contractors and then make the determination from there.

In most instances, there is no significant difference between the two.

https://msc.fema.gov/portal/search

Unless you are well versed in the process, I would not recommend doing this as photos these days can misrepresent properties. We have buyers and sellers we deal with all over the world and this is not abnormal to us, but we have seen several occasions where the buyer will thinks rooms were larger or smaller than represented, etc.

If you are not handy and want to purchase a fixer upper, I hope you have a bunch of good contractors lined up to assist with the tasks. It can get overwhelming and VERY expensive very quickly.

I would suggest and iron-clad agreement for it this goes south with contingency plans in place. Typically, this will require one of you buying out the other if this goes south.

Decent deal but no long-term benefit.

99% of the time this is not possible unfortunately.

You can but keep in mind there are tax liabilities to do so.

Post closing.

You do not have to pay the buy-side commission any longer but if you do not have a buy-side offering, you are going to have significantly less traction in terms of offers on your property as most buyers are not looking to pay the compensation to their agent.

This is a case by case basis, but yes there are several companies out there doing these types of mailings.

In your case not doing the repairs to those items will prevent an FHA buyer from purchasing and possibly a conventional buyer as well depending on their mortgage company and appraisal.

To be honest, it depends on what works best for you. I always tell our clients cash is king and removes a lot of the traditional risk, but cash offers tend to be on the lower scale as they know what they have is rare. If you can get a cash offer that is market value, that is my go to.

Our team typically does a pre-list home inspection as part of our listing package as we like to know what to expect. I personally think this is a great idea.

AI staging has gotten better but traditional staging is still far superior as you can tell quite often that AI staging was done and in many instances it can look subpar.

Speaking to a lending professional would be a good step in the right direction.