From the monthly archives:

March 2006

2 Questions to Ask When Shopping for a New Condo

March 31, 2006

Thinking about buying a new condo? Here are 2 questions to ask that may save your some surprises and grief.
First ask, “Are the condos warrantable?”
A condo being warrantable means that there is less risk for your mortgage company and thus you’ll pay a lower interest rate. A condo being non-warrantable can be caused by only [...]

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Should a Listing Agent be at Showings?

March 29, 2006

On Sunday I was talking with my friend, John, who’s a REALTOR® in the city. I brought up how home showings in the city are different from showings in the suburbs. Typically in the city, the listing agent is present when a buyer’s agent shows a home to a buyer. Listing agents are typically [...]

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2 Bedroom Condos in Edgewater

March 28, 2006

Today I showed a buyer 2 bedroom condos in the Rogers Park and Edgewater areas of Chicago and in the suburb of Oak Park. I won’t spend much time on the condos in Rogers Park since I wrote about Rogers Park on Friday. There were several nice choices. I was impressed by the sound [...]

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Verify, Verify, Verify

March 26, 2006

This morning I received an e-mail from a friend with a touching essay titled, “The Paradox of Our Time”, by George Carlin. I enjoyed reading the piece and thought about posting it here to share with you. However, since it was written by someone else, I thought I would verify it first. I’m glad I [...]

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Jealousy in Rogers Park

March 24, 2006

Today I showed high-end 3 bedroom condos in the Rogers Park area of Chicago. Rogers Park is just south of Evanston. My buyer submitted an offer. I am feeling a bit jealous of her. Assuming the sale the goes through, she’ll get to walk just 2 blocks to Lake Michigan from her new home. She’ll [...]

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Don’t Be Afraid to Question a Mortgage Pre-Approval

March 23, 2006

I presented an offer to one of my sellers today. I would have presented it yesterday, but the offer arrived with no mortgage pre-approval. I politely explained to the buyer’s agent that it would be too big a risk for my sellers to proceed on an offer with no proof that the buyer can qualify [...]

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Let’s Have More Truth in Advertising

March 21, 2006

I showed a buyer 8 houses in the Norwood Park area of Chicago today. We were both disappointed. Partially, I think, because the homes were so attractively described on the MLS sheets. Here are some phrases from the descriptions and what we actually found:
Quality built – The house had plastic tiles in the kitchen. A [...]

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Help for Deciding on a Home Purchase

March 19, 2006

This morning’s Chicago Tribune has a good article for home buyers, but it wasn’t in the real estate section. According to the article by Lisa Anderson, “In a recent issue of the prestigious journal Science, Dutch researchers reported that the more complicated the decision, such as pondering the acquisition of a house or a [...]

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Don’t Make it Difficult for Your REALTOR® to Sell Your Home

March 18, 2006

This morning I took photos of houses in the Norwood Park area of Chicago for some out-of-state buyers. I wanted to take photos of an attractive Georgian house that’s been on the market over 180 days. However, the sellers made it impossible.
First, I called the listing agent early yesterday afternoon. I noticed on the [...]

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Credit Scores Get New Calculation

March 17, 2006

Sorry I haven’t posted the last 3 days. I was out of town helping my dad celebrate his 79th birthday.
The 3 major credit reporting agencies are implementing a new way of calculating credit scores that is supposed to be easier to understand. Read “A New Look For Credit Scores” on npr.org (National Public Radio).
Thanks go [...]

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