Yesterday I had a closing for a Lakeview condo that wouldn’t have happened for a few more days, if it weren’t for the extraordinary efforts of the buyer’s mortgage consultant, Michael Polera, and real estate attorney, Rachell Horbenko. Condo financing is challenging in this market and even more so when a jumbo loan is involved. […]
Safety – Another Reason to Use Realtor When Buying a Home
Yesterday I scheduled a showing for a house in Schaumburg. When I called the seller I explained that I’d like to show his home between 3:30 and 4:30 pm Saturday (today). He asked if I could show the home at another time and I explained that I had scheduled all of the other showings for […]
Chicago Real Estate 101: How Realtors are Paid
On Saturday a woman wanted me to show her a house in Naperville. Even though the house was priced at $750K, I politely declined. The problem was the woman was already working with a Realtor. If I had shown her the house and she wanted it, she probably would have used her Realtor to write […]
Know What a Mortgage Preapproval is, Your Agent & Loan Officer May Not!
Want to maximize the strength of your offer and minimize the time it will take to get it accepted? Make sure you have a mortgage preapproval, not a mortgage prequalification with your offer. Years ago after one of my sellers got burned by a bad mortgage preapproval, I started having the loan consultant in my […]
Will Your New Home Be In A Special Service Area (SSA)?
A week ago one of my buyers said he wanted to take a second look at a townhouse in Aurora. The showing instructions said to call the seller to schedule showings, so when speaking with the seller, I took the opportunity to ask him a few questions about his home. One of my questions was […]
