Our new house is part of a neighborhood that’s very much still in progress. There are empty lots on both sides of us — several, in fact, to the south of us. This is good in some ways: We got to build on our first-choice lot with the great view, there’s a lot of open […]
Tag Archives | real estate
Real Estate Protip: Closing Date
From what I understand, a lot of real estate closings happen at the end of the month. I don’t know why that is … maybe a local real estate agent could explain if that’s true and why. Here’s a protip from a non-real estate agent: Set your closing date for early in the month. Why? […]
How to Buy a House … in 4-5 Months
About 18 months ago, we came close to buying a new house about a half-mile from where we live now. But, after a crazy, seven-day period, that purchase fell apart when we got a much-bigger-than-expected bill from the tax man. Well … here we go again. Only this time, it’s a done deal. All signed. […]
How to Almost Buy a House in 7 Days
We’ve been casually looking at houses for probably 4-5 years now. That’s what you do when your wife is a real estate agent who has access to the MLS 24 hours/day, and when your “starter” home (that fit your three-person family just fine, but not so much your four-person family) gets too cramped. But in […]
Mortgage Crisis Didn’t Happen Overnight
From the New York Times in 1999: Fannie Mae, the nation’s biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people and felt pressure from stock holders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits. In addition, banks, thrift institutions and mortgage […]
Real Estate on a Macbook?
My wife is a real estate agent. Real estate agents rely on the MLS system to look up house information for buyers and sellers. In the Tri-Cities, as in many areas, the MLS system runs only on Internet Explorer, and only on a PC. (So 1995….) Until now. This is what arrived at our house […]
