In the Arizona real estate market, the option to sell your home without the assistance of a real estate agent – known as For Sale By Owner (FSBO) – may seem like a tempting proposition. After all, who wouldn’t want to save on commission fees? However, what many sellers fail to anticipate are the potential pitfalls and regrets that often accompany this decision. A recent survey from Clever Real Estate found that homeowners who declined to use a real estate agent to sell their property were twice as likely to say they weren’t satisfied with the selling experience.*  Let’s delve into why FSB ..read more

We’ve made it through the holidays and are well into the New Year. It’s a time for improving all areas of your life and completing new projects you’ve been putting off for months. One of those might be decluttering. Joseph Ferrar, a professor at DePaul University, has studied the negative impact of people’s stuff. He says, “The more you have, the less happy you tend to be and the less life satisfaction people report.”* Decluttering your home may seem like a monumental task but it doesn’t have to be. Instead of thinking of it as a complete blitz of your home, dividing it up into bite-sized chun ..read more

As a homebuyer, you probably have a pretty good idea of what you’re looking for in a home, most do. However, with the limited amount of inventory in many areas, many prospective homebuyers are experiencing trouble finding a home in the East Valley, or around metro Phoenix that meets all the criteria on their wish lists. Also, today’s higher interest rates may be impacting what you can afford. Today’s Arizona real estate market calls for two words that no homebuyer wants to hear: compromise and sacrifice. If you’ve been looking for your dream house for an extended period of time ..read more

Buying your first home can be an exhilarating and overwhelming experience that can leave you feeling elated and exhausted at the same time. It’s like traveling down a road filled with potential potholes that may be difficult for a newbie to see! First-time home buyer mistakes are common and while many aren’t a big deal, some can be disastrous and costly. Here are some common first-time home buyer mistakes, and more importantly, some ways for you to avoid them! Looking for a Home Before Applying for a Mortgage This is the most common mistake first-timers make. Buying a home is exciting but shop ..read more

Most homebuyers follow the traditional path of choosing a lender and applying for a mortgage. With so many lenders and types of mortgages to choose from, all of which provide specific benefits depending on your needs as a borrower, choosing the right type of loan can be tough. With today’s interest rates being higher than in previous recent years, it may be worthwhile to look outside conventional financing and consider an assumable mortgage. What is an Assumable Mortgage? An assumable mortgage allows the buyer to purchase a home by taking over, or “assuming”, the seller’s mortgage loan. The bu ..read more

Buying a home is a very exciting event. Finding the perfect home can be difficult enough and that’s just the first step in a somewhat complicated process. Fortunately you don’t have to navigate the process on your own.  Most houses being sold have a real estate agent representing the seller, referred to as a listing agent. The listing agent’s main responsibility is to make sure the seller’s best interests are being protected. How can you, as the buyer, ensure your best interests are protected? By hiring a buyer’s agent. What is a Buyer’s Agent? A buyer’s agent is a real estate p ..read more

The pandemic profoundly changed the real estate market over the last few years into a seller’s market. The demand for a “home of our own” skyrocketed for several reasons: Waves of first-time and second-home buyers entered the market. Already low mortgage rates were driven to historic lows. The forbearance plan all but eliminated foreclosures. Home values reached appreciation levels never seen before.  These years have been fondly called the “unicorn years.” By one definition a unicorn is “something that is greatly desired, but difficult or impossible to find.” Today those unicorns ..read more

So, bear with us on this one…because a Home Inspection is a very detailed, and very important part of the home buying process and it warrants a good, if lengthy, explanation. If you wanted to know more about the Home Inspection period, you’ve come to the right blog post! What is a ‘Contingency’ in an Arizona Purchase Contract? The Arizona purchase contract specifies that certain contingencies must be met before the purchase of a home can be finalized. But first, what is a contingency? In real estate, “a contingency refers to a clause in a purchase agreement specifying an action or requirement ..read more

Whether you’re buying or selling a home, the appraisal process is an important part of the transaction. Appraisals help to ensure that buyers are paying a fair price for a property. The appraisal will also be used by the lender to determine how much money they are willing to lend on the property. It also ensures that the seller is getting the full value for their home. What is Fair Market Value? The following is the definition of market value used in most mortgage transactions and comes from the Code of Federal Regulations. Market value means the most probable price a property should bring in ..read more

Unfortunately, there’s no easy answer to that question. Making the decision whether or not to sell your home can be a hard one. Deciding if it’s the right time to sell is a very personal decision. There are numerous important questions to consider, both financial and lifestyle-based, before putting your home on the market.  And, if you are considering selling your home, it’s critical to understand the dynamics of the current market. Here we weigh up both options… Reasons for Selling Now The following are some common scenarios where you might want or need to sell in the short term. Low inv ..read more