Not answered yet.
I haven't written about yet. Ask me, and it could be the next answer here.
Ask me about itGeneral
Taxes, insurance, and choosing an agent: the things that come with any home.
- How do I pick the right agent?
Who to talk to, what to ask, and what to read before you sign anything with an agent.
- What are property taxes? Are they rolled into the mortgage, or do I pay them myself every year?
What property taxes are, how the bill is figured, and whether they're paid through escrow or by you.
- How do property taxes change?
Assessments, levies, and why the payment moves after year one.
- What haven't I thought about with homeowners insurance?
Buying
From the first question to the day you get the keys.
- As a first-time buyer, what do I need to know?
Pre-approval, down payments, hidden costs, inspections, and the safety nets worth knowing about.
- How do I prepare to buy in the next 6-12 months?
A plain-language checklist for the year ahead, from your credit to a simple timeline.
- What are the gotchas no one tells you to look out for?
The parts of buying a home that never show up in the listing photos.
- What is debt-to-income ratio?
The share of your monthly income already going to debt, and why a lender cares.
- What does an appraisal do, and when do I get one? Is someone getting it for me?
Who orders it, who pays, and what happens if it comes in low.
- What is earnest money, and do I get it back?
The deposit that goes with your offer: how much, who holds it, and when you could lose it.
- I have no idea where to start.
- We've never had great credit. How is that really going to affect us?
- We haven't started saving for a down payment. What do we actually need, and is it realistic?
- Are we looking at buying in the next year, or the next five years?
- Homes we thought we could afford at $400,000 are now over a million. Can we realistically even look?
- Has our dream of having the home we want already passed?
Selling
Getting ready, setting a price, and what you keep at the end.
- What should I fix before I list?
Fix what buyers will worry about, freshen what they'll see first, and leave the big renovations alone.
- How do I know what my home is worth?
Your home is worth what a real buyer will pay, and recent sales nearby are the best way to find that number.
- What does it actually cost to sell?
Where the money goes when you sell, and how to see what you will actually keep.