When I’m contacted by a new customer about seeing property, there are two questions I always ask:

“Are you currently working with an agent”?

and

“Have you spoken with a mortgage lender”?

If the answer to the first is ‘yes’, I respectfully direct them to contact said agent. I have no desire to interfere with the relationship established between the buyer and one of my peers.

If the answer to the second question is ‘no’, then it’s time for a little educating. And this has been the case for as long as I’ve been a real estate agent. (Yikes. That’s 24 years now. Someone around here’s getting old!)

The thing is, most buyers really want to look at houses. And that’s obviously a key to finding your home. Duh. But, while going into houses and mentally decorating and placing your furniture in house after house can be fun, if you haven’t lined up your financing, you’re doing things bass-ackwards. Really. I promise.

I get resistance from some buyers when I ask them about the loan thing. And when I demur showing them properties until they have spoken with a reputable lender, it seems they think it’s some kind of gimmick or scheme on my part. Like I get paid extra if I show houses to buyers with approval letters in hand.

I don’t get paid extra. And it’s not a scheme. It’s pragmatic. And pragmatic for both the buyer and for me.

Let’s face it, jumping to show houses to a buyer who may be unable to afford them is unfair to the sellers – they shouldn’t vacate their homes for an hour so that eager but unqualified lookers check out the place – and unfair to the buyer who may fall in love with a house that’s out of reach and, not for nothing, is a waste of my time.

Harsh? Maybe. True? On all counts.

The truth is, there’s no downside to getting approved – yes, approved (not just ‘pre-qualified’) for a loan at the beginning of the process. It doesn’t cost more to do so than when you’re ready to make an offer. Approvals are generally good for some time, perhaps with a just a fresh credit check done if enough time has elapsed. Ask your lender about the details of their approvals.

Perhaps more importantly,with North Carolina now being a ‘due diligence’ state in regards to our Offer to Purchase, it’s imperative that buyers have their loan nailed down at the time an offer is made. No more loan shopping if one place turns you down while the seller waits on the sidelines, their house essentially off the market. You can read about the due diligence thing in this post.

It’s understandable that buyers, particularly first time buyers, are squeamish about talking to a lender. It’s akin to stepping on a scale if you’ve been avoiding doing so and the holidays just ended and your daughter is a great baker and your husband is a fantastic cook and it was too cold to get out and exercise and …. ahem… excuse me. That hit a bit close to home.

Back to borrowers. Have no fear. A good lender will tell you where you stand. If that happens to be in a place $20K less than you thought, better to find out now. If it happens to be in a place $30K more than you thought – mazel tov! And if you’re told that this isn’t the time for you to buy, that same good lender can give you a roadmap for how to get where you want to be.

So, I used a lot of words to answer the question posed in the title of this post but it boils down to two words: The loan.

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The thoughts & opinions are mine. The quips that fall flat are someone else’s. Please feel free to shoot me an email with a question or a good joke.

And remember, real estate agents aren’t bad. We’re just drawn that way.

If you’ve ever bought or sold a home in North Carolina and will be doing so again, be prepared to make a radical shift in your thinking about the process. In my opinion, the changes are for the better.

Read below for a very brief and by no means thorough or scholarly history of how things have progressed in real estate practices in these parts:

Dark Ages:

Caveat Emptor was the name of the game. If you wanted to buy, that was fine. If there were problems with the house, oh well.

• Offer to Purchase: one sheet of 8.5 x 11 paper. (This is how it was when I started as an agent in 1987.)
• Technology: Carbonless copies and thermal paper fax machines. We were amazed.

The Middle Ages:

Something called “Buyer Agency” came into being in North Carolina and finally agents who worked with buyers could start pointing out all sorts of issues with houses that they couldn’t previously. [NOTE: I'm not talking about material facts with a house like known structural problems, a fire at the house, zoning matters, etc., These are points that even if sellers didn't want disclosed agents had an obligation to pass along] Home inspections, performed for the buyer’s benefit – and at their expense – became the norm.  This lead to repair negotiations between the parties which can be more contentious than those regarding price. The parties could be weeks and weeks into the process and have things fall apart over whether the non-leaking roof that was 18 years old needed to be replaced or who should fix the linen closet door that won’t stay shut.

• Offer to Purchase: 4 sheets of legal paper.
• Technology: Voice-mail!  No more little pieces of pink paper with messages on who to call back. Cell phones weighed about 100 and pounds and looked like plastic, grey bricks.

Recent Times:

Buyers make offers with several conditions, all attached to dates that might or might not be firm and enforceable. Namely, applying for a loan, getting loan approval, having inspections completed, submitting requests for any repairs and closing. Sellers have dates as well, like how many days they had to respond to the previously mentioned repair request.

There are 2 options regarding property inspection time:

1. Alternative 1 – A prescribed time to make any inspections/inquiries about the property after which time a repair request can be submitted, triggering a time frame for the seller to respond to the request. All of this is solely for inspections. Loan application and approval conditions have their own dates. Lots and lots of dates.
2. Alternative 2 - a drop-dead date to do whatever checking out of things desired at the end of which the buyer decides to buy or not buy. Period. In exchange for which the seller may get a non-refundable fee.

Although it has been the practice to do so in many parts of the country, few buyers have chosen Alternative 2 around here . The inspection period is still a nerve-wracking time for all parties and the process can be gummed up by debate about whether requests being made are reasonable or not. Just you go ahead and try to define what is reasonable when it comes to a used house’s condition.

Go ahead. I’ll wait……

Exactly. Very, very hard to do.

So, again, the parties can be a long time into thinking a sale is moving forward, packing boxes, arranging movers and end up with a fallen through contract.

• Offer to Purchase: 8 – count ‘em – 8 sheets of letter size paper. You’d think all that legalese would make it clear who agrees to what and what are the consequences if things get off track. You’d be wrong.
• Technology: Multiple online outlets for buyers and sellers to post listings, look at houses, research schools, get estimates of value. Cell phones play videos and fax machines and email seem quaint.

Starting January 1, 2011:

There will be no Alternative 1 or 2. There will be what is called a “Due Diligence” period, what is now known as Alternative 2.  Buyers can have all inspections, investigations, pondering and re-thinking of the purchase desired. But at the end of the due diligence period the buyer must agree to move forward or move on. The buyer can decide they want out of the contract for any reason – or no reason. It’s their call. The ‘due diligence’ fee paid to the seller, if any, is non-refundable but credited to the buyer if the property closes. [This 'due diligence' fee is separate from earnest money which serves a somewhat different purpose. See an explanation of earnest money here.]

This is a very big change. It takes the cumbersome list of dates down to three:

• Effective date (date which all parties have signed/initialed all terms)
• Due Diligence date (date by which all conditions are to be met and buyer makes decision)
• Settlement date (generally referred to as ‘closing’)

What this means to buyers is that they need to have all their ducks in a row before making an offer because the due diligence date also includes loan approval date as well as all inspections. And don’t count on sellers giving a pass on that non-refundable fee. Most will want an amount that makes it worth their while to take their property off the market. Buyers will have skin in the game from the beginning.

It also means sellers will need to get their homes as ready to sell as possible since all a buyer needs to rightfully withdraw from the sale is to get a bad vibe about things, no matter how new the roof is or how beautifully the linen closet door closes.

All in all, this will make the process equitable and for only serious parties, on both sides of the transaction.

I just can’t wait to see what the Next Big Thing in technology is. Maybe an app that makes us comfortable with change?

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The thoughts & opinions are mine. The quips that fall flat are someone else’s. Please feel free to shoot me an email with a question or a good joke.

And remember, real estate agents aren’t bad. We’re just drawn that way.

The most important element of buying a home – even more than deciding what style, size and school district – is determining how much you can afford. Unless you pay cash (my name is Casey, please call me immediately) you will need to find out how much of a mortgage you qualify for and are willing to pay.

Calculating this is not like figuring the trajectory needed for the Hubble Telescope to take that money shot of Jupiter, but it isn’t as easy as 2+2=4, either.

There are plenty of online mortgage calculators which are accurate. But they don’t necessarily give the complete picture. Most of these calculators do a simple equation based on a given set of variables:

“loan amount”   x   “interest rate factor”  = “mortgage payment (principal & interest ONLY)

There’s simply more to a payment than that. Also, these sites are not equipped to advise you whether you’ll qualify for a mortgage or not. (More on that in an upcoming post.) But for now let’s look at what else is included in mortgage payments.

First, in addition to the principal & interest (P&I) figure one gets using the formula above, most buyers will need to include taxes & insurance (T&I) with their monthly payment. These four components together are commonly referred to as “PITI“.

The T&I are called ‘escrow items’ and equal 1/12th of the annual tax and insurance bills. The lender holds this money in an escrow account. When the tax and insurance bills come due, they’re paid by the lender from the escrow account.

The ‘taxes’ portion refers to the property taxes due on that particular piece of real estate. Since each house will have a unique property tax bill, that cannot be calculated by the online sites. One needs to find out the annual property tax amount, divide by 12 and add that number to the P & I. (In Guilford County, property taxes can be found here. To understand how property taxes are determined in Guilford, read this post)

The ‘insurance’ component is homeowner’s insurance, a figure determined by your insurance agent. Again, take the annual insurance premium, divide by 12 and add to the P & I & T.

Voila! PITI.

But wait. There’s more.

Depending on the type of loan (conventional, FHA or VA) there may or not be mortgage insurance, known as PMI or MPI. This is not homeowner’s insurance but is mortgage insurance, paid as a premium to cover the lender in case of the loan not paid back.

These premiums are really hairy to calculate as they are based on how much down-payment is made, the amount financed and other variables. Here is when speaking with a good, knowledgable lender is absolutely a must. And, not for nothing, but a lender on the other end of a 800 number is almost certainly NOT going to know about the property tax and insurance situation for your particular locale. Call someone who knows your market.

To illustrate what I mean, here’s a recent communication from my favorite lender, explaining yet another change in FHA loans:

Huh?

Fear not. Getting all this figured out doesn’t have to fall on you alone. Or on me, thank goodness. Asking qualified professionals for help just makes good sense.

Now, where’s my Advil?

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The thoughts & opinions are mine. The quips that fall flat are someone else’s. Please feel free to shoot me an email with a question or a good joke.

And remember, real estate agents aren’t bad. We’re just drawn that way.

The new tax rates have been set for Guilford County. You can see them here (PDF).

To figure what your tax bill is going to be when it is mailed out later this month, find your municipality – for example, Greensboro – and multiply that total rate (1.3699) by the tax value of your property, in hundreds. That is, a tax value of $100,000 would mean you multiply the tax rate by 1000. (If you don’t know the tax value of your property, go to the Guilford County Tax website and pull up your address)

This rate is slightly lower than the 2009 rate of 1.3274

The upshot is, if your house has a property tax value of $100,000, your tax bill this years will be $1,369.90. Last year it was $1,327.40.

It’s rare but not unheard of that property tax rates decline one year to the next. In Guilford County, tax movement in the rate is usually fairly small, whatever direction it goes.

It’s when property values are reassessed that things get really exciting. That is done only once every eight years in Guilford County, so there is the chance for wide differences from one valuation to the next. The next revaluation will occur in 2012.

Hmmm. The same year the Mayan calendar says it’s all going to end.

We should be so lucky, right?

[UPDATE: My friend, the very smart Realtor Candice Joyce, commented on this post with the following:

That’s the rate per $100 of assessed tax value so don’t forget to place a decimal point before last two digits…..or divide value by 100 then multiply by tax rate=same result.

Thanks, Candice. (Math. Ick.)

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The thoughts & opinions are mine. The quips that fall flat are someone else’s. Please feel free to shoot me an email with a question or a good joke.

And remember, real estate agents aren’t bad. We’re just drawn that way.

This is a question that virtually every buyer with whom I’ve worked in that last three years has asked in one way or another.

The answer is: No.

It’s understandable that those of us with active empathy centers in our brains may feel badly, walking through a vacant house that was home to someone and from which that someone was kicked out. But the sad fact is that, whatever damage might be done to the former owner’s credit, state of mind and life situation has already happened by the time you as a buyer walk through the front door. You are not taking advantage of someone else’s misfortune. You are looking at a property owned by a bank.

A bank.

And a bank is about as far from being a sympathetic figure as you’re likely to find in this historically grotesque economic chapter in American history.

If you still feel pangs of guilt, consider this: Buying that foreclosure will remove it from the market, thereby reducing the surplus population. I mean, surplus inventory.

Sorry. All this real estate drama has me in a Dickensian frame of mind.

So, look at all homes that meet your needs. Make your decision on which one rings your chimes, regardless of the circumstance of the seller.

That’s how it’s done.

Looking at this gaping, rather messy closet feels like an invasion of privacy, doesn’t it?

It would be, unless the closet is in a house that is on the market.

I’ve had more than one buyer client ask if it’s alright to do things like look in closets, try out water pressure, check out how clean the built-in oven is. These are all things that only either the crassest people or our closest friends would do under normal circumstances.

Selling or buying a house is far from normal circumstances. It is a time when total strangers roam through your home. Someone else is trying to visualize their furniture in your living room.

And they want to know if the closets are large enough to hold the by-product of her shoe sickness, his fascination with remote control airplanes and the equipment from the seven sports their two children play at any given time.

So, buyers – go ahead and look. It isn’t naughty.

Sellers – tidy up for goodness sake. While knowing the water pressure might be important, there are some things NOBODY wants to know about you.

The thing to keep in mind for both buyer and seller is that a home on the market is a product for sale. If you want to sell it, put things in order. If you want to buy it, kick the tires, so to speak. Flush the toilet, see if the oven has been cleaned recently – or ever – and look in the closets.

Really. It’s ok.

There are many clocks in our house. From the digital ones on the DVR box, wall oven, under-cabinet radio, alarm clocks for for both Mr. Durango and me to the ones at the bottom of the three computers to the watch our oldest son left here after visiting this weekend – it started beeping at 6:30 this morning – to the grandfather clock in the front hall to the mantel top clock in the den to the cuckoo hanging in our kitchen (the cuckoo CLOCK is hanging, wiseguy) we are covered, clock-wise.

Even so, time can still manage to slip up on us. And it is slipping up on all the 1st time home buyers who haven’t stepped up to take advantage of the $8,000 tax credit. As it is currently designed, the last day to close on a house and receive the credit is November 30th.

December 1st will be a day late and $8,000 short.

Let’s be clear. There is still time to find a home and go through the process and close by the deadline. But if you are hoping to take advantage of the credit, you might want to get going before the new seasons of “Lost” gets started as I understand that show can be quite the time suck.

There is a chance the deadline will be extended. And there’s a chance my youngest will become obsessive about his room being tidy as well. We can continue to have faith, but let’s not bank on either of things happening in a timely manner.

What should be your first step if you haven’t already started towards buying in time for the credit? Pretty much the same as always. Time is just really of the essence in this case.

So, my personal recommendation is to get thee to a good lender immediately. The loan process is what can take the longest in a real estate sales transaction and it can be started before you find the house which can save time. A lender can actually get your loan approved, contingent on whatever house you find appraising at the contract price, before you step foot into the first property on your search list. And the benefit is that the lender will have the information needed to finalize the loan once the house is found and you’ll know your perimeters, money-wise.

Once you’ve established the loan, get with a good agent and start looking at houses. Don’t mess around with looking with several agents. That’s not efficient, not effective and wastes time. You have to get to know each one, answer the same qualifying questions over and over and ultimately that doesn’t serve your purposes.

Find an agent you like and go for it.

Once you find the house, the negotiations will take as long as they take. Perhaps you and the seller will come to a meeting of the minds in a day. Maybe a week. That’s up to the parties. Try not to get bogged down in whether the seller will leave the 15 year old swing set or if the living room is intolerably orange. And if the seller gets bogged down in their own issues, consider moving on to another property.

It’s unpredictable but as a rule, when a buyer wants to buy a house that a seller wants to sell, things get worked out.

So, the countdown has started to November 30th. Here’s your “to do” list if you want to get that $8,000 tax credit:

• Communicate with a good lender and start the approval process
• Establish a relationship with a Realtor with whom you’re comfortable and start looking at homes that meet your needs and price range
• Eliminate those homes from your mind that won’t work. Try to compare no more than two houses at a time and eliminate all the rest. Otherwise, they start to run together and you can’t remember which one had the half bath off the kitchen that skeeved you out and which one had the killer deck.
• Stay on top of whatever your lender has told you she needs to get things completed
• Be prepared to get a bit freaked out. Nearly all 1st time buyer do. You’ll be glad you went through it all once your in your own place.

This is a rare, as in never before, opportunity to not only become a home owner but to receive massive coinage for the privilege of doing so.

It all adds up to this being the time to make that leap and reap the rewards, happiness-wise.

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The thoughts & opinions are mine. The quips that fall flat are someone else’s. Please feel free to shoot me an email with a question or a good joke.

And remember, real estate agents aren’t bad. We’re just drawn that way.

After all the looking at houses, measuring furniture, negotiating repairs and near constant nausea, the real estate buying process always ends up with a document called the HUD-1 Settlement Statement. HUD stands for Department of Housing & Urban Development.  (Here’s a PDF) It is used for virtually all residential real estate closings and details the financial part of the transaction for both buyer and seller.

It is nothing to be feared. Although there are columns and rows and decimal points and subtotals, even those with math phobias can embrace that fact that this is where everything is made clear and specific.

By the time you are at the closing table you should know what your “bottom line” is. And it really is there, at the bottom of page 1. The buyer will have already been advised how much money to bring to closing and the seller will know how much they (hopefully) will net out from the proceedings. [note: Here in Greensboro, closing is customarily handled by an attorney. Other parts of the country may have 'escrow agents' or other 3rd parties.]

Where do the numbers come from?

They start with the Offer to Purchase and Contract which should spell out  financial details of the agreement between the parties:

• sales price
• earnest money paid
• if the seller is paying for any of the buyer’s closing costs and how much
• if a home warranty is being purchased and for how much, etc.,

Added to this is any information not specifically addressed in the contract:

• Was there a home inspection?
• termite inspection?
• repairs made?
• If so, for how much, payable to whom and was it paid outside of closing (“POC”)
• hazard insurance premium
• sales commission

This information is generally provided by the Realtors representing the parties.

The real nitty-gritty information is provided by the lender. The closing attorney will be provided a ‘closing package’ or ‘closing instructions’ by the mortgage lender. The package will instruct the attorney how much money is to be collected and disbursed on the buyer’s side. Here is where the attorney will note how many months of taxes to collect up front and for the escrow account, what expenses have been incurred for the mortgage itself:

• appraisal
• origination fee
• discount points
• flood certification fee
• application fee, etc.,

The closing attorney will also do a deed and tax search to verify which party owes how much for real estate property taxes. The seller is responsible for taxes up to the day of closing and the buyer is responsible for the day of closing through the end of the year. Same thing for homeowners association dues.

After all this information is collected by the closing attorney, all the debits and credits are listed on the 2 pages of the HUD-1. There is a columns for the buyer (left hand side) and a column for the seller (right side).

There should be nothing left off the HUD-1 and nothing added that the lender hasn’t approved. Nothing ‘under the table’. That is a serious no-no.

It is on the HUD-1 where you’ll see a credit in the buyer’s column for the earnest money you paid when you made the offer. (The buyer’s agent will generally bring a check, made out to the attorney, written from the agency’s trust account). Also noted will be a credit for the mortgage itself. Again, funds are wired to the attorney from the bank.

Adding up all the various debits and credits for both sides leaves two bottom lines. One is the amount the buyer needs to bring to closing (certified check payable to the attorney), the other the amount due the seller.

All the funds from the earnest money to the mortgage to the buyer’s day-of-closing money go into the attorney’s trust account. It is from that account the attorney cuts all appropriate pay-outs: seller’s net, tax bill, homeowners insurance premium, termite inspector, etc., At the end of the day, the attorney’s trust account will balance out to $0. Every penny of money that comes in for that transaction goes out.

Both buyer and seller and the attorney will sign the HUD-1. It is the financial record of the deal. You’ll be given a copy.

There are MANY itemized expenses in a real estate transaction and I’ve noted just a few. The thing to remember is that there will be nothing on the statement that doesn’t have an explanation.

If things aren’t clear to you, ask the attorney. Line 1107 will show their fee, so get your money’s worth!

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The thoughts & opinions are mine. The quips that fall flat are someone else’s. Please feel free to shoot me an email with a question or a good joke.

And remember, real estate agents aren’t bad. We’re just drawn that way.

There are so many phrases, terms and abbreviations in a real estate transaction it can be confusing and many are embarrassed to ask, as if everyone should emerge from the womb knowing what “PITI” means.

If you did come to the earth with such knowledge, congratulations – I think. But if you’re like the rest of us, I’m putting together a list of real estate-specific terminology that may help. You can find the growing list, and the definition of PITI,  here. Soon you’ll be able to crush a RealEstateSpeak Slam with the best of ‘em.

Today’s term:  Earnest Money

This is money a buyer tenders with an “offer to purchase” for consideration. The buyer need not be truly an earnest person, though it’s nice when it happens. And some parts of the country call it a ‘binder’. It is presented with the offer to show the buyer is serious – or earnest – about the transaction.

There is no required amount. Indeed, there need be no money involved. Technically, the buyer’s good will is sufficient. So one can attempt to make an offer with zero dollars involved.

Good luck with that.

Sellers generally aren’t all that impressed with only a person’s good will. Just sayin’.

[Note: Earnest money, while paid at the start of the transaction, is not the down payment a lender will require. Earnest money is, however, credited towards that down payment. So, if your lender advises you'll need a $5000 down payment to buy in the approved price range, and you pay $2000 in earnest money, you'll need to bring $3000 to fulfill the down payment requirement on the day of closing.]

So how much earnest money should parties to a real estate sale expect to change hands? The amount is, as with virtually all terms of an offer, negotiated between the buyer and seller. A very rough but reasonable estimate is 1% of the purchase price. (example: $1500 – $2000 for a house with a sale price is $150,000) Again, negotiable between the parties.

Buyers should remember that the amount needs to be enough to prove to the seller that losing it would be painful so you’re not likely to simply bail on the transaction.

Sellers should remember that buyers need to be able to eat and pay their electric bill while waiting to close on the house. So the amount can’t be too cumbersome.

[Note 2:( I cannot stress this enough.) The check for the earnest WILL BE DEPOSITED. By NC Real Estate Commission law it must be deposited within 3 banking days of acceptance of the offer. Some have thought the check would be clipped to the file and cashed the day of closing. Having an earnest money check bounce is a less than auspicious start to a deal]

In Greensboro, the earnest money traditionally is held by the real estate company that has the seller’s house listed. (If the property is being sold by owner, I highly recommend a 3rd party hold the earnest money. An attorney is the best bet in that case.) It is held in a trust account and remains there until the closing day, when it’s released to the closing attorney and credited to the buyer’s bottom line as noted on the HUD-1 closing statement.

Hmmm. HUD-1 Closing Statement. I think I just hit on the topic for next week’s Term of the Week.

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The thoughts & opinions are mine. The quips that fall flat are someone else’s. Please feel free to shoot me an email with a question or a good joke.

And remember, real estate agents aren’t bad. We’re just drawn that way.

There are many misconceptions and myths in life: shaving your eyelashes will make them grow back thicker; cheap vodka tastes just as good as higher shelf brands; dogs don’t judge you and sellers have to make repairs to any issues that come up in a home inspection.

I’ve seen the lie put to all these, but will focus only on the inspection piece for now.

A common belief of home buyers is that a home inspection is a to-do list for sellers. That a seller is required  to correct all items noted.

This is even further from the truth than the one about cheap vodka.

A thorough home inspection will note all manner of things from lots of cracks in the concrete driveway to the fact that the roof is within a few years of needing to be replaced to faulty GFCI outlets in the 2nd bathroom. And many items will be ones that a prudent buyer will want corrected.

Some are things a prudent home buyer needs to realize are what comes with owning your own home.

And of the repairs one should request, their is no rule or law that says a seller must make them. Repair requests are negotiated, just as are the price and other initial terms of the contract. And, as any seasoned Realtor can tell you, deals fall apart over repair negotiations as often as over who will pay the closing costs.

Now, this is not to say buyers shouldn’t expect the house they’re hoping to own be in good repair before they sign closing documents. It’s just that there is no guarantee that sellers will be willing, or able, to make repairs. If a seller has been beaten down on price and other terms, there may simply be no more blood in that turnip.

How to determine which repairs request are reasonable? The guiding question needs to be “is the system or item performing the function for which it is intended”? A roof may be 15 years old and the case could be made that it is approaching the end of its useful life. But a roof has pretty much one job and that is to keep rain out of the house. If the roof isn’t leaking and isn’t a made up of a bunch of cracked shingles, it’s performing the job for which it is intended.

A cracked heat exchanger in a furnace, on the other hand, needs to be corrected. Leaks, wood destroying insects, dry rot, mis-wired electrical outlets. There’s a smorgasbord of issues homes can have. And one would hope and expect that a seller who wants to sell will agree to do the right thing. Most do.

Some don’t. Or won’t. Or simply can’t.

It is at that point a buyer needs to look long and hard a property and ask if they can handle the issues or if they would simply be buying someone else’s problems.

So inspect early. Ask your lender if she or he can hold off ordering the appraisal – for which you have to pay – until after inspections are completed and any repair requests are negotiated. Above all, try to keep your head although it’s hard to do when going through such an emotional experience.

And don’t play air guitar in front of your dog in your bathrobe. You will be judged. I’ll never get over that look on Piper’s face.