Last June a buyer client called me in a total panic... "Doug, Bank of America just called demanding written copies of our tax returns from the IRS!” “Okay, did they say why?” I asked. “No, and I have been on hold with the IRS for three hours already. It had to do with fake tax returns that someone submitted last year to scam our Continue Reading
Home Buyer Tip | The Home Inspection 2016
Real estate is practiced differently from state to state, and it is critical for Virginia home buyers to understand that the Commonwealth believes in caveat emptor. Latin for "let the buyer beware." A doctrine that often places on buyers the burden to reasonably examine property before purchase and take responsibility for its condition. Continue Reading
10 Vienna Homes for sale with Great Pools
Okay, so finding a really nice home with a great custom pool in Vienna is still harder than you think. Part of that reason is that Town of Vienna homes often sit on lots too small for in-ground pools due to lot coverage restrictions. Outside the Town lines, Fairfax County setbacks apply. These day, virtually all have natural gas heaters and many Continue Reading
Home Buyer Tip | New TILA Disclosures Attention to Details
Advice that I am giving my clients now that TILA RESPA (also referred to as TRID) disclosure rules will be impacting 99% of my clients is simple... yet a little murky. You need to pay attention. The new TILA rules impact anyone who is buying a home and using a mortgage. The new disclosures will help you understand the cost of your mortgage Continue Reading
A 3D Tour of House in Vienna
A cool aspect of being a real estate agent is that new technology comes along all the time that I can add to my list of services. Being quickly adaptive is essential and, being an entrepreneur, I can be nimble enough to make executive decisions when I see something a consumer will think is beneficial. At a listing in Vienna last week, we spent Continue Reading
Consumers appear to trust Zillow
When clients returned to California after considering relocating to Vienna, they sent me an email with a few questions. What caught my eye was an observation about pricing: "...but whose price tag is $990,000 - way out of step with the $801,000 estimate that Zillow puts on it." By coincidence, I recently listened to industry journalist Brad Continue Reading
How to Protect Your Deposit in Custom Home Purchases
"We spent your $160,000 building the house..." When dealing directly with a local builder, new home buyers should know that the deposit that their builder will collect with the contract is treated differently in custom home purchases than in local resale transactions. Escrow Accounts Operating Accounts Builder default As I have driven Continue Reading
Real Estate Checklist: Homeowners Insurance
Another high priority checklist item for home buyers: getting a homeowners insurance policy set up early in the process. Yes, the Homeowners Insurance Policy. These policies are lender requirements and they will only give you a mortgage if you can show them a fresh policy. What you don't know is that insurance companies use an industry Continue Reading
What is Consummation in Real Estate?
When a prominent McLean real estate attorney gave a presentation in 2015 to our office about the upcoming RESPA changes, he used "Consummation" of the sale rather than Settlement. The room chuckled like a class of 8th graders, looking at each other and whispering, "Consummation?" Of course, we were all thinking along the lines of a proper Wedding Continue Reading
Pavlov’s Dog or Today’s Home Buyer?
Your head is spinning and then "DING!" chimes your iPhone. It's Zillow alerting you to a perfect four bedroom colonial in the right school district..." - radio ad I heard a version of this ad today in my car and all I could think about was Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov who studied an unconditional response in dogs who would salivate when he Continue Reading
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