Having a home inspection continues to be essential for anyone who is buying a home in the Vienna real estate market. Since Virginia is a "caveat emptor" state, home buyers will often learn more during a three hour inspection than they would in three years of living in the house. Home inspections are important and continue to get more Continue Reading
Home Inspection Negotiations
Almost every home buyer includes a Home Inspection Contingency as part of their offer. These can help them (you) understand what you are buying using a competent professional who will be looking at the house over a three hour window. A home inspector will probably find easily fixed items such as leaky valves or improper electrical outlets, but Continue Reading
Vienna Home Blog Weekly Wrap
There hasn't been a week when I haven't had an opportunity to share an old blog post with a current client or friend. And sometimes the analytical WordPress Plugin that I use (Lijit) shows me a post that gets read often. What is cool about this Plugin is that I see the term that was Googled and a link back to Google where my post matched the Continue Reading
10 Home Buyer Mistakes
Even if you are an experienced, relocation home buyer moving to Vienna, VA with your company from California, it makes sense to go through this checklist. You will buy a better home and have a better experience. The biggest home buyer mistakes: Choosing a real estate agent who isn't committed to forming a strong business relationship with you. Continue Reading
That’s One Hot House!
We just survived our first super-hot summer weekend in Northern Virginia and it is only mid-June! With temperatures in the 90°'s and humidity running at 70%+, this is the time of year that home owners start to see their central AC units crash. I always recommend to my clients after they buy a home to look into service contracts with local Continue Reading
Home Inspection Reports Really Matter
Having a home inspection contingency is essential when you are buying a home. But in Northern Virginia, I have seen a wide gap in the quality of the written inspection reports that home buyers are given by their inspectors. Specifically, it is the detailed description of the inspector’s concerns that he may have discovered and reported per the Continue Reading
Home buyers need a plan, and be ready to pull the plug…
It has taken a couple of months, but you are now walking up the stairs and into your new home. It’s actually a little bigger than you thought and you can’t wait to paint the kitchen, replace the carpet, get the FiOS set up, and turn in the keys at the old place. Maybe even take a dip in the pool! Nice story, but this is the type of mental image Continue Reading
In real estate, get it in writing.
“Let’s get it in writing so there isn’t any confusion later,†is advice that I give my clients all the time. And you would assume that all real estate agents give their clients the same line when a potential sticky situation presents itself. Did I say “assume� Prior to a home inspection on one of my listings, I mentioned to the Continue Reading
