Associate Broker, Long & Foster Real Estate
Should a Seller Ever Consider a Pre-Settlement Occupancy Agreement? Ask any well trained, professional listing agent with experience under their belt what they think of a pre-settlement occupancy agreement and I would bet that nearly all of them would be adamantly against pre-settlement occupancy. Let’s pause here for a moment and I’ll explain what pre-settlement Read More …
Communication is the Key to a Smooth Deal If there is one common denominator to a deal where parties lose trust in one another, is it lack of communication. In real estate deals, communication is the key to success. There can be bumps in the road, but waiting until the eleventh hour to disclose the Read More …
Fun with Staging Whenever I meet with Bristow and Gainesville home sellers about listing their home, staging is a subject that inevitably comes up. Staging isn’t about emptying the entire contents of your home and putting in rental furniture, though some sellers seem to think that is what staging entails. Staging starts with editing the Read More …
Temporary Housing For sellers in a seller’s market, the only downside to selling is knowing where they will live next. For sellers that have sold and then bought in the same market, whether a move up or downsize, they are likely facing the same conditions that made selling so attractive: That’s a hard market for Read More …
What Sellers Expect in Seller Favored Markets Seller favored markets occur when there is more buyer demand than there are homes available for sale. Those circumstances lead to buyers competing for a homes in multiple offers situations. The majority of sellers love these and get giddy at the idea of “bidding wars.” Not all listing Read More …
Listing During the Holidays: To Decorate or Not? When someone who celebrates Christmas lists during the holiday season, one of the first questions sellers generally ask is whether they can still decorate their home. It’s a legitimate question and the answer is going to vary based on each agent you ask. Some will tell you Read More …
It’s The Most Wonderful… If you complete that thought with the words, “time of the year,” then you are definitely on my wave length. Today, that tune by Andy Williams is front and center in my mind. We are officially in the Christmas season. Let the hustle and bustle begin. Decorating. Shopping. Baking. It’s all Read More …
Friday After Thanksgiving in Real Estate Back in the days when I worked retail, the Friday after Thanksgiving was a dreadful day. Wake up at the crack of dawn to be in the department store to meet the masses looking for the greatest deals. The customers would be as worn as you, and act out Read More …
Under Contract in Six Days On Thursday November 19th (2020) I was pleased to introduce 14455 Gringsby Court in Centreville’s community of Newgate to the market. Priced at $260,000, I didn’t expect it to last through the weekend. Over the course of the next six days there were over two dozen showings. And while I Read More …
Controlling the Date of Ratification It’s the attention to detail, knowledge of the contract and control of a situation that combine to make an ordinary real estate agent, GREAT. Case in point, the very important detail of when a contract is ratified. Once a contract is ratified, sellers are contractually obligated to sell with only Read More …