7 Tips for Getting a Seller to Accept Your Offer

If you are a buyer in today’s seller’s market, you know just how tough it is out there. There are simply more buyers than there are homes for sale, which can make the process of finding and buying a home incredibly difficult. Some houses are going under contract within hours of being listed for sale, […]

5 Cost-Effective Ways to Increase Your Home’s Value

It’s easy to get carried away thinking about all of the wonderful upgrades you can make to increase the value of your home. But, if your goal is to actually walk away from your house with more money, then you need to play it smart and make sure you are only making cost-efficient upgrades. Shelling […]

13 Reasons Your House Hasn’t Sold Yet

You feel frustrated, angry, and confused. The O.C. real estate market is on fire, houses are selling left and right. But, despite multiple people coming to see your house, you just haven’t had any bites. The weeks have turned into months, and you’re not sure what else you can do. You shake your fist at […]

How U.S. Real Estate was Different in the 1700’s

When it comes to buying or selling real estate in the United States, the process is pretty well established these days. There are universal financing options, deed recordings, and even the way we define owning real estate has become pretty systematic. The current system works so well that it’s hard to imagine it was ever […]

3 Important Things to Look for on a Preliminary Title Report

Ahh yes, the infamous Preliminary Title Report, or as we call it in the biz: The Prelim. This is one of the many documents in a real estate transaction that is meant to disclose all significant knowledge of a property’s current condition to the buyer. The prelim, however, is one of the most important disclosures. […]

3 Ways to Properly Position Your Home in the Market

What is Positioning? The backbone of an effective marketing campaign is positioning and it is THE MOST important consideration when selling a home. Proper Positioning can be summed up as the who, what, where, and how of portraying your home for sale to the general public. WHO: We need to identify and define who the […]

How Online Marketing Helps You Sell For More

Selling Your Home Fast If you want to sell your home fast (trust me, you want to sell it fast) then it’s imperative that you get as much exposure as possible within a short timeframe. How do we do this? In a nutshell: we use the internet! Years ago, the traditional method of selling homes […]

How To Determine Home Value Using Comps

One of the most important decisions you’ll make when selling your house is what price to list it at. If you are serious about getting offers and selling your house, than you should pick a price that is close to the expected market value of your home. 7 tips for evaluating and negotiating multiple offers […]

5 Mistakes That Will Mess Up Your Home Sale

Once you have a buyer for your home, the hard part is over. Or is it? The contract is signed, escrow has been opened, and the earnest money has been deposited, but there are still countless potential snags that could arise. It’s easy to slip into a feeling of contentment once you are in escrow. […]

7 Tips for Evaluating Offers for Your Home

So you’ve done a ton work getting your house ready to sell, your agent has put a rock solid marketing campaign into motion, so the next thing you’re expecting is a bunch of offers on your beautiful home. But, before we get too carried away with all the action, let’s go over some important tips […]

Know What Title Insurance Policy You Are Getting: CLTA vs ALTA

Title insurance protects a title holder from some pretty scary potential problems. When buying or selling a house in California it is pretty common to be required to buy title insurance, but there is an exception or two. In most transactions there are 2 title policies that need to be purchased: The owner’s title policy, […]

What’s Happening to Home Prices in 2017?

The median sales price of homes steadily increased throughout 2016 and into 2017. This of course was no surprise, as I discussed about a year ago. What would be a surprise though (at least to me) is if prices continued to increase into 2018. So what happens next? Let us speculate… First, I just need […]

FHA Loans vs. Conventional

What is an FHA Loan An FHA loan is simply a loan that is insured by the Federal Housing Administration (“FHA”). Basically, the FHA promises lenders that if they make loans to borrowers according to certain guidelines, then FHA will guarantee the loan. So, if the borrower defaults on the loan, FHA will reimburse the […]

Landscaping Ideas to Improve Your Home’s Value

Can Landscaping Really Improve Your Home’s Value? Of course it can! But like any other home improvement there are bad, good, and better ways to go about it. Landscaping is a great way to make a good first impression with buyers, which will go a long way to putting you at the high end of […]