Real Estate Trends & Advice Archives

What Does That Mean?

Have you ever met with a real estate agent or gone through the entire buying or selling process and heard terms or acronyms that you did not understand? We try to be as clear as possible in our communication throughout the buying and selling process.

Jan 22, 2026

Buy a Home & Get Rich

Does that still work? Can you buy a home and get rich? Historically, a person could buy a home, pay down the mortgage, and let appreciation raise their net worth. It has long been standard financial advice that you can build wealth through homeownership.

Jan 15, 2026

Plan for the Future!

Whether you are planning on purchasing a home this year or in the future, proper preparation can make the process smoother, less stressful and more successful. Before you start browsing the internet to find that perfect home, it is important to take a few key steps to ensure you are financially ready and searching inside your means.

Jan 8, 2026

Who Represents Me?

“Who represented you in this transaction?” I asked a disgruntled purchaser who was upset that they had spent inspection money on a property and now wanted out of the transaction. Now that the buyer had spent money on an inspection, they found that the property was not what they expected. It was more run down than they could tell from an advertisement they had seen, and they also now realized that the well was low producing and the septic was nothing more than a cesspool.

Dec 31, 2025

Are You Vulnerable to a Scam?

There have always been grifters and scam artists in the world who would love to relieve you of some of your cash. They get away with it every day, sometimes on a large scale, especially in real estate.

Dec 24, 2025

2026 Housing Forecast

Recent statistics released by Realtor.com offer an encouraging forecast for this coming year. A slight decline in mortgage rates, are projected to ease affordability issues slightly, even while home prices continue to rise by about 2%.

Dec 18, 2025

Return to Dumb Homes?

For many years now the building industry and tech companies have sold consumers on the idea of a fully automated smart home, in other words, living spaces where voice-activated lights, automatic beds, climate systems and cameras work seamlessly together to give tech hungry buyers a product that is state-of-art.

Dec 11, 2025

What to Expect from Your Broker

In the real estate world, there are many different players who influence the outcome of a transaction, including appraisers, inspectors, lenders and contractors. Arguably the most essential is the real estate broker who bears the overall burden for the work load and coordination of the whole process from start to finish.

Dec 4, 2025

Is the Weather the Deciding Factor?

Out-of-area-buyers often only look at property during seasons of the year when there are not adverse weather conditions. Knowing how weather might affect a certain property or certain types of structures could be a vital deciding factor. Since there are many micro-climates in our region, there should be much research done and information gathered before making the decision to purchase.

Nov 28, 2025

I Quit!

Sometimes in the real estate business, Realtors® find that do-it-yourselfers have used certain methods to convey property (albeit a bit recklessly) without really understanding the legalities or the risks involved.

Nov 20, 2025

What Is It Worth?

Realtors® frequently get asked about the value of property by owners who are just curious about how their property compares in the current market, or they really need to know because they will be selling soon or need the value for estate planning purposes.

Nov 13, 2025

Why Hire A Buyer Broker

Many real estate buyers seem reluctant to obligate their loyalty to any one real estate agent. One reason may be that they have the listing information available at their fingertips and don’t see the need to commit to one agent. That is fine until they want to view the listed properties or write an offer.

Nov 6, 2025

The Endowment Effect

In a real estate transaction the stakes are usually high, whether it’s economic or emotional. For purchasers it may be the stress of making a purchase many times larger than every other kind of purchase that they have ever made or will make again. For a seller, they are selling what may be the most emotional object to which people ever become attached, their home. Either way, it’s a most emotional topic and you can expect that people won’t be rational about it.

Oct 30, 2025