By Don Dunning | November 5, 2014
“There are many shortcuts to failure, but there are no shortcuts to true success.”
– Orrin Woodward
When a real estate agent takes shortcuts this often compromises the position of the person he is representing. Sadly, it is common for some agents to skip necessary steps to protect their buyers and sellers; this is not doing the best job for them.
Read MoreBy Don Dunning | August 11, 2014
“The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions.”
– Leonardo da Vinci
According to a National Association of Realtors survey, 90 per cent of real estate home buyers search online during the purchasing process. Those who do not have a relationship with a real estate professional may browse sites that rate agents. Regardless of the specific verbiage, online portals that evaluate licensees are asking, “Did your agent do a good job for you?” This seemingly simple question is actually much more complex than many realize
Read MoreBy Don Dunning | June 21, 2014
“Safety is something that happens between your ears, not something you hold in your hands.”
– Jeff Cooper
Few buyers think about safety when purchasing a home. Some items, like “trip hazards” outside the house, or hitting one’s head walking down stairs to a lower level, are worth noting. Nothing, however, compares to the danger and possible disaster of you or family and friends being badly burned or dying of carbon monoxide poisoning. This is something that can happen in rooms used as bedrooms that are unsafe for sleeping.
Read MoreBy Don Dunning | May 23, 2014
I confess to sometimes procrastinating with home maintenance chores. Over the years, however, I have learned that biting the bullet and taking care of these duties can save shekels. It also helps avoid the aggravation of temporarily losing the use of those things we take for granted, like the toilet, shower or washing machine.
Read MoreBy Don Dunning | April 6, 2014
“You must trust yourself more than you trust others.”
– Suze Orman
If you plan to buy a condo, you are choosing to become partners with from one to hundreds of strangers in a shared financial arrangement. The others are the current condo owners in the building. Additional strangers (new buyers) will later join the group.
You will be participating in a written agreement to share the costs of maintaining and/or upgrading the building and its common areas. In the right building, with the right co-owners, this can work beautifully. If, however, you buy in a problem building with uncooperative or unrealistic owners, your condo ownership experience could be truly troubling.
I recently wrote an article about hidden problems in condo buildings and received a number of reader emails substantiating my warnings.
Read MoreBy Don Dunning | March 7, 2014
“Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead”
– Benjamin Franklin
Condo buyers purchase not only a particular unit, but a share in a building and its common areas. As such, the condition of the entire edifice is critically important, but is often not sufficiently considered or researched by buyers or their agents.
Sometimes, significant information about the history of a building’s past or present problems does not get to the buyer until after escrow has closed. This can lead to years of aggravation, legal costs and lost equity.
Read MoreBy Don Dunning | January 24, 2014
As a Bay Area and East Bay real estate expert witness, I continually see specifics of how agents fail their clients. I have written many articles about agency because it is the most important function of a real estate licensee. Unfortunately, few buyers and sellers understand what an agent should do for them and too many licensees are not clear about agency.
Clients, usually buyers, generally find this out when it is too late and it has cost them money and heartache. This has not changed in my 34-plus years in the business.
Read MoreBy Don Dunning | September 28, 2013
“We often miss opportunity because it’s dressed in overalls and looks like work.”
– Thomas A. Edison
Everyone loves a bargain. Sometimes, however, a good deal can be missed because value was not recognized. This is surprising when it occurs in a hot real estate market, but it recently happened with several East Bay properties.
Read MoreBy Don Dunning | August 18, 2013
“What gets us into trouble is not what we don’t know. It’s what we know for sure that just ain’t so.”
– Mark Twain
The current seller’s market has led to numerous properties receiving multiple offers. In an attempt to beat the crowd and gain an accepted bid, there has been a recent epidemic, in some parts of the Bay Area, of buyer pre-sale inspections, often without the seller’s knowledge or permission.
The theory is that the buyer can write a cleaner, more appealing, contract for the seller because of the omission of an inspection contingency. There is much more to the story.
Read MoreBy Don Dunning | July 15, 2013
“Common sense is not so common.”
– Voltaire
Despite its technical aspects, almost everything in residential real estate involves common sense, including negotiating for repairs after a home inspection. Successfully doing so requires knowledge of the business and of people and their circumstances. It is important to use good judgment. Not everyone does.
Although getting money back for problems is more difficult in a seller’s market such as we have today, there are situations where it is appropriate. Nonetheless, how you handle your request can be the difference between a successful closing and a frustrating sale that flops.
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