There’s a saying in the real estate world that “buyers are liars.” It’s not that buyers walk in and deliberately tell lies to their real estate agents. It’s more that what buyers think they want in a house and what they actually wind up wanting are often two very different things. Case in point: my brother, whom I love very much and who is definitely not a liar. He wanted to buy a house. A house, as in “detached ... Read More

If anything is going to go wrong in a home purchase, it's probably going to have something to do with the loan. Borrowing money to buy property in today's environment is very, very complicated. For your sake, for the sake of your realtor and the sake of everyone's sanity, please choose a good, reliable loan officer with a verifiable track record of successful closings and happy customers. In today's climate, a bad or lazy or irresponsible loan officer can ... Read More

After you've chosen a realtor, your next task should be to get pre-approved for a loan. Unless you're one of those rare and coveted creatures who is in a position to pay cash for a house, in which case you can disregard all of this and go on your merry house-hunting way. For the rest of us, there are several good reasons to get pre-approved before beginning the search. First of all, you want to make sure you're qualified. Second, ... Read More