About to close on your home? Maybe you are a Seller and decided to take a trip. Now you have an offer, and the buyer wants to close while you are out of town. You don't want to fly back from your Europeon vacation. Or maybe you are buying a home, but your spouse is in China visiting family. So what do you do? Don't worry. There are options. But the best way is to communicate with your real estate agent and to escrow about your plans to travel before you go out of town so that escrow can help you close the transaction. 1. POWER OF ATTORNEY A common situation I see, is a transaction with a husband and wife, where one or both will be travelling out of the country when the closing will occu

Thinking about buying that beautiful piece of land and building your dream home? Building a home that is customized to you and all the creature comforts you would like can have an amazing end product. But building a home "from scratch" requires a lot of work ahead of time, and there are hurdles you will need to overcome. When you buy land, rarely does it come packaged up and ready to build on, and if it does, there is usually a cost associated with that (the listing price usually reflects the lot's buildability). Here are 12 things you need to consider before purchasing land. 1. Utilities. If you are buying raw land, think of the most basic thing you need. You'll need water, sewer and el

As a buyer in a seller's market - you are often encouraged to submit a "clean offer" and waive your contingencies. So, what is a contingency anyway? A contingency allows you to get out of a contract and obtain a refund of your earnest money deposit under certain conditions. So, if you waive a contingency, you are waiving your ability to get your money back. There are risks. If you change your mind and decide not to purchase the property after you've waived a contingency, you are within your rights - but you may be forfeiting your earnest money or the seller may have other remedies againt you. Scary, right? So - how can you be competitive in your offer while still having some peace of mind?