You’ve worked hard.  You’ve sacrificed. You’ve saved money.  You have your down payment and closing costs saved to purchase your first home.  Or perhaps you have saved only your down payment because you remember hearing that it is customary for the Seller to pay your closing costs.   You have just enough.  And you believe that’s […]

How important is your mortgage provider to the purchase of your new home? Look up the word “cornerstone.”  The cornerstone is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone determining the position of the entire structure.  Yep.  That’s your lender’s role […]

Really old wallpaper.  It stops me in my tracks every time. A sobering reminder of my own mortality.   Here’s what happens:  I’m a Realtor showing a client a really old house.  Somewhere, usually tucked in the back of a closet or stairwell I find the original wallpaper.  It’s often peeking through the peeling layers of […]

Recently I met with a homeowner who I will call Sheila.  Sheila is in her late 70’s and lives in a home far too big for her and one which she long ago lost the ability to maintain.   This is not the first time I’ve met with Sheila.  I have come three times in as […]

I was driving out of a community a few weeks ago. I had just finished taking a lockbox off of one of my recently sold listings.   I came across a young man mowing his lawn.  Now, that in and of itself is not a big deal, right? Except this particular community charged homeowners, a monthly […]

Last summer I visited Israel.  While driving through Arab communities I noticed an odd phenomena:  what looked like apartment buildings had occupied street-level dwellings and perhaps a completed second level, but often the third level was left uncompleted.  It looked like buildings were perpetually under construction.  I asked a local and was told that individual […]