Selling Your Fort Washington Home Without an Agent? Protect Your Equity First One Fort Washington Homeowner, One Big Decision Renee wanted to sell her Fort Washington home without paying a listing commission. She'd sold a car privately before and figured a house couldn't be much different — list it,

Selling Your Fort Washington Home? Here's the Full Plan, Start to Finish What Was Missing From One Fort Washington Seller's First Attempt Angela had sold a home once before, years earlier, and assumed the process hadn't changed much. She skipped a formal valuation, priced based on instinct, and hand

Six Months of Data, and Most Sellers Throw It Away A listing that expires without selling is not a failure. It is a completed experiment. You tested a price against a market. You tested photos against buyer attention. You tested a description against three other homes competing for the same person.

Who Actually Owns Your Mortgage in Prince George's, Montgomery County, DC and Northern Virginia? It Isn't Your Bank Opinion My grandmother's generation got a mortgage by putting on good clothes and walking into a bank on Main Street. If the bank had money on deposit and liked the look of you, it len

Selling FSBO in DC or Prince George's County: Questions People Actually Ask Me I get asked about selling without an agent more than anything else, usually by people who've already half decided and want to know what they're missing. So here are the questions, and my honest answers. Some of them argue

Should I Put My House in a Living Trust? Ask the Concierge Ask the Concierge is a reader-question column. Letters are edited and details changed. General educational information, not legal or tax advice. I'm a real estate broker, not an attorney; the decisions below belong with an estate planning at

How to Choose a Listing Agent in Laurel and Hyattsville A homeowner came to me after her house had been sitting with another agent. Little activity, no offers, and the growing sense that she'd priced it too high. I relisted it sixty-five thousand dollars higher. Multiple offers within days. Final sa

If you know exactly why you are selling then it is easier for you to follow the right plan of action for getting what you want. If you are a seller who needs to close a sale as quickly as possible, then you should know that getting the highest price possible is not one of your priorities. It does no

The price is the first thing buyers notice about your property. If you set your price too high, then the chance of alienating buyers is higher. You want your house to be taken seriously, and the asking price reflects how serious you are about selling your home. Several factors will contribute to you

The Bowie Seller Who Tried to Skip a $150,000 Contractor Bill: A Mechanics' Lien Story from Prince George's County A true story from my files. The client's name, street and a few details are changed. General educational information, not legal advice; mechanics' lien law is technical and a lawyer sho

Facing Foreclosure in Waldorf, MD? Options for Charles County Homeowners Call one of these first. Keep reading after. Maryland foreclosure prevention — 877-462-7555HUD housing counselor referral — 800-569-4287Homeowners HOPE Hotline — 888-995-HOPE (4673)Maryland Legal Aid — 888-213-3320Maryland 211

Facing Foreclosure in Upper Marlboro? Options for Homeowners Behind on Payments Two Homeowners, Two Different Timelines Sandra had missed one mortgage payment after an unexpected medical expense. She wasn't sure whether to call her servicer right away or wait and see if she could catch up on her own

Selling Your DC Starter Home to Move Up? Sequence Matters More Than Speed A Local Case Study: Two DC Homeowners Moving Up Tasha and her husband had outgrown their DC condo and were ready for a larger home. They found their dream listing first, wrote an offer contingent on selling their current home,

Mortgage Lender Types in Bowie and Silver Spring I'm going to spend most of this article explaining the difference between a mortgage banker, a direct lender, a portfolio lender, a correspondent lender and a broker. First I want to tell you that for most buyers, it doesn't matter. The label on the c

Selling a Home in Upper Marlboro or Fort Washington Everybody asks me the same first question. What should I do first? It's the wrong question, and I don't say that to be clever. It's wrong because it assumes there's a first step that's the same for everybody, and there isn't. What I do for you depe

Is It a Buyer's or Seller's Market in Prince George's, Montgomery County, DC and Northern Virginia? Ask the Concierge Ask the Concierge is a reader-question column. Letters are edited and details changed. General educational information, not legal or financial advice. Dear Concierge, My wife and I a

The $6,000 Fix That Cost a Silver Spring Seller $20,000: Why I Tell Every Client to Get a Pre-Listing Inspection A true story from my files, with the client's name and details changed, followed by what I see in inspection reports across the region. General educational information, not legal advice o

If you want buyers to be interested in your home, you need to show it in its best light. A good first impression can influence a buyer both emotionally and visually, thus prompting them to make an offer. In addition, what the buyer first sees is what they think of when they consider the asking price

When reading an offer, keep in mind that you are out to get the best price AND the best terms for you. If you focus solely on the price, you may overlook terms that could be favorable to you as a seller. Some terms that may work in your favor: higher-than-market-interest in a second mortgage for you

What Is a Short Sale, and Should You Do One? Most agents will tell you they handle short sales. Ask them how many they've closed. That question ends a lot of conversations, and it should. A short sale is not a listing with a lower price on it. It's a negotiation with a bank, sometimes also with a mo

Marketing Your Home: What Happens in the First Twenty-One Days A seller came to me managing two houses at once. Stressful situation, and the kind where people rush the launch just to get it over with. We didn't rush it. Staging, strategic pricing, and a launch built to hit hard on day one. Three ful

Pre-Qualified or Pre-Approved? In This Market That One Word Decides Who Gets the House The Saturday Marcus and Trina lost a house they had already decorated in their heads Brick colonial in Bowie. Cul de sac. A back yard their daughter walked into and refused to leave. By the time they got back to t