Month: January 2016

  • Five important home condition disclosure points

    Reader Question: I am concerned some important issues may be missed in inspections. In one condo development, for example, the ground in the heavy clay soil was not graded properly, and the internal construction had some major flaws. The selling agent at the condo explicitly stated he did not want to know about the issues.…

  • Home inspector pressured by a real estate agent

    Reader Question: I am a home inspector. ​I work with an agent who is always pressuring me to “take it easy” with the home inspection, I refuse to lower my standards, but I’m concerned about him finding a replacement. How would you suggest I approach ​t​his? ​Monty’s Answer: The situation you describe may be a…

  • What makes a condo warrantable vs. non-warrantable?

      Reader Question:  I am trying to learn what makes a condo warrantable vs. non-warrantable. Can you help me? Jonathan D. Monty’s Answer: The answer is that condominium, co-op and planned unit development (PUD) projects with particular attributes can be riskier than other types of development projects. The United States Department of Housing and Urban…

  • Seven tips when selling partial property interests

      Reader Question: I currently co-own a house with my two sisters. It was in our mother’s estate. One of the sisters wants to buy the two of us out which is fine with us, but we want to make sure the price she is offering is fair to us all. We had an appraisal…

  • Appraisers evaluate appraisal management companies

    Reader Question: Your recent article about why consumers cannot pick their appraiser was excellent, but only reviewed the process from the lender point of view. Residential appraisers hold a more educated viewpoint on appraisal management companies (AMC’s) than the lender as we do the work. My question is why didn’t you interview real estate appraisers?…