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Month: July 2017

  • How to predict the costs of home maintenance

    Reader Question: We will be buying our own home in the next year or so. There are numerous published articles about the hidden costs of home maintenance and caring for a home that offer conflicting information. Do you have any tips on taking care of a home? Monty’s Answer: Taking good care of a home…

  • Should we sell to a home flipper?

    Reader Question: We are planning to sell our home and asked a handyman to give us an estimate of the costs to fix several issues that are likely to cause a buyer to offer less money. He did provide us with a detailed estimate of the cost and also offered to buy our home as…

  • Should I be paying cash for a home?

    Reader ​Question: ​Are there any benefits to paying cash for a home worth $200,000?​ Monty’s Answer: This is an issue to which you would receive different answers depending on the disposition of the person answering the question. Leverage is the gold standard for most real estate investors. Many non-investors believe their home is not an…

  • Four simple tips to improve home inspection outcomes

     Reader Question: We just lost a buyer over two inconsequential discoveries by the home inspector. Our agent told us the buyer was edgy, and were afraid they would inherit more problems in the future because the discovery created the impression we hadn’t taken care of the house. We have had other friends with inspection issues.…

  • Agent tells home seller not to attend the home inspection

    Reader Question: We accepted an offer on our home. The contract is subject to a satisfactory home inspection. Our agent called to set up a time for the inspection and asked us not to attend the home inspection. She asked that we not be home. My thinking is that if there is some discovery made…