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Recent Articles from Bob and Donna McWilliams
Realities of Real Estate: Are chimney inspectors just blowing smoke?
We have written many columns about home inspections and the high hurdle they present in getting a home sale to settlement. Sometimes buyers are unwilling to tolerate even the smallest flaws in a property’s condition, a home inspector might inflate the degree to which condition issues constitute a serious problem, a seller may have failed […]
Realities of Real Estate: Is the house you’re buying a death trap?
With computers and other giant leaps forward in technology, our ability to measure things has grown exponentially. Atomic clocks keep track of time down to the last millisecond. Want to know how far away the moon is from your backyard, a brief Internet search can probably tell you that with an error rate of no […]
Realities of Real Estate: How market value is determined
There are many factors that go into selling real estate, but one of the most important is an honest, objective determination of what a property is really worth. Without an accurate understanding of what that number is, it’s not possible to set an effective list price, and no amount of fancy marketing will inspire someone […]
Realities of Real Estate: Wire fraud, drones and mortgage rates
Every once and a while, there isn’t one singular topic we think is important, but rather there are a variety of issues that you need to know about with respect to buying and selling homes. This is one of those weeks, so here are some real estate odds and ends. Wire fraud Email is a […]
Realities of Real Estate: Why did we buy our house?
When it gets to be around the holiday time, we like to take a break from the numbers, charts and deep dive we usually take on the Realities of Real Estate, and look to the softer side of buying and selling homes. People buy or sell real estate for all kinds of reasons, but basically […]
Realities of Real Estate: The cost of living in paradise
Earlier this month we took a trip to Aruba. Although it’s been quite a while since our last trip to the islands, in that the luxury of such trips tend to follow the ups and downs of the real estate market, we’ve had the opportunity to visit much of the Caribbean. Aruba is pretty much […]
Realities of Real Estate: Why you should care about the Fed funds rate
Our guess would be that 99 out of 100 people don’t have any idea what the Fed funds rate is, even though it’s something that directly affects the economic well-being of 99 out of 100 people, maybe even 100 out of 100. So, what is the Fed funds rate, and why should you care about […]
Realities of Real Estate: A real estate tale of two cities
On the news, or in some article, you might hear how real estate prices have recovered. And, since the bubble burst back in 2007 and 2008, prices are clearly turning the corner. But the degree and speed of that recovery can vary substantially from one area to another. The reason is that, like politics, all […]
Realities of Real Estate: How to survive a difficult real estate transaction
Last week, we had a business trip that took us to Minneapolis, along with a subsequent side trip to visit our parents in Wisconsin. Thinking that hurricane season was pretty much over, we didn’t give much thought to buttoning up our waterfront home in West River. But then, Hurricane Joaquin popped up in the Atlantic. […]
Realities of Real Estate: Benefits of home ownership aren’t just financial
In past columns, we’ve talked a lot about the financial advantages of home ownership. Even with the massive swings we’ve seen for real estate, home ownership, over time, remains one of the most secure ways to build long term wealth. The combination of low mortgage rates and tax advantages, such as mortgage interest and property […]
Realities of Real Estate: Challenging your property tax assessment
Real estate taxes are coming due at the end of this month. Most property owners don’t pay too much attention to real estate taxes, because it’s usually an automatic payment made out of their mortgage escrow account. Like income tax withholdings, its out-of-sight, out-of-mind. But real estate taxes are a significant expense. On an average […]
Realities of Real Estate: How the housing market has changed
It has been almost a decade since the housing bubble burst, but ever so slowly, we’re beginning to recover. Even so, the magnitude of this financial catastrophe was such that it fundamentally changed how people look at housing. For a long time, home ownership had been viewed as a rock solid way to build wealth, […]
