“Buying/Selling Real Estate in Today’s Market: What You Really Need to Know”
Guest Speaker: Real Estate Attorney Julia Wei
Date: July 11th, 2009
Time: 11AM to 12PM
Q&A/Refreshments to follow!
Description: The number one mistake made when negotiating a residential real estate transaction is when participants lack understanding of the responsibilities of all of the parties and their [...]

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Q ~ We sold our house in August 1998. Before the sale, an inspection
of the bathroom floor revealed some water damage. The inspector
did not find structural damage. We replace the vinyl and wood under
the floor. Later the inspector cleared the bathroom and the buyer
signed off on it. In June this year, the buyer [...]

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by Pat Kapowich
Excerpted from the San Jose Mercury News, SJMN
Market Wise Column
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Q: We made an over-list price offer on a short-sale listing that was still occupied by the sellers. Our offer collected dust for more than seven weeks on the desk of the lender’s loss mitigator. Frustrated, we pulled our offer. Sure [...]

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Pat Kapowich for SJMN’s Market Wise Column

San Jose Mercury News 4/4/09

By Pat Kapowich

04/04/2009

Q: We have a foreclosure on our street, which has become a blight in this once quaint neighborhood. Needless to say, the agents handling this property are unresponsive and uncooperative. My husband is handling the 4-foot weeds and even picked up nine weekly [...]

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Q ~ We are in the middle of purchasing a home and out agent is of
little or no help. Can we fire him at this point? If so, will it
jeopardize the sale?
A ~ Complain to the managing broker, who will intervene or appoint
another licensee to complete the transaction. Otherwise, you might
muddle through only to [...]

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Q: I thought buyers paid for inspections, why does my listing agent
keep insisting on us paying for seller inspections?
A: Your astute agent knows your home will sell better and faster with
a full disclose package, which includes inspections. Moreover, pre-sale
inspections also tend to keep a seller out of legal disputes.

by Pat Kapowich SiliconValleyBroker.com, owns Kapowich
Real Estate [...]

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by Pat Kapowich
Excerpted from the San Jose Mercury News, SJMN
Market Wise Column
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Q: Last year we negotiated to purchase a home and were told that our final counter-offer to the counter-offer was verbally accepted. It was decided that we’d all sign a new contract combining all the agreed upon terms during a weeklong [...]

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By Pat Kapowich
Excerpted from the San Jose Mercury News, SJMN
Market Wise Column
Saturday, June 6th, 2009

Q: While viewing homes with our Realtor we encountered a vicious dog in one of the backyards. The dog actually charged at us and we barely made it back inside the house. Though no one was bitten, it was painfully obvious [...]

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Pat Kapowich for SJMN’s Market Wise Column
By Pat Kapowich

04/04/2009
Q: We keep writing offers that receive no response at all, get rejected outright or lose out to another buyer’s offer. In cases when we lose out to other buyers, we don’t even get a counter-offer. I thought it’s supposed to be a buyer’s market. Don’t these [...]

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By Pat Kapowich
Excerpted from the San Jose Mercury News, SJMN
Market Wise Column
Saturday, June 6th, 2009

Q: We are in the process of getting our house ready for sale and our agent wants us to install some sort of attic ventilation. We don’t have A/C and the house can get very warm on hot days. His [...]

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