Pat Kapowich for the San Jose Mercury News
Q: We just made an offer on a house that was accepted without a counteroffer. The house was nicely remodeled and appeared to meet all our expectations. However, we were stunned upon receiving the seller’s home inspection report as it reads like it was done on a different [...]

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Pat Kapowich for the San Jose Mercury News
Q: Over a 10-day period we received three offers on the property we are selling. However, each time the buyers and their agent mysteriously disappeared after our counteroffer. This seems unprofessional. What part of “negotiating” don’t these people understand?

A: Oh, many parts that comprise a whole lot of [...]

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Pat Kapowich for the San Jose Mercury News
Q: We are selling our townhouse and the buyer’s pest inspector found damage to the exterior of our home to the tune of $4,300. Evidently, our homeowners’ association does not cover repairs for drywood termites and/or dry rot. To make matters worse, our agent informed us that we [...]

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Pat Kapowich for the San Jose Mercury News
Q: We have sold our home to a young couple who keep requesting visits for everything under the sun: room measurements, vendors, showing friends and family, etc. Our listing agent told the buyer’s agent that since their inspections and contingencies have successfully passed, any more access to our [...]

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Pat Kapowich for the San Jose Mercury News
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 [...]

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Pat Kapowich for the San Jose Mercury News
Q: We are trying to view homes when they have an open house. However, in many cases the real estate agent insists that we sign a guest book, often referring us to a note stating the seller requires visitors to provide personal information. Why would a seller make [...]

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Pat Kapowich for the Market Wise column in the San Jose Mercury News

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 [...]

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Pat Kapowich for the San Jose Mercury News
Q: We were recently involved in a multiple-offer situation. The seller’s agent collected six bids at the 5 p.m. deadline on Tuesday. This agent presented the offers to the seller on Wednesday. We were then granted a multiple-counter offer, along with the other three top offers. Clearly, the [...]

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Pat Kapowich for the San Jose Mercury News
Q: We are thinking about making an offer on a property, The seller’s agent is
insisting we make the offer through him because we attended his open
house. Can he do that? We are not comfortable with using the same agent.
Will we lose out on the home if we hire [...]

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Pat Kapowich for the San Jose Mercury News
Q: We are selling our house and the buyer’s home inspector is recommending further inspection of the sub-area by an appropriate professional. We don’t feel this is warranted, as our pre-sale inspection noted basically the same observations and comments. Should we grant an extension to the buyer for [...]

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