It's every parents favorite time of year, you know what it is, it's the first day of school. I can't wait until Monday when I will get up early and run into my kids rooms and start screaming, “First Day of School Baby!” This has been a tradition in our house since kindergarten. My kids of course will hate it as usual, but their mother and I will be doing the happy dance all day long.

This time of year does remind me of one of the most often asked questions I get as a Realtor in Durham, “What about the schools?” Or that strange look I often get when I tell people proudly that my kids go to public school in Durham. Durham? Really? Yes, Durham! It is no secret that the public school system in North Carolina is struggling lately, budgets are down, teacher…

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All home buyers need and want water and sewer; which can only be delivered either by a well and septic system or by municipal water and sewer.

Working for more than 25 years as a full-time Realtor; half of which was in the Mount Snow ski area of Southern Vermont, I have considerable firsthand experience with both well and septic systems. Working with as many buyers as I do, I've realized that many often have ideas about these that are often somewhat muddled and/or short on details.

Many times I've had buyers tell me they want well and septic so as to avoid having water and sewer bills and while it's easy to understand this thought process they don't understand that while there won't be monthly water and sewer bills, there are expenses they need to…

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This article on 3 Things Homebuyers Should Know is an excellent one for all home buyers to read. Home Buyers will also want to be certain to check out the most recent edition of our Home Buyers Guide

While many Realtors want buyers getting pre-approved before they sit down with them, I actually prefer buyers sit down with me first. Not every lender is right for every buyer and this is why I have half a dozen of more that I can suggest to my buyers based on their specific situation. In addition, while most buyers have little if any experience with mortgage lenders, both Andrew Palumbo and I deal with them virtually every day and have for decades so we know their strengths and weaknesses and can share these with our buyer clients.

I’ve assembled a…

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Selling your home yourselfIt’s only natural, you are going to sell your proeprty and you wonder about selling your home on your own, without a Realtor. You think, “It’ll be easy and besides I can save a lot of money and it can’t be that hard.” It’s a reasonable assumption and the truth is there is no one size fits all answer. Basically it boils down to the following: do you have the time, knowledge and temperament to get it done and are you prepared to do what it takes?

I’m certain many of my fellow Realtors are wondering why in the world would I willingly educate homeowners on how to effectively work without us. First, many home owners simply don’t realize everything that goes into listing and selling a home properly. {I’ll go so far as to say that there are many agents who…

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Home Buyers beware of mortgage pitfalls. Many home buyers are finding it more challenging to qualify for a mortgage these days, as mortgage lenders have tightened their lending guidelines and underwriters are often triple reviewing loan files and checking the buyers credit frequently right up to the last minute and on occasion even right after the actual closing takes place and the documents are signed.

When we first meet, we have a talk with new home buyers about the mortgage process and what to expect. However, that is early in the process and lots of things happen between finding a home and the closing table. There are inspections, unfamiliar paperwork, time tables to meet, and the stress of moving. It is no wonder that many buyers forget our early…

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Durham Bulls Athletic ParkIf you listen closely you'll hear the crack of the bat. Spring is running late this year but the 2014 Baseball Season is up and running here in Durham, North Carolina. From T-Ball all the way up to the Durham Bulls we are in full swing this April. Now I like baseball but I am not a huge baseball fan. However, spend some time at a Durham Bulls game and you can't help but become a fan. When my family and I were first considering a move to Durham one of my friends took me to a game. This one night certainly helped to put Durham at the top of our list of places to move. I was amazed by my first sight of the American Tobacco Campus and the ball park itself was also a sight to see. Now game night will be even more exciting with a huge renovation of the park…

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Sales all awaken from their winter hibernation period and for those of us in the business it’s time to Rock and Roll.

It’s the time that I and other top selling agents are working 10-14 hours a day getting homes ready for market and listed. Meeting dozens of new buyers to find out more about what their ideally looking for and taking them out to show them homes. Negotiating deals and of course swimming in paperwork. In short; it’s another Spring Market here in Chapel Hill / Durham / Raleigh NC.

2014 is off to a strong start and I’m writing this article in order to share some insights designed to help Buyers and Sellers successfully purchase (or sell) the home they want.

As a top producing Realtor with nearly 25 years and roughly 1000 successfully…

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Are Zillow "Zestimates" , do they offer anything of value to a home buyer. With Spring selling season heating up, I'm bringing on several new buyer clients each and every week and many of of them talk to me about home's they've seen on Zillow and the estimate of value (that Zillow refers to as a Zestimate) that they see and why should they believe me when I tell them that they need to take this "valuation: with a significant grain of salt.

Here is a great video I' just found on YouTube that gives one of the better explanation regarding how Zillow arrives at their Zestimate and why while it may be worth considering it's prone to higher than average levels of inaccuracy in many markets.

How Accurate Is Zillow?

What this video shows is what is…

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I don’t think ARM’s or Reverse mortgage indicate a housing bubble, unlike the this article suggests.

I believe ARM’s are an ideal mortgage product for a significant number of home buyers and reflect the reality of today’s work environment; namely that most 25-45 year old buyers will very likely be moving either as their financial, personal or employment status changes. This is referred to as “playing the odds”.

Statistically speaking there an almost 90% chance that most of my buyers will be moving within the first 5 or 7 years of buying their home, so why would they not want a lower fixed rate for the first 5 or 7 years of their mortgage? The media did an absolutely awful job of reporting the issues with the real estate collapse in 2008-09. The…

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Who doesn't love a good list? Here's a link to Liveability.com's 2014 Best Places to Live and my home city Durham NC ranks #4 and ten minutes away where my real estate office is located; Chapel Hill NC ranked #71. It's nice to live, work and play in such a highly desirable location and easy to understand why.

Here's just some of the things I love about the area:

UNC and Duke University:

You can't beat having two world class Universities within 15 minutes of one another that attract some of the smartest minds both teaching and students to the area is a huge plus. It creates a highly educated, well traveled, open minded environment at large and offers so many opportunities to meet, interact and learn from an amazing group of people. UNC and Duke…

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