successful real estate negotiations

Negotiations can be one of the more uncomfortable aspects of buying or selling real estate, but an experienced real estate agent like Larry Tollen can help you make sense the process and work through it so that both parties come out satisfied. While negotiations are a great time to ask for things like furniture and existing amenities to be left in the house, the process is always a little bit of give and take from the buyer and the seller. It's important to bear in mind that nobody gets exactly what they want, and each party must be willing to give a little.

At My NC Homes, we have been involved with well over a thousand transactions, so we can offer the experience you need to help you successfully get through negotiating the terms and conditions…

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How Technology is Changing Real Estate

We become what we behold. We shape our tools and then our tools shape us. – Marshall McLuhan

The online community is changing the way that success is measured in the industry. Five, ten, and twenty years ago, the role of a real estate agent was considerably different than it is now. Back then, agents had to seek out information and catalogue it, so their successes were largely based on the amount of data they had at their disposal. Nowadays, it’s not so much about how much data you can curate, but how well you know the local market and the kind of service you provide. Whether the agents like it or not, good and bad experiences are broadcasted across online review platforms and social media, which can persuade or dissuade people from wanting to work…

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 issues with working with a dual agent

Before we talk about dual agency, let’s look at the conventional relationship between an agent and a client. The client can be either a seller or a buyer.

Hiring A Realtor To Sell Your Home

A home seller will hire a broker to handle the home sale. The broker becomes the seller’s agent. The seller expects the Realtor to do everything in the Realtor’s power to get the seller the best deal on the sale. In the course of the transaction, the seller will probably tell the Realtor certain details that may affect how the realtor handles the sale. For example, the seller may need to move immediately and be willing to take a lower price if necessary to sell the house. Or the seller may be in no hurry to sell and will not accept a low price under any…

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Buying a home to renovate in the Triangle Area

Step 1: Find The Right Home

Some buyers are out there with the specific goal in mind: to buy a fixer-upper. With an extensive background in construction, the My NC Home team wants to help you find a good home that's worth restoration. They'll advise on whether or not its a viable home to renovate, and help you find the home that best suits your needs. Once we've found the right home, we'll help you negotiate a fair price so that you can buy the house and start making your vision a reality.

Step 2: Renovate It!

When you buy a home with My NC Homes, they don't just hand over the keys and call it a day, they're with you every step of the way. If you're planning to do some construction work post-purchase, then they want to help you follow through…

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Triangle Area farmers' marketsNow that Memorial Day has passed, our thoughts turn to summer; and one of the greates things about this time of the year is the availability of numerous fresh fruits and vegetables. While grocery stores stock up on all of the current fruits and veggies, there is nothing fresher than buying your goods directly from the farmer at your local farmer’s market.

Both Andrew and I are serious cooks, and one of the many things we love about living here in North Carolina is our access to high quality fresh foods. 

The Triangle Area is blessed with a plethora of farmers’ markets, so there is no reason you can’t enjoy delicious fresh foods this summer. Many of these markets offer far more than just fruits and vegetables. Many offer a number of other foods…

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Butterfly GardenMany of us find It fascinating to watch butterflies as they flit from flower to flower. They are beautiful, delicate creatures. But they aren&rsquot just beauties, they also pollinate flowers. There are over 170 different species of butterflies in North Carolina. Wouldn&rsquot it be nice to have a few of them spend time in your garden? Here are some ways you can attract butterflies to your yard.

Grow caterpillars to get butterflies.

As strange as that sounds, you want to grow caterpillars. Caterpillars turn into butterflies as adults. So if you don&rsquot have caterpillars, you won&rsquot have many butterflies. To grow caterpillars, you need the right host plants. These plants include clover, honeysuckle, peas, violets, milkweed, pipevine,…

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Downsizing your homeDoes your home seem too big for your current circumstances? If so, you are not alone. Baby Boomers especially are finding that they don’t need such a large home anymore. Many people who are thinking about retirement are also looking for ways to economize a bit, and a lower mortgage payment from a smaller home looks inviting. If you are thinking about downsizing your home, here are some tips to make the job easy.

Decide what you want your future to be like.

Do you want your life to stay pretty much the same but just live in a smaller house in the same neighborhood? Or, do you want to live in your own home in a retirement community where residents have many amenities available to them? Perhaps you want to live nearer to the center of town so that most…

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Durham & Chapel Hill real estate market update - Spring 2016So here we are again at the beginning of another spring market in the Durham/Chapel Hill area. The azalea's are in bloom, despite abnormally low temperatures, and things are looking beautiful. It's a great time to go out and start your home search, or is it?

Over the last few years the real estate market in our area has gotten tougher and tougher for buyers in Durham and Chapel Hill. We are seeing very little inventory and prices are going up up up. For example, in Orange County, year over year, the median sales price is up 34.8% and inventory is sitting at a 4 month supply, where 6 months is considered a balanced market. Durham county is up 17.1 % and inventory is sitting at a staggering low of 1.9 months of supply. So some buyers are asking…

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Why get pre-approved for a mortgage before looking at homes“Why do I need to get Pre-Approved?” is a question we get asked almost every day at My NC Homes when we speak with perspective home buyers. Some tell us "I went online and know I’m qualified". While that might be the case, it's important to understand the differences between Pre-Qualification and Pre-Approval when it comes to the mortgage process.

The Differences Between Pre-Qualification & Pre-Approval

Two often confused terms in the home buying process are a mortgage pre-qualification and a mortgage pre-approval. Even some loan officers and real estate agents will use the terms incorrectly or may not fully understand the difference between the two. If you are looking to buy a home in the Durham/Chapel Hill/Cary area it is critical that you get…

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If your home was built before the mid-1960s, there's a good chance it has an underground storage tank for the heating oil used as the fuel for the furnace. This heating oil was usually stored in underground storage tanks (USTs) near the homes. Oil trucks would come to the homes and top off the USTs periodically during the winter months.

The Problem: Tanks Can Corrode & Leak Over Time

Over time, people switched to above-ground tanks or to electric furnaces or furnaces powered by natural gas. But the underground tanks still sit on the properties and may still have some oil in them. So what is the problem? Well, the tanks are made primarily of steel, which will corrode after about 20 or 30 years of use. Holes develop in the tanks, and the oil leaks out…

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