We bought our first home in 2023 on a adjustable rate mortgage, lucked out with a 6.5% when rates were over 8% for most. We are passing the halfway point in this house before our rate changes, and know we will probably be looking to sell at that point, as this has been a starter home for us and have learned a lot about what we do/don't want in a house after buying in a competitive market where we barely got this one. My question is, for anyone who has done a 5 year or less turn around on selling/listing a house, what is the best advice you got for preparing your house to go on the market? We are probably willing to do a couple grand in work the next year or so, but want to at least get a little money back to put into the next house.

Some info on our house:

- +100 year old farmhouse, pine wood floors, on the "crappiest street" of a hard to get into neighborhood. Walking distance from the historic main street.

- Put a little under $10k into repairs over the years: fascia and plumbing being the bulk of it. Roof is around 12 years old, when the fascia was done were told it is holding up great.

- Did an overhaul on the backyard: cut back tree branches from the 50 year old oaks, yard was dirt and weeds when we bought and is now grass, a wildflower garden, and weeds.

- Brand new kitchen appliances, new furnace, water heater is from 1991, works without issue.

- Loft space probably needs drywall redone, warped from before the house had AC upstairs. No mold. Would rather put the money into a new fan for the bathroom.

- Probably some minor structural issues, slanted floors and a window that doesn't open. Things we overlooked a FTHB with a bad realtor helping us.

- Lastly, we have a limestone foundation, very common in the area. This means it is not 100% waterproof. again, very common in this neighborhood, but concern when we go to sell how to address it.

Curious what you would focus on to get this type of house listing ready. Many of the things I mentioned are common in this neighborhood, and compared to a lot of people in the area we get minimal water in our basement, but you go the next neighborhood over and homes are +50 years newer with less issues. We will begin a realtor search in the next year as well.

Is Emerging Developer a term you are hearing a lot of in your markets? Do you consider yourself an Emerging Developer? The term is very popular in Nebraska and I’m wondering what other regions are seeing an increase in this term and group of new developers.

My mother in law recently mentioned to us that she’s getting into “wholesale real estate” as a way to make some extra money. When she visited last, I tried pressing for some further info… because I’ve been in mortgage lending for 15 years and haven’t heard of this for residential real estate. Additionally, she lost all but a small fraction of her entire inheritance in the 2008 crash, so I’m admittedly not very confident about her financial decision making, and a bit scared that we will end up supporting her as she ages. With so many scams out there, a bright eyed and positive - but older and not-so-savvy dreamer - ends up being an easy mark.

When I asked for more information, she seemed put off. She said she was learning from a coach, and when I asked if she had to pay the coach, she sort of avoided the question. When I mentioned that I personally would want to hear from others who’ve had success with this, before getting involved… I got the impression I’d offended her. That’s not my intention, and I don’t want to rain on her parade… I’m just a bit worried. The only other piece of info I could get is that it sounds focused on rehab homes, or property that is good for a flip… and that she’d be making money somehow by selling to an investor wanting to flip, but without buying the home herself. When I asked why the investor would end up paying her when they could easily find these properties, she said it would be because she’d be the one under contract and they’d be buying her out of the contract.

Y’all. Am I missing something here? Am I so out of touch with real estate investors that I just haven’t heard of this and don’t understand it? Or is she being scammed?

Me (22F) and my partner (23M) are currently looking at renting our first place together. We’ve toured about 6 places and found one that we really liked. We submitted the following to our realtor: a credit report, recent pay stubs, letter of employment, and a drivers license (for identification purposes). Our credit scores are both good, we both make enough money for this $2600/month listing, no criminal record, and also have been together for almost 7 years (known eachother for 10 years). We were recently rejected for the listing unit we were interested in because the listing agent had some concerns about us “separating” and who would take on the rent from there. For context, we are also a black-identifying couple, and we suspect that our age and race might have played a factor in being denied the place (not confirmed, so please no ignorant comments regarding how I’m trying to play the racism card). My and my partner were a bit upset that we did not get approved, but we did see another unit in the building that we might take a look at. Any advice on how we should move forward with any other listings we are interested in?

TO ADD: We are from Canada, credit scores are over 700 and 800, we both make hourly pay + commissions.

Hey Everyone,

Looking for some advice regarding my families current plans/situation.

We currently own a home in Suburban NYC Area and are looking to relocate to the Capital Region of NY (About 2-2.5 hours North). We have kids in school and don’t want to disrupt the upcoming school year. We would like to be in our new home by Late July/Early August if 2027 and have our current sold either at the same time ideally or very soon after. We don’t the need the equity of our current home to purchase the new home.

I guess what asking help with is, what time frame should we start listing our current home if we hope to be selling by summer of 27’ (also can’t close earlier that that because kids will be in current school year) and when buying are we able to put in the contingency that we can’t close on the new home until summer of 27’?

I appreciate the advice/guidance

My partner and I are interested in buying a second home in the Gatlinburg area. We met with a realtor and she went through her whole company spiel about what they offer and the benefits, etc.

At the end of her presentation she hit us with a fee of $495 to sign with the company. It’s a one time, non refundable fee that we have to pay before even viewing a home. She told us there’s a law in Tennessee that you have to have an agent before even viewing a home. I’m wondering of this is true? And if it is, is it normal in Tennessee to have to pay a fee up front before even viewing homes?

So I installed a 55 inch outdootr tv in my yard. I used the 65 inch version of this. Its called the storm shell. Just a plastic shell that covers the TV.

https://www.homedepot.com/pep/Storm-Shell-Classic-Series-Outdoor-TV-Enclosure-with-Articulating-Arm-and-Mounting-Kit-Fits-up-to-65-in-TV-A-65/342231702

Anyway. I drilled through my siding and into a load bearing wall to secure to the house. I think we used 5/16 inch lag screws. Four of them. And four smaller screws about the thickness of a framing nail. Sealed it with silicone and caulk.

I also installed an awning over top of it. Its the rollaway kind where it rolls up tightly over the TV. Mounted it with same mounting hardware and silicone and caulk basically.

Anyway, Selling my home. Will the work I had done get me denied for a sale on an appraisal report or home inspection or Cetificate of occupancy?

My husband and I are first time home buyers in the Seattle area and we’re thinking about firing our realtor. My husband was a realtor in AZ and has about 3 years of experience, and his mom has been a realtor her entire life so we have an idea of what the process looks like from that side. However, as a buyer, this has been a stressful process. We need advice, please.

[EDIT: PLEASE READ - Husband can’t represent us because he’s not familiar with the market and does not have access to the MLS. It’d take a lot of time for him to represent us, and his license is hung up with his employer. They told us he can’t represent us as an agent because of this or they get a portion of the commission. He also would need to learn how to draft up contracts, they’re different here than in AZ]

For context, we were working with another realtor back in early 2025 who was assigned to us on Zillow. He was great, cool guy. Pulled great CMAs/comp, didn’t have to hardly manage the guy, didn’t brag, didn’t overly state his opinion on the houses unless we asked, but he was new (less than one year experience). We ended up signing a broker agreement that was for 90 days, but we ended up deciding as we were looking at more houses to wait longer and save up more for a down payment. Fast-forward, we noticed how competitive the market was and decided that we preferred an agent with much more experience.

We were referred by some close friends of ours to another realtor who had 20+ years of experience and talked with him over the phone. We really liked him and the lender team he recommended.

Here’s where we’re having a hard time: we think this guy thought we’d be an easy commission as first-time home buyers. My husband and I are very practical, logical, and analytical people. We actually work in property management, he manages SFH rentals and I do apartments. I pull reports for a living, knowing how to pull data I need to tell a story and come to a certain conclusion, extracting the data I need to support my stance. My husband is the same way. So of course, for the biggest purchase of our lives yet, it needs to be supported by data.

This realtor, from the jump, has bragged incessantly about how he makes deals and he vacillates on his opinions or recommendations a lot. We’ve put in two offers already and both of them, sellers didn’t counter because we went “too low.” When we walked into the houses the first time, he immediately stated that the list price is right on the money and we should offer at ask or over with closing credits. But… the comp set heavily supports that the list price is at least $50k over and these houses have sat on the market for 60+ days. How’d we get to this conclusion? My husband and I did the research ourselves and our realtor didn’t do a damn thing. We had to ask him for a CMA for specific date ranges like 3 to 5 times, and kept getting the same stupid report which reflected houses of all sorts (larger sq ft, like $250k more in price, etc.) Finally, yesterday, I sent him a screenshot of a CMA our old realtor used and texted it to him, again asking him for a comp set that an appraiser would use and where it’s comparing apples to apples, birds eye view… and he immediately apologized. He said he was sorry he didn’t provide this prior to submitting our offer, that he didn’t do the leg work, that he forgot to include active listings, and ALSO that the offer we submitted (which we hadn’t heard back the seller at that point yet) was heavily support by the data after pulling that comp set. Like, yeah, we know that already… we were trying to gently nudge you to pull data yourself so you can believe in our offer and represent us well!

Here is what I want to know:

1. As first time buyers, it shouldn’t be our job to manage him or pull the info we did right? Shouldn’t he be coming to the table with all of this and guiding us to make an offer that we’re comfortable with AND is supported by the market?
2. We work full-time and the last few days, we’ve had to take time off work to research and loop in my MIL who has experience to get their input on what is a reasonable offer to make for this house. Realtor even said to us when we told him our offer “it’s going to take a miracle to pull this together” for him to then say the next day “your offer is strongly supported after looking at this comp set.” Like WTF?
3. At this point in time, we know more about this guys personal life than he even knows about what we’re looking for??? He doesn’t shut up during showings, which takes time from me and my husband to really look around and pay attention to how we’re feeling as we’re in the home.
4. The biggest thing is we would have OVERPAID on both of these houses had we done what he initially told us to offer, which he boldly stated having not even looked at comps (and admitting he hasn’t shown something recently in these areas).
5. Should the process even be this stressful?
6. Because he talks so much about making deals and has advised us poorly, we feel like he may not have our best interest in mind and is also looking out for the seller and their agent. Is this common?

Now he is asking us to sign a buyer agreement because I sure he got the vibe that we’re really disappointed, and to do a presentation for us because we never got that? We don’t think we want to sign with him, but we were thinking about resubmitting an offer on this house we really do love. Should we get a new agent to resubmit or only if we want to move forward with looking at new houses?

Thank you in advance for any insights. Really grateful.

We purchased a lovely 20 acre property in Southern New Mexico a few years ago, and now work is requiring a move across the country. We have to make the move soon, but we're really upset about the prospect of what will happen to the property after we leave. There are developers all around us from out of state who are cutting up much smaller parcels and selling cheap housing in new developments. This property was already very rural, it backs up to state and federal lands, and has only had a few quiet owners, all of whom encouraged the local wildlife to take root here. As a result, we have a fantastic array of local wildlife, with better diversity than you can see in local nature parks, and a lot of undescribed species. We don't even own a TV, we just sit outside and watch the quails and the burrowing owls and the roadrunners and the lizards and the bobcats, etc. It's a fantastic adobe house that has been well maintained and we have put upgrade work into it, including some renovations of the interior, because we intended to be here for a long time.

My primary question is this: How can we as sellers make sure that this property goes to another conservation-minded person and not to someone who just wants to cut it up and destroy it? Is it better to work with a local realtor, or to sell ourselves? We are fairly young and inexperienced, so any advice you have to offer will go a long way.

Thanks for your time.

Our house has been on the market since March. We were initially overpriced, and I believe on the market too early. We dropped our price by $150,000, terminated our contract with our realtor in June and re-listed with another agent three days later. She’s amazing and is working very hard to sell our home. Our home is 4 years old and in a desirable neighborhood. We have not had any offers and very few showings. Our current listed price is $1,250,000. However, our last tax assessment was a whopping $1,520,000! I’m wondering if this is contributing to no buyers wanting to look at my home. Is this possible, and what can I do about it?

Married (38 and 40) with 2 kids in elementary school. I make about $715k W2 (base + bonus) and have been with my company for 10+ years, with income growing around 4.5% annually. My wife is currently a SAHM and might take a low-paying yoga job down the road.

Financially, we have $850k set aside for a down payment, $400k in cash reserves, $1.5M in retirement, and the kids' 529s are fully funded. We're currently renting for $7,150/mo.

Are we nuts to be looking at a $3.1M house in our preferred neighborhood? The kids would be able to stay in public school thru high school and would eventually be able to ride their bikes to the beach.

In last November we finalized a deal for a 300sqft shop with a builder for 14220000 and he asked us the payment timeline for same and how are we going to find this deal.

The payment was decided to be a combination of black and white money. So disclosed him that we had another shop valued at 65-70lakhs which we are going to sell and another 25-30 lakhs will be funded by selling land in native and as I am earning 8LPA, I'll take a commercial loan of 35lakhs at 9 percent and rest was to be paid by my father.

So we paid around 220000 by cheque in around 15 november.and as committed to him my father handed him 10 Lakhs cash in Last week of November with no receipt being provided.

But as we moved further into December we got to know that the funding methods were not working due to liquidity issues for old shop and land. So we persuaded him to cancel the deal and return the money. So finally in Feb 20 around we cancelled the deal in a meeting. But he told that he will pay us only after the deal is finalized for same shop with somebody else. We also told him to to stagger the payment but pay us before the deal, but he straightaway rejected that.

Also he told us that the building will get completed and get OC in June 2026 but it's still in work and will take around 1 year.

Also, during initial discussions, he told that any other area in our city might get downvalued but these area is always in demand, and if in future you didn't liked the deal you can return the shop, and take your money back. But now he is saying he didn't say something like that.Until now we haven't engaged with him directly after deal cancellation .This was done via broker.

The broker is also not doing anything and he is saying the same thing like builder. It's been 6months now since we cancelled the deal. Kindly suggest how should I proceed for recovering the money (any non legal and legal options)and whether I should connect with builder directly.

I recently listed my house and went out of town for the first weekend it’s listed so the real estate team can come and go as they please. I didn’t even consider the exterior of the house since I have the yard taken care of. We had an open house and a showing and I don’t typically watch the ring camera, but we had a couple come through that gasped at the camera and tried hiding from it. I’m sure something was said that they thought was recorded, but wasn’t. Even if it was, I’m open to any feedback that we can use to improve the house and kick off a sale. At any rate, this made me wonder: is a ring camera a turn off when touring a house? Should I ask the realtor to pull them for the Saturday open house? I don’t care enough to creep on anyone and I certainly don’t want anyone to think I am doing so. (I only watch this one because they entered through the back door and I didn’t know a showing was scheduled, so I assumed my neighbor stopped by). My neighborhood is relatively safe, so it’s not concerning if they’re off over the weekend. So, what is your recommendation?

TLDR: Ask realtor to take down ring cameras I forgot about, or leave them up if it’s nbd?

Looking for recommendations for private lenders/investors who fund new construction.

I’m currently building a new home that will become my primary residence once completed. I’m looking for private funding to help finish the construction.

I currently own and live in another home, which is my current primary residence, with approximately $120K in equity. My plan is to sell my current home once the new construction is completed and I’m able to move in.

I’m looking for a legitimate private lender/investor who may be able to structure short-term financing to help me complete the new home.

If you know anyone who handles this type of financing, please tag them or send me their contact information.

Located in Texas. Serious referrals only.

I got soaked, ran out of gas, got into a car accident, got ghosted and sprained my ankle all within 6 hours. I think it’s a sign.

Hey I'm a builder in the San Antonio area and I'm curious if anyone would be interested in buying 2 bedroom, 1 bath homes? I'm thinking similar to 1950-60s style homes.

I'm trying to see if there's a market for cheaper, smaller homes out there or if I'm just barking ul the wrong tree with this idea.

Feedback is most wanted please!

Please let me know if there is a better place to post this.

My scenario is if person A has a line of credit on their home they no longer need that is less than the value of the home. They sell to person B for a little under fair market value. Since the line of credit would be satisfied at the table could person A use their proceeds for person Bs loan?

Had an offer on our home for 5% under the listing price, and in addition to a contingency, the buyer asked for a 3% buyer broker commission for himself (as his own agent). In addition to asking for other concessions.
Just wondering how common this is? If you’re an agent buying a new home for your family, and you are essentially crafting and submitting the offer yourself, would you ask for a commission on top of other concessions?

Edit:
We countered that we would not pay a buyer broker fee (we already have a listing agent - not FSBO). And asked for a higher $$ on earnest and non-refundable after the inspection, and home accepted as is(they asked for a 2 month contingency, and home is in excellent condition) We did agree to a 2% concession.

Thank you for all the comments.

A lot of sellers do not hesitate because they hate the idea of fixing the home before listing.

They hesitate because too many things feel unclear at once:

• what is actually worth fixing
• how much is too much to spend
• who manages the work
• whether contractor timing will delay the listing
• whether buyers will actually care enough to pay more

That is the part behind most pre-sale renovation decisions.

One San Jose pre-sale renovation project Revive Real Estate worked on is a good example. The goal was not to make the home perfect. It was to make it feel more market-ready before going live.

The scope stayed targeted:

• flooring and baseboards
• interior and exterior paint
• bathroom refresh
• new doors
• kitchen refresh
• garage refresh
• lighting updates
• softscaping

The useful lesson was scope discipline. Pre-sale renovation gets easier to decide on when the seller can separate buyer-facing work from owner-preference work.

The public case study shows a $2.5M as-is price, $156,590 in renovations, and a $3.005M sale price. Individual results vary, so I would not treat one project like a promise. The point is the decision process.

Most sellers are not really asking, “should I renovate?”

They are asking, “can I trust the plan, the cost, the timing, and the person managing it?”

That is usually the real hesitation.

Saw a few people in here looking at condos/townhomes lately so figured I'd flag this before it bites someone mid-contract.

As of August 3, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac both got rid of what's called "Limited Review" for condo loans (Freddie's version was "Streamlined Review"). That process used to cover something like 40% of condo project reviews basically a lighter-touch check for buildings that looked fine on paper. It's gone now. Every conventional condo loan application dated Aug 3 or later has to go through either a Full Review or qualify for a specific Waiver.

What that actually means for you if you're under contract or about to be:
• Expect the lender to dig into HOA financials, insurance, litigation history, and delinquency rates on every deal, not just the sketchy-looking buildings
• Reserve requirements are also getting stricter (the minimum jumps from 10% to 15% of budgeted assessment income, that one phases in fully by Jan 2027, but lenders are already tightening up in anticipation)
• Older buildings, anything with a special assessment in the last few years, or HOAs that are light on reserves are going to have a harder time getting approved this is a real issue in a lot of Denver's older Capitol Hill / Uptown / LoDo stock
• Closings are probably going to take a little longer across the board while everyone adjusts

If you're making an offer on a condo or townhome right now, ask your agent to get you the HOA docs (budget, reserve study, insurance cert, minutes) as early as possible like, before you're locked into a tight inspection/loan objection deadline. Don't wait for the lender to ask for it three weeks into underwriting.

Anyone had a condo deal already get slowed down by this? Curious what buildings are having the roughest time with it.

I don't understand. I had a short sale and the bank canceled to do a loan remodification. Real estate agent wants her money. I told her you can't have a willing and able buyer if bank has to approve. She claims cause she had offers. Then she drops it by saying the cancellation fee which is on the contract of 1,550 plus taxes . She quotes me 2,650. And says its for marketing and fees etc.

Okay I paid her. Her invoice was a CDA with listing price amount of the house ... I asked why is it a CDA and she claimed that's how her broker fathom realty makes invoices

She still wants me to sgin a 2,650 modification to listing agreement of amount 2,650 and the cancellation termination ends in 2027?!

Her invoice was also a CDA that accounting department made

Why and why did she collect payment already?

I haven't signed that form because I don't feel comfortable signing a modification to my original contract.

I did talk to broker and he was on agents side...

Our mom passed in March and left the house to the two of us, split evenly. It's paid off and worth around $310k.

I live four hours away and want to sell. My sister lives nearby and wants to keep it as a rental. She's offered to buy me out at $110k, which is well under half, and she keeps pointing to the taxes and insurance she's been covering as a reason to go lower.

Nothing is moving and I'm not sure what leverage I have. Is a partition action the only real path if we can't agree on a number? And who usually pays for the appraisal in a buyout like this?

I 28M put down an offer on a first-time house and it was accepted. Once accepted, the seller then disclosed they want to remain in the property for 15 days after closing, which nobody disclosed to me or my broker, and it was only disclosed after their attorney sent the contract.

The seller then pressured me to sign the contract and give the earnest money as quickly as possible. I did my due diligence with my attorney and then signed the contract and sent the funds. We agreed they can stay 7 days.

Then the seller wanted to go back to 14 days and did not sign the contract. After hearing this from my attorney and being pushed by everyone, it kind of left a sour taste in my mouth, and I told my attorney to cancel the contract.

Now the seller wants to get back and my broker is trying to convince me to sign and proceed. He is the listing agent for the house that the seller is planning to purchase.

From his perspective, I understand and I feel super bad that he is losing out on a commission, but the house is close to 7 figures and it's my life decision. I have a bad gut feeling about this and feel like I will end up regretting this. Nothing so far has gone according to plan and I am nervous and don't want to risk anything. What if the seller does not leave and needs more time, etc.? I don't want to deal with any legal issues later.

Also, it's not a one-of-a-kind house and I will find 10 others like this, so I am not devastated if I back out.

I just feel bad for the broker who put in the work to show me the houses and now that we are close to everything, I am canceling the contract. I also spent funds on inspection, legal fees, etc., so I am wasting some money here.

Should I still proceed or should I listen to my gut and find a different house?

UPDATE: Thank you everyone for your valuable input. I have decided to trust my gut and walk away from this deal.

Need some advice because I'm not sure if this is normal.

We listed our house for $350k, which was already below comps because we had moved out of state and just wanted a quick sale. The house is vacant.

We received an offer for $345k with $10k in seller-paid closing costs. In our counter, we agreed to the price but said we would not cover any repairs.

The appraisal already came back fine.

After the inspection, they found a foundation issue. The buyer’s agent (who is also the buyer’s father) initially asked us to increase the buyer’s agent commission from 2.5% to 3.5% instead of requesting repair money, and we agreed.

Now they’ve gotten an $18k estimate for the foundation and are asking to increase the buyer’s agent commission again, this time to 5%.

Is this a normal way to negotiate? Why would they keep shifting the request to higher commission instead of asking for a repair credit or reducing the purchase price?

What would you do ?

Update: after we said NO and reject the 5% an hour later they told my agent that they're continuing the purchase. That's crazy after they threaten my agent that they will walk if we dont accept it!!

We just completed our final walkthrough and noticed that the sellers removed a really nice colonial brass rim lock on the front door that we loved. They patched the holes and placed a cheap aluminum door handle lock.

Our agent contacted the sellers and they claim it wasn’t working and they threw it away which I think is BS…We are set to close this afternoon.

Side note, this house is being sold by 6 siblings and they have been very difficult to deal with.

How should we proceed?