Practical answers

Every route has a cost, whether it is negotiating strength, money or convenience. Which one fits depends on your finances and how much uncertainty you can live with.

Neither system is covered by a standard home inspection. Both are separate appointments, and both are worth booking before anything else on your list.

The flood map, the insurance quote and the elevation certificate decide more about a shoreline purchase than almost anything else. Here is the order to do them in.

Automated estimates, agent opinions and appraisals are three different things measuring three different questions. Here is what each one is good for.

When the photos promise a finished room that was never there, buyers feel lied to the second they walk in. That feeling is hard to recover from.

Two houses at the same price can carry very different monthly payments here, and that can move your numbers after you've already started looking.

It explains why one of my markets feels frantic while the other one waits.

The contract is the builder's, the incentive is usually tied to their lender, and the inspection you skip is the one you needed. A practical guide to the parts that are not like a resale purchase.

Every route has a cost, whether it is negotiating strength, money or convenience. Which one fits depends on your finances and how much uncertainty you can live with.

Automated estimates, agent opinions and appraisals are three different things measuring three different questions. Here is what each one is good for.

When the photos promise a finished room that was never there, buyers feel lied to the second they walk in. That feeling is hard to recover from.

It explains why one of my markets feels frantic while the other one waits.