We'd love to tell you that nothing will go wrong in your real estate transaction, but there are so many things out of our control. However, we will tell you that we can deal successfully with 99.9% of the problems that could arise. (Success being defined as completing the closing on your house.)

There are events that commonly "go wrong" that aren't really "wrong", but they add a bit more stress to the process. In recent years the most stressful step has become awaiting the appraisal from the lender. Back in the boom years this was a slam dunk. Appraisers would appraise homes for at or above what the buyer had offered to pay for it. However, now that we've gotten ourselves in a bit of a pickle with home values, this process has become a bit more regulated.

Appraisers are now kept at an arms length from the lenders and lenders no longer get to pick and choose which appraiser will appraise each house. (Lenders can pick which appraisers are on their rotating list, but not which person appraises each house.) How does this impact you? Well, the appraiser looks at location, square footage, amenities, and condition.  If the person who appraises your home in a city neighborhood has only previously appraised suburban homes, they may not understand that homes on the east side of Point A are more desirable and therefore shouldn't be compared to homes on the west side of Point A. This would dramatically drop the homes value.

So, how do we help with this process? We work with lenders who have carefully selected their appraisers so that they have experience and knowledge of the entire the metro area. And we offer documentation of comparable properties sold to the appraiser for their records.

You will also have the opportunity to see for yourself what the comparable properties are. When you are determining the price you are going to offer for your new home, you will look at what has sold in the area and in comparable neighborhoods. You will know if your offer may be bumping up against upper end of what the market is currently holding.

Our promise to you is always to minimize surprises along the way...