Plain answers, no jargon
Selling a house, explained the way a person would explain it
Real estate gets wrapped in words that are doing three jobs at once. Most of the confusion is not you. It is the vocabulary. So here is everything written the way I would say it on the phone, including the parts that do not help me sell anything.
I am Kevin. I buy houses in the Sacramento area, so I have an interest in this. Read accordingly.
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Showing 13 to 24 of 51 posts
Local guidesWhat Sacramento’s older housing stock means when you sell
Sacramento is the oldest city in the region, and its houses are the oldest too. Here is what an older house means for condition, records…
Cash offersWhat a listing agent does that a cash buyer does not, and why that is not a small thing
A listing agent and a cash buyer do two different jobs. Here is what the listing side does that a cash buyer cannot, and what you…
Cash offersCash offer versus renting it out one more year, and the bill that arrives either way
Selling for cash ends your ownership on a date you pick. Keeping the house and letting it out is the other road. Here is what each…
Cash offersCash offer versus an iBuyer, and what a big company cannot see about your house
An iBuyer is fast, tidy and priced by a model. A local cash buyer is not a smaller version of one. Here is the honest trade…
Cash offersCash offer versus selling it yourself, and the part you do not get to remove
Selling it yourself removes your agent, not the buyer or the lender behind them. Here is what stays, what goes, and the honest trade between…
How a sale worksWhen your listing expires and the house did not sell, and what to read in it
An expired listing is a date on a contract, not a verdict on your house. Here is what it usually means, and the honest choices once…
Selling as-isSelling a house that is still full of belongings, and what actually has to leave
A house full of belongings does not have to be emptied before it sells. Here is what has to leave, what can stay, and the order…
Selling as-isSelling a vacant house, and what changes the day nobody lives there
An empty house does not just look different. It is different. Here is what changes when nobody lives there, and what it asks of a seller…
How a sale worksWhat happens to your mortgage when the house sells, and why the buyer does not take it over
When you sell, your mortgage does not travel with the house. It gets paid off at closing, out of the sale price. Here is the order…
How a sale worksWhat clear title actually means, and why clear is not the same as empty
A clear title does not mean a house with nothing on the record. It means nothing on the record is still open. Here is what clear…
How a sale worksAppraisal, assessment, inspection: three words that get used like they mean the same thing
An appraisal, an assessment and an inspection are three different documents with three different jobs. Here is which one does what, and who each is for.
How a sale worksGrant deed or quitclaim deed, and figuring out which one you have
A grant deed carries promises. A quitclaim carries none. Here is the plain difference, when each one shows up, and how to tell which you have.
Want a real number for your house?
Send the address and the basics. You get the number and the arithmetic behind it, and the honest answer may be that you should list it instead.