Joe Nemeth / Realtor

5 Over-The-Top Compliments a Home Buyer Could Use to Endear Themselves to the Seller A survey revealed that telling someone their home looks clean, or that it smells good, are the two best home-related compliments people love to hear. While flattering a homeowner with either of those will surely make a seller happy, if you’re looking to cozy up to a seller and make them more incli...

5 Types of Phone Calls Real Estate Agents Answer Regularly (That Most Other People Just Ignore) In a world where few people answer the phone for anyone, let alone an unknown number or potential spam, real estate agents may be the only people giving hope to anyone still dialing a phone hoping for someone to answer! No matter how much an agent wants to swipe down and ignore a suspicious number ....

Why You Should Now Hire a Buyers’ Agent BEFORE You Find a House You Want to See in Person Home buyers are often more focused on finding the perfect home to buy than they are on finding an agent to help them through the process. It makes sense, since most buyers casually begin searching for houses online months, if not years, ahead of when they’ll actually purchase one. But eventually, ...

4 Not-So-Technical Indicators That It Might Be a Real Estate Buyers Market Trying to pinpoint when a buyers’ market will happen is nearly impossible. It usually doesn’t happen overnight, and can even be difficult for economists to declare when it “officially” becomes a buyers’ market when one comes along. But if you’re looking for some signs that a buyers’ ma...

Less Competition, More Opportunity: Why Homebuyers Should Act Before the Election If you’ve been thinking about buying a home, there’s a good chance you’re wondering if it makes sense to wait and see who ends up getting elected as president in November. According to a recent survey, 60% of buyers are taking the election into consideration, concerned about how the results ma...

2 Selfish Reasons Sellers Should Still Offer to Pay a Commission to Buyers Agents If you’ve been planning on selling your house, or are currently in the middle of doing so, you’ve probably heard that there will be some changes in how your home can be listed and marketed, with regard to a commission being offered (or not) to buyers’ agents. While some listing agents may alre...

7 Creative Ways to Avoid Talking to Your Neighbors Every Time They See You Outside A survey done by a fence company revealed that 60% of people said they’d prefer to have neighbors and install a privacy fence, rather than buy a property without any nearby neighbors. That said, 65% of those polled said that they hide from their neighbors in order to avoid interacting with them. H...

Builders Are Ditching Hallways! (Could These 6 Home Features Be Next?) According to a recent report on building trends, hallways are being phased out of some new construction floor plans in order to bring costs down by cutting down on square footage, while maximizing the livable space! That begs the question: If eliminating hallways can bring home prices down dramatica...

Are You “Mortgage Ready” and Don’t Know It? 4 Obstacles That May Be Stopping You From Owning a Home CNBC reported that an estimated 7.9 million renters were actually “income mortgage ready” — meaning they were qualified and could have bought a home — according to an analysis of the 2022 American Community Survey by the U.S. Census Bureau. While some of those folks likely chose to rent inst...

6 Reasons a Renter MIGHT Consider Giving Their Landlord a Tip… Many people have become quite angry (and vocal!) about how tipping has gotten out of control. It’s become almost a given that you have to decline giving a tip, even when someone does something as simple as take your order at a fast-food restaurant. It seems like everyone wants a tip nowadays… So...

4 Things about Showing Houses during a Heat Wave That Make Agents Wish the Winter Would Hurry Up and Get Here Every season has upsides and downsides when you’re a real estate agent showing buyers houses. For instance, the temperature and blooming landscapes in spring can be beautiful, but it can also be a cold, rainy, muddy mess at times. And of course winter can be trying when it’s freezing out, and th...

7 Ridiculous Ways to Handle the Situation When You Walk in on a Surprised Naked Seller While Touring a Home for Sale What percentage of people do you think sleep naked? 8% 28.5% 30% 58% If you chose any of the above answers, you are correct, because apparently there’s no consensus on exactly how many people do. Each of those percentages came up on the first page results of a google query looking for the answer. ...

Don’t Be Scared of the New Buyers’ Agent Agreements—Here’s Why If you’ve been planning on buying a house, or recently started the process, you’ve probably heard that there will be some changes to how you will engage with buyers’ agents. While some agents may already be implementing the changes ahead of time, as of August 17, 2024, all agents will be requi...

9 Songs You’ve Gotta Add to Your “Moving Day” Playlist! Moving day can be a lot of work and stressful, but a recent survey found that almost 60% of Gen Z’ers actually enjoy the process of moving, versus a mere 20% of Baby Boomers. What’s their secret to making the day more enjoyable? Along with meticulous planning and budgeting for their move, many o...

If You’re a Homebuyer With Less-Than-Ideal Credit, Should You Consider a Nonprime or Dignity Loan? If you don’t have a great credit score, or a high-paying job, applying for a mortgage can feel scary, or seem like a waste of time. In order to qualify for a mortgage, ideally lenders look want to see that you have: Good credit A low debt-to-income level, which means how much of what you …

5 Tips to Take the Stress Out Of Moving In many ways, moving to a new home can be fun and exciting for many people, but the actual moving part of the experience isn’t something most people enjoy. Moving day is stressful for many reasons, such as: It takes time many people don’t have to spare. Ideally you can take some time off of …

8 Obscure Compliments That’ll either Make Your Real Estate Agent Laugh or Beam With Pride (Or Maybe Both!) Paying your favorite real estate agent any type of compliment can really brighten their day, but when you acknowledge something most other people never notice about them, they’ll remember it for years to come! It’s one thing to say, “Nice shirt!” But it’s entirely next level to say, “You...

Thinking About Buying an Investment Property for Your Child to Live in While at College? Ask Yourself These Questions First… You don’t even need to have a child going to college to know that it costs a ton of money! But when you do have a student about to enter college or already there, you become extremely aware of how much it actually costs. For those who aren’t quite there yet, when you hear how …

4 Ways That Bluffing (That You Have Other Buyers Interested) Can Backfire on a Home Seller Having multiple offers coming in on your property is one of the best ways to ensure you get the highest price and best terms possible. If you price your house appropriately, and there are several buyers looking for a home in the price range when you list your house for sale, there’s a good chance ...

How a Little Effort Can Lead To Big Savings on Your Mortgage (No Matter What the Current Rates Are) Whether you’re just thinking about buying a house, or in the middle of actively looking for one, there’s a good chance you’re keeping an eye out for articles like this one from REALTOR Magazine, telling you when mortgage rates go down (even if it’s for a brief moment). While you’d probably...

Famous Last Words: 5 Things Home Buyers Say That They Often Regret Real estate agents deal with so many different buyers. While every home buyer is different, and there isn’t a book or class that teaches them to say certain things, it’s uncanny how so many different individuals say such similar things during the course of buying a house. What’s even more inte...

Is It Harder to Buy a House in Today’s Real Estate Market Than It Was for Baby Boomers in the Early ‘80s? If you’re in one of the younger generations, buying a house right now likely feels pretty difficult, if not impossible. If you’re like a lot of younger people, you probably feel like the best chance you have at avoiding becoming a “forever renter” is to hit the lottery. (And not one that pay...

10 Comical Ways You Can Make It Feel Like You’re on an HGTV Show When Buying a Home House hunting shows give people who’ve yet to buy a home a peek behind the curtain. They also give folks who’ve bought a house or two in the past a chance to relive the thrill of finding the perfect abode. But as the folks who have already been through the experience can probably attest to, …

6 Famous TV Catchphrases That’d Be Perfect for Listing Agents to Break the Bad News After a Bidding War As much as listing agents love generating multiple offers for their sellers to choose from, and ultimately getting them the highest price and best terms possible, breaking the news to all of the buyers who didn’t get the house is something they’d rather avoid if possible. Unfortunately it’s no...

5 Tongue-In-Cheek Reverse Psychology Tricks Worth Trying if You’re Having Trouble Finding a House to Buy Forget about finding your dream house, finding any house to buy in today’s market can feel like an impossible dream. So if you’ve been house-hunting without luck, it’s understandable if you’ve considered throwing in the towel. But what if you tried something a bit unconventional to change yo...

6 Tongue-In-Cheek Ways for Home Sellers to Decide Which Buyer Wins a Bidding War for Their House It’s stressful for everybody involved in a bidding war… As you can imagine, it’s no day in the park for buyers and their agents; they’re on edge, hoping the seller chooses their offer. But it’s not fun and games for a seller or their agent, either! There’s a lot of money riding on making...

5 Bad Reasons for Not Referring Clients to Your Favorite Real Estate Agent (Even If You Meant Well) If you have a real estate agent in your life that you know and trust, it means the world to them when you recommend them to anyone you know who’s thinking about buying or selling a house. But even an agent’s staunchest supporters miss the chance to send them business because of some common misco...

6 Tongue-in-Cheek Things Every Dad Should Teach Their Child When They Buy Their First House When your child buys their first home, you should certainly give yourself a little pat on the back! It’s a huge accomplishment, and you probably had a lot to do with getting them there. But that doesn’t mean they won’t still need some help and guidance now that they’ve flown the nest. No, qu...