Alan VanDeBoe's (vandeboe) Blog

With the develoipment of the internet, cell phones and laptop computers, a REALTOR has the ability to provide instant information to a client.  Clients using the internet expect that.  Speed converts prospects into clients.  However, it also means that a REALTOR can never totally get away from hi...

Some of the older agents believe that there is too much information provided free on the internet relative to real estate.  The fear that with all the free information, a buyer or seller does not need an agent. I take a different view.  It is true that as many as 80% of the buyers start their hom...

Today the National Association of REALTORS ( NAR) reported that pending home sales increase over 4% for the month of May over April.  The general feeling is that maybe we have seen the bottom of the real estate slump nation wide.  Here is Quincy, the market is slower for the first 5 months as com...

With all the information about homes available on the internet, the question has to be "Do I really need a REALTOR"?  Many of today's buyers start their search on the internet and research the buying process.  They go to various web sites and find several homes that they like and can afford.  The...

There are so many buyers today that purchase a home and do not properly maintain it.  When they get ready to sell, they are surprised when a buyer has inspections done and come up with a long list of items that need to be repaired. I have a neighbor that purchase his home a couple of years ago.  ...

As a buyer you have an option to have inspections conducted once you have reached an agreement with the seller on price and terms.  You can either have individual inspections, such as electrical, plumbing, structure, roof, etc or have what is called a whole house inspection.  With the latter, a l...

As I show homes to buyers, many look only at exactly what is there.  If the house is messy, that is all they see.  If the house has family pictures, they spend time looking at the pictures.  No home is perfect.  As a listing agent, I make suggestions to a seller of the items they need to do to pu...

When a property owner is considering selling his house, many times they will have an appraisal done to set the value of the property.  This can be a mistake.  If an appraiser submits a value, the owner would naturally think that the house should be listed for at least that amount.  At this point,...

Earlier this week there was an auction of a large home in our Historic area.  The auction was conducted by a local auctioneer that advertises selling a house in 30 minutes.  Well, even though there were a lot of potential buyers at the auction, it apparently did not sell.  Apparently, the owner d...

If you are considering selling your house, you probably are at least thinking about selling it yourself.  For some it works just fine.  However, according the the National Association of REALTORS, nearly 80% of the people that try to sell themselves eventually list with a REALTOR.  Why is that?  ...