10 Things To Do With $10K

10 Things to do with $10K

Spring is coming!

For all the focus we put on transactions – buying and selling – the truth is that for most of your life as a real estate consumer, you’ll be a homeowner. And because your home is so much more than just a transactional asset, a widget to be traded and tweaked only for financial reasons, it makes sense to spend some portion of your time, energy and money making it really work for you.

Unfortunately, what too many of us do is wait until we can save up or pull out tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars to make a major move: build on an addition, gut and remodel the kitchen, turn the basement into a media room extraordinaire. And many times, that means we never do the project, or we only do it when it’s time to sell and move.

The fact is, there are numerous remodeling projects that can crank up your enjoyment factor at home, for the much more accessible sum of $10,000. Here’s a hit list of the top 10 things you can do for 10K, if you’re in your home and planning to stay put for a while:

1. Crank up the curb appeal. We usually talk about curb appeal in the context of sprucing your home up to prep it for sale, but I say that it’s also one of the most cost-effective home improvement projects for homeowners who are staying put in terms of life-improving bang for the home improvement buck. There’s just something about loving the way your home looks when you drive up to it day after day, or when you have people over, that dramatically increases your enjoyment of home.

Depending on which projects you’d like to do and whether you’re interested in doing any of the work yourself, you can crank up your curb appeal for just a few hundred dollars or a few thousand. Here are a few vision-starting curb appeal-boosting projects to consider:

• Exterior paint or power wash
• Paint or install a new garage door
• Paint or install a new front door
• Paint or install new trims (shutters, eaves, etc.)
• New exterior hardware (door kickplate, mailbox, house numbers, etc.)
• Exterior or landscape lighting
• Front yard landscaping spruce-up or makeover

2. Get rid of a wall. You might be a homeowner now, but hearken back to your days as a house hunter. You might remember seeing homes and wishing for what is easily the #1 remodel fantasy of homeowners to be: knocking down a wall. In my experience the wall home buyers-cum-owners love to hate the most is the one between kitchen and dining room, far and away. Opening a kitchen and dining room into one larger, brighter space holds particular appeal for those who enjoy gathering family and friends to entertain at their homes, without isolating the cook/host.

The next most common wall people crave to eliminate is a wall between two small bedrooms.

Now, agents and appraisers will tell you that turning two small bedrooms into one poses the potential to decrease the resale value of a home – and that’s true. But if you’re not planning to sell anytime soon, it might be worthwhile doing it anyway, especially if it renders two barely usable rooms into one user-friendly space. And in fact, this wall is often relatively inexpensive to remove – and to replace, if you decide to do so.

In fact, removing walls, even structural walls, is highly feasible and much less expensive than many home owners assume. (If a load-bearing wall is removed, the structural component can often be preserved and finished, by simple leaving a beam at the ceiling.) What can jack the price up is the relocation of plumbing or wiring contained in the wall being removed. Reconnecting interruptions in flooring and adding in things like an island or the other remodeling line items that can go along with opening a kitchen up (e.g., adding an island, new cabinets and counters, etc.) can also add up. Check with a reputable local contractor to consult on how such a project can be planned and executed efficiently.

3. Swap out the old windows for dual-paned. This is one of those $10K-ish projects that actually can pay for itself over time. Switching out your old single paned windows for new dual-paned ones might make your home look better, but it will definitely make your home operate more efficiently – and more comfortably. Dual-paned windows minimize heat-loss in the winter and keep the cool air in, in the summer, so you’re not trying to heat up and cool down the whole outdoors through the leaks in your windows. They’re also a must if you have street noise or other noise challenges around your home; the extra insulation traps noise before it can get to you, inside your home.

As with everything, costs vary by location and by the quality of window you choose, but you can use $200-300/window, installed, as a rough rule of thumb. Some older homes can require wood repair of rotted out window frames, in the course of switching to dual-paned, which can increase the project cost significantly. Also, many cities and states offer rebates for installing dual paned windows (and making other energy-efficient upgrades, by the by), which can dramatically defray the costs of this particular remodeling project.

4. Extend your living areas outdoors. The National Outdoor Kitchen and Fireplace Association pegs the average cost of an outdoor kitchen at $12,000 to $15,000 on average – so, if you can cut costs, find appliances on sale or do some of the work yourself, you might just be able to get one in your own backyard for the $10,000 price point. Outdoor kitchens can be as simple as a table and grill, or as complex as having wood-burning ovens, refrigerators and big-screen televisions. Whatever route you go, the appliances are likely to be the single most expensive line-item of an outdoor kitchen. If you can tolerate the high-class problem of bringing your food from indoors, you can very cost-effectively create an outdoor living room complete with weather-proof furniture and lighting, in your backyard instead.

The major remodeling return-on-investment indices don’t track the return on outdoor living spaces, but experience tells me that well-executed outdoor kitchen and living rooms are both extremely fun to live with – and extremely desirable to the buyers to whom you will eventually be marketing your home.

5. New kitchen appliances. In terms of sheer functionality, new kitchen appliances can create an overwhelming upgrade to your family’s everyday life. A new fridge will run you anywhere from $350 to $2,000 on average (though French door, custom and commercial versions can cost upwards of $10,000 or more); a new stove/oven range can run anywhere from $300 to $6,000 (with the commercial, 40-inch ranges running from $9,000 to $20,000+) and an appliance store dishwasher will cost you somewhere around $250 to $1,600.

6. Swap out your carpet. Listen, you might LOVE carpet. And if you do, that’s fantastic. But many Americans are living with carpet they really, really dislike, whether because of its color, its condition or the upkeep and maintenance it requires. If you have $10K and you can’t stand your carpet, you can estimate that it’ll run you about $300-$500 per room to replace it with new carpet, or $1500-$2000 per room to replace it with hardwood, depending – obviously – on where you live, how large your rooms are and what specific materials you choose in terms of the replacement floors.

7. Bring a bathroom into this millennium. The average cost of a bathroom remodel in America is right around $16,000, according to Remodeling Magazine, but that lumps master bathrooms in with powder rooms and the like. I say there are dozens of things you can do to your hall or other bathrooms to bring them into the 21st century for well under the $10,000 mark. For example, my Jacuzzi tubs are probably the most-used “appliances” in my home – homewyse.com pegs the average cost of swapping your tub for a jetted one at somewhere between $1500 and $3500.

In fact, there are a number of thousand-dollar-or-less bathroom power-tweaks suggested by Consumer Reports – if you’re committed and smart, you can group a number of them into a bathroom that feels like new for well under $10,000:

• Replace the vanity with a new wood model that has a stone counter.
• Add a new mirror and faucet. Alternatively, keep your current vanity but replace your toilet and faucet and add a new vinyl floor.
• Improve lighting and ventilation with a new combination light and exhaust fan. One with a heat setting will keep you from getting chilled when you get out of the shower.
• Add a set of sconces on either side of the mirror or medicine cabinet.
• Update towel bars, hooks, toothbrush and toilet paper holders, and cabinet hardware. Add matching shelves for your towels and toiletries.
• Switch your standard showerhead to one with multiple settings, including a pulsating or massage setting.
• Keep your towels toasty with a heated towel bar, some of which cost $100 or less.

8. Build in organizing systems. Clutter is an energy vampire – there’s nothing like having a place for everything and everything in its place to create the sense that your life is in control. And one of the most significant advantages to owning your own home is that you can customize it to manage your stuff and your activities, rather than being forced to fit your things into someone else’s system. If you have $10K in hand to make your home more ‘you,’ consider having custom organizing systems built into your closet, office, pantry or garage, tailored to your family’s stuff and needs.

The range of pricing here is vast, depending on whether you buy an off-the-shelf closet organizer at the home improvement store and install it yourself or call California Closets out to measure your shoes and sporting goods and input them into a custom design, complete with hydraulics.

9. Paint. A few years back, there was a study on what home improvements actually could be linked to an increase in happiness and well-being. One of the most affordable was to simply paint the rooms of your home in colors that fostered the target emotions that map to the function of the room. For instance, painting a bedroom a soft blue or green fosters tranquility and rest, while painting a kitchen or dining room a warmer shade might promote the cozy fuzzy feelings of family togetherness. Painting can be very affordable, depending on your home’s size and details, and is a great starter do-it-yourself project, to boot.

Here’s a personal cost-cutting tip: pick your colors from the designer paint swatches, but have the paint department staff use more affordable paint when they custom-mix the colors to mix.

10. Connect your home. When so-called “smart home” systems first came out, they were the stuff of an MTV Cribs episode, costing tens of thousands of dollars to put various home systems on a remote control. But as with all technologies, costs of connecting your home have come down – a lot. For anywhere from $200 to $2,000, you might be able to have your home’s systems wired so that you can:

• Control lighting, heating and AC remotely
• Have your HVAC systems and window coverings, for example, work in sync
• Monitor your home via video and sensors for security and other home crises (e.g., flood, etc.), no matter where you are.

The best part? Even the least expensive of these systems now is able to be run via a smartphone app. Home security providers are increasingly offering these options, and even some home internet/telephone providers have also gotten into the business of affordably connecting your home.

If you’re considering making a modest investment in a home you plan to own for a while, you’re increasingly in the norm. Studies show that over 50% of homeowners are now focusing on smaller home improvement projects that increase their enjoyment of their homes - even if they don't increase its value.

Another tip toward -- Life. Lived Well.
Excerpt Trulia 2012 By Tara-Nicholle Nelson

All: Do you fall into this group? What $10,000-or-less projects have you done at home that boosted your enjoyment?

It's Here! Market Within A Market - Snapshot of West Los Angeles

Your source for a great snapshot for a review of market trends from September to January in the Los Angeles area.

If you would like to request a specific area, please email us at Moradifar Group. Please share it with your friends, family or coworkers also!


Market Within A Market

Happy New Year!!

Beyond the Cookies and the Milk

'Tis the Season, Jingle Bells, Santa Claus is coming to town, and in American households, that meant leaving a plate of cookies and a glass of milk out on Christmas Eve—a tradition dating back to the 1930's during The Great Depression. But the snacks left for St. Nick, or his cultural equivalent, aren't the same all around the globe. In England, it’s shortbread cookies, while in Australia, he finds mince pie to munch on.

Here are some other conventions for Santa from around the world. Never too late to try some of these exquisite pairings - scrumptious treats with something a little more sophisticated than milk. 

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Across the pond in England, Santa Claus, dubbed “Father Christmas” in 17th-century Britain, is decked out in a long red or green robe when he arrives at families’ homes with an empty stomach. Traditionally, Brits leave out mince pie and a carrot for Father Christmas to munch on, but in recent years he’s been polishing off a plate of shortbread cookies—a favorite English teatime snack—in exchange for filling kids’ stockings and pillowcases, which are tacked to fireplaces or to their foot of beds, with edible delights.

Suggested Pairing: Champagne is the perfect bubbly for the buttery shortbread cookies, says Elizabeth Schneider, CSW, owner of the wine education company Wine for Normal People. “The aging process in the traditional method of Champagne making ensures a biscuity, bready flavor that will go perfectly with shortbread.”

Just make sure to select a sparkler that’s either demi-sec (sweet) or doux (very sweet). “The rule with dessert is that the wine should always be sweeter than the food,” says Schneider.

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In Germany, meanwhile, children welcome Sankt Nikolaus with footwear on their doorsteps. While stinky sneakers don’t sound so Santa-friendly, it apparently does the trick: St. Nick fills the shoes of those on the nice list with oranges, candies and coins. And those who have been naughty slip into shoes filled with twigs. The festivities are celebrated in early December to mark the good Saint’s passing on December 6, 343 AD.

Suggested Pairing: A German Riesling is the perfect companion to the fruity treats stuffed in footwear. Pick a bottling that has hints of honey, with acid that stands up to strong flavors. “The acidic quality of a Riesling makes acidic foods like fruits feel smoother in your mouth,” Schneider says.

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In Denmark, children leave out a bowl of rice pudding for Nisse, a mythical Scandinavian figure who has been known to cause mischief if his snack is missing. The tradition dates back to the 1840s, when Danish folklore says Nisse, who has a weakness for sweets, protected the homes of farmer’s who left out a bowl of porridge for him on Christmas night.

Suggested Pairing: Pair the rice pudding with a Gewürztraminer from Alsace. Schneider says the wine’s cardamom and lychee flavors round out the oily mouthfeel of the dish. The creamy pudding’s “cinnamon and nutmeg flavors…create an experience reminiscent of a cup of warm, spiced tea on a cold day.”

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While making his Australian house stops, Santa expected to munch on many a mince pie. Originally an English tradition, kids were encouraged to leave the dish out on the night before Christmas. If Santa eats the pie, it symbolizes good luck in the coming year.

Suggested Pairing: There’s nothing better to pair with a mince pie than an Australian Grenache. “The spiciness and full, soft texture in these wines complements the fruit, dough and icing of the pie without stealing the show,” says Schneider. “Bold fruit flavors like raspberry and red cherry,” when paired with a Grenache, create “a sangria-like flavor” in the pie.

In case Santa is not crazy about Grenache, he can also sip on a Muscat from Rutherglen, Victoria. Since they’re soft, sweet and fruity, Schneider says, these wines are ideal counterparts to mincemeat. Muscats “have a caramel flavor that’s dotted with aromas of orange, raisin, and honey.”

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It’s the American way to place a plate full of chocolate chip or sugar cookies on your kitchen counter for Santa Claus on Christmas Eve—and don’t forget the glass of milk. It’s a tradition dating back to the Great Depression.

Suggested Pairing: While milk does a body good, this Christmas the chocolate chip cookies call for another classic mate: ruby or vintage Port. “You can’t beat chocolate and Port,” says Schneider. Port’s espresso, blackberry and chocolate flavors perfectly complement the cookies’ bittersweet morsels. A tawny Port, aged 10 or 20 years, complements sugar cookies, imbuing them with nut and fig flavors that add richness and depth.

Excerpt from Wine Enthusiast Magazine: Gina Roberts-Grey 2012

Juicing

If wines and ports are not your cup of juice, here and some great healthy juicing tips to spruce up holiday joy. “Holiday Juice Challenge”: Juice once a day, every day from Thanksgiving to the New Year. You pick the juice, and what time of day to drink it. Do so and step into 2013 stronger and healthier.

Here are four favorite recipes that apply particularly well:
Apple-Ginger Juice
2 apples
½ a lemon
½-inch piece of ginger root
½ cup of cranberries

Red Joy Juice
12 plum tomatoes
1 apple
1 cup of cranberries
1 beet

Triathlete Juice
1 beet
2 cups of kale
1 head of romaine
½ a lemon
½ inch piece of ginger root

Carrot-Garlic
2 cups of baby cut carrots
1-2 cloves of garlic (not too much, this one packs quite a punch!)

Happy Holidays!

Real Estate Websites and Limit Hold Em Poker Musings

We are going to admit something to you: these websites that have people fooled into thinking you can just hover over a house with your mouse to magically assess its value? You're kidding me. It's not a job for a computer. It's a job for a human. Computers can't touch us. This is a long essay-- we won't bore you. If that's enough for you, here, contact us for a holiday gift guide. If you want to read more, please see below.

It can take us a full three hours to comp a house. Sometimes more and I am a professional with 10 years experience. Make no mistake about it; it takes a lot of time. This isn't a bad thing, because 

A) maybe we get the listing, 

B) if we do it for a friend as a favor they never forget it and they invite us over for dinner and we like that, and 

C) it keeps us pencil sharp. If my real estate pencil isn't sharp, I'm toast.

For instance, the poker style no limit version of Wilson software, however, is absolutely worthless. It just was. A real poker player would know within two seconds. Because no limit isn't mathematical. It's a touch of math, but it's mostly experience and feel.

These real estate websites? I'm going to let you in on a little secret. All they are is Wilson Software -- the worthless, no limit version. They have one piece of data...which is OK, that's a form of empowerment for the client and I'm not mad at that. But we think they are confusing people more than they are helping, because comping a house isn't limit Hold 'Em. It's high stakes, no limit Hold 'Em all the way. Limit Hold 'Em is like driving an automatic car. It's a piece of cake. No limit Hold 'Em? It's as complex as flying an airplane. They are two different sports.

These websites have aggregated the most basic set of data a realtor uses, i.e. square footage, lot size, etc., and they have that bird's eye view. That's it. If that's all I used to comp a house, you should knock my commission down. Your local real estate agents her aren’t on top from above. We are in the streets. And we’re sick of talking about Zillow at dinner parties. Or at least this realtor is. My feet have to touch the pavement to comp your house. I can't do it from a map on top. That bird's eye view that tells people what the public records recorded is just one piece of data. I'm not going to tell you everything I do to comp a house, because I don't want to bore you. But for one thing, I'm in the houses on Tuesdays. So every time I walk into a house, whatever that house is telling me goes into my gut, and I'll use it later down the road. If the house isn't right for a client, I still go in there and pay attention and just "feel the house" a bit with my insides so I can file it in my gut for later.

Then we watch that house on the MLS at night with my headphones on, while the rest of the world is watching Million Dollar Listing (ugh) or American Idol. We watch that house go into escrow, fall out of escrow if that's going to happen, go back in escrow, and then eventually sell. We watch the whole thing. 

It's like watching a baseball game. It relaxes us. The rhythm of this is kind of like the rhythm of a poker table. I can tell by how long it took to go into escrow, and how quickly it goes from looking for backup to pending, and how quickly it sells, everything I need to know about the market. I can tell the whole story of the transaction. It's like watching a movie. If it's moving hot, that tells one thing. If it's cooling, that tells us another. If you're selling your house, your realtor uses this information when they counsel you about making a price adjustment.

These websites... can't do... any of this! Zillow is bird's eye view. I'm in the house. Then I eat lunch right there and I take the temperature of the neighborhood. Are there any new cool stores and restaurants? What's going on over there? How is the traffic? Is the traffic getting better or worse? We drive around. We talk to people. We feel it. This is what your good, hard working, local real estate agents do. We are Angelenos and we control our own schedule for the most part, but we are always "tuned in" to what's going on. Those websites can't touch us. Many, many agents don't do this. Most agents probably don't do it. But the good ones do.

Selling houses in L.A.? That's high stakes, no limit all the way. It's flying an airplane. It has so much texture to it, it's fascinating. You're at the table, and you're sitting there with your headphones on, and you're just feeling the table tighten up and loosen up. It's all feel. There's nothing we like more. It's no different than watching the real estate market at night with your headphones on. Let's say you have a pair of sevens or something, and there's a flush draw on the board, and the other player is betting into you and putting you up against the wall. What do you do? You take the most base, obvious data (the piece that Zillow can do), and then you use all your tools that you've built up from years in the game. You use your experience and your instincts that you have earned over time at the tables. And you make the call.

For us, houses are cards and cards are houses. It's all the same thing. 

Right now? There's no inventory. The table is tight. The interest rates are very low, more people with chips want to get into the game but there's none available. There initials are on the board. It will loosen up, but be patient. Hang tight and be ready to pounce. If you find a house you like, it's a seller's market right now. Bet large or someone's going to come over the top on you.

Excerpt by the Huffington Post: John Bronson

The 5 Most Expensive Ways Buyers & Sellers Sabotage Themselves

The 5 Most Expensive Ways Buyers & Sellers Sabotage
Themselves

It’s easy to see the experience of buying or selling a home as an adversarial one: you vs. the people on the other side of the bargaining table, with one chess move by your opponent potentially costing you thousands of dollars.

The first step of any cure is diagnosis. Here are some clues to detecting the costliest cases of real estate self-sabotage so you can stop them in their tracks, get out of your own way and get back to the business of buying or selling your home:

1. Hesitating. I’m a big proponent of buying or selling - making any real estate move, really - on whatever time frame makes sense for your life, your family and your finances, rather than trying to time the market. That said, once you’ve done the math, saved your pennies, prepped your property and otherwise decided to move forward on your home buying or selling plan of action, hesitation can cost you.

• Buyers who hesitate to make an offer can lose out on a home entirely - or can wait so long another offer comes in, forcing them to offer more to beat the other folks out. • Sellers who hesitate to take an offer can lose out on a buyer, when a new listing comes on the market that catches their eye or better meets their needs.
• Mortgage borrowers who wait too long to lock their interest rates can end up paying more when rates creep up instead of down. Accordingly, you can eliminate hesitation-related self-sabotage by: • working through the life and financial decisions that are intertwined with your real estate matters completely and on paper before you start the process, so you can revisit them if and when you’re tempted to hesitate
• getting as educated as possible in advance about your local market dynamics and neighborhood home values, as well as the home buying or selling process in general, and • diving head first into the discomfort and uncertainty that everyone experiences when they make these major decisions, sitting down with your agent and other pros involved to get every question you have answered in a timely manner so you can move forward, rather than putting decisions off and “sleeping on it” night after night.


2. Not taking expert advice. Have you ever taken an indecisive friend out to dinner, watched them hem and haw over the menu, ask the server what their favorite dish is and then order something totally different than the server’s choice? That same phenomenon takes place every day in real estate. Many smart buyers and sellers invest much time and energy into agent-finding, asking around for referrals, checking agents out online, interviewing them and even calling around to check references, only to completely disregard their advice! If you have a reputable, competent agent, you might be surprised at how often they can save you money with simple nuggets of experience-laden advice specific to a given scenario, like:

• act fast • list it • lower offer less/more • counteroffer for more • be aggressive • take the bank’s terms • don’t buy that house • get one more inspection/bid • don’t remove contingencies yet/remove contingencies now • ask for X, Y or Z repair, price reduction, credit, free rent-back, furniture, or longer time to close.

And if you have a truly hard time trusting your agent’s advice for whatever reason, consider that you might simply not yet have found the right agent for you.


3. Overpricing or lowballing. It might run contrary to conventional wisdom, the idea that asking for more money or offering less can be acts of self-sabotage, but ignoring the damage that these acts can do to your real estate plans is unwise. In real estate, pricing is just more nuanced than that. It’s not the case that you can simply pick your price, ignoring the financial complexities involved and the psychologies of the folks on the other side, and expect for good things to magically happen.

Those nuances include these truths: setting a list-price that is significantly above what other, similar homes have recently sold for will not only not get you that price, it poses the potential to turn buyers off, keep them from coming to see your home, make your place sit on the market longer than it needs to and ultimately, it can result in low or no offers.

At the extreme, overpricing can force you to cut the price, sometimes dramatically, to activate buyers who have learned to disregard the obviously overpriced listing in their online house hunt search results. Don’t let your emotions be the ruler of your pricing or offer decisions. Motivation is one factor to consider, but the data on recent, comparable sales should be given much more weight, to keep the threat of price-related self-sabotage in check.


4. Cutting corners. Getting a home ready for sale is a marathon endeavor, not a sprint - especially if you’ve been living there for a number of years. Same goes for working on your credit, savings and financial plans in advance of making your first buy: smart buyers-to-be start years in advance. So, it’s tempting to get near the end of your preparation action plan, lose patience and start cutting corners on staging, property preparation, even vetting your own financials and family wants and needs.

Don’t submit to temptation - well, don’t submit without the input of your agent and loan officer.

Depending on your situation, there are some corners that might be okay to cut - the ones that will have very little impact on the eventual outcome of your real estate endeavors. But give the pros you ‘hired’ the opportunity to give you their input before you unilaterally skip steps on your original action plan. If you tell your agent you need to cut your property preparation budget down by a bit, they can help you decide where the corners you cut will have the least impact on your home’s overall presentation to buyers. If your loan officer says that paying a particular credit account down by $4,000 instead of $5,000 won’t really do too much to your qualification status, you might be fine kickstarting your house hunt a few months before you had planned to.

Unfortunately, it’s all too common to see homes where the sellers have poured cash into great, fundamental repairs and neglected some essential, inexpensive cosmetic items - or buyers who have fallen just a tad short on cash or credit and end up scrambling to boost one or both under pressure. Bring your professional team into the conversation before you cut any corners, and ask them to help you understand and minimize any consequences of cutting costs.

5. Failing to read documents all the way through. Hundreds of your signatures will be requested and required during the process of buying or selling a home. But perhaps the single-most expensive way real estate consumers stab themselves in the back is by failing to read and understand nthe documents they are given - from contracts to disclosures to inspection reports and even closing/loan documents - all the way through.

Many a condo owner has been surprised to learn that they are being assessed a hefty special bill for common area repairs, when that “surprise” was predictable from a few of the hundred pages of HOA disclosures they received before closing escrow. Seller disclosures can be cryptic and boring, but also often contain red flags to guide buyers and their inspectors to the real areas of concern. (Their guiding power is nil if you don’t read them, though.)

The same goes for sellers - your agent should read and help you understand offer(s), buyer’s inspection reports and requests for repairs or credits, estimated closing statements and everything else, but ultimately you are responsible for reading and understanding all of these influential, binding documents before you sign them.

So read them. And don’t be afraid to ask questions or insist on clarifications and corrections, if indicated. If you were quoted a certain interest rate or monthly payment, make sure that matches up to what you see in your closing docs - or that you understand and accept the reasons why it doesn’t, before you sign. This sounds obvious, but you’d be surprised at the major lender-borrower disputes and buyer-seller legal dramas that have arisen over the years because of errors in loan or closing documents that could have been detected and resolved simply, easily and inexpensively before closing. Don’t be one of them.


ALL: How have you sabotaged yourself - or seen others do the same - in the process of buying or selling a home?





Copyright © 2012 Trulia, Inc. All rights reserved. Tara-Nicholle Nelson

Author Michael Gross, gives a tour of the amazing estates in Beverly Hills, Holmby Hills and Bel Air. Gross narrates this Google flyover of the region called the Platinum Triangle with brief teases about Greystone Mansion, The Knoll, Ron Burkle's place Greenacres, and more.