If you are going to buy real estate, sell real estate, invest or act as an agent, there really is some etiquette that goes along with the territory. I get emails and letters from buyers, agents and sellers all asking me to write about this topic.

As a real estate agent, I must get that question three times a week. And why wouldn’t I? After all, people are buying homes and chances are they’ll need repair work or construction.

Unless you are a yokel, borrow local. Near the end of the last century, I was at a mortgage conference in Spokane, Washington. The conference had mortgage professionals from across the nation and was a great opportunity to see what was going on in the industry.

Did you know that in Costa Rica, the contract to buy and sell real estate is just two pages long? In fact, it’s not even written by a real estate agent.

These may seem like common sense to the seasoned real estate buyer, but you can’t believe how many people make these same five common mistakes year in and year out in buying real estate.

Many more people know me as a marketing guru rather than a real estate agent and most of the emails I get are usually asking for marketing ideas or advice. As you know from time to time, I like to share novel marketing ideas here to help people buy and sell homes.

Ok, here we go again. We are roughly 45 days away from the Federal Tax credit expiring for would-be home buyers. It seems like we just went through this the other day and in fact, it was just last October when we were writing articles just like this. It’s mid-March and at the end of April, the tax credit for home buyers and first-time home buyers will expire. The question is did you take advantage of it?

As Realtors, we tell sellers all the time to look at their homes with buyer’s eyes. What does that mean exactly? When you are selling your home, walk through it with a critical eye. Pick out and point out every flaw, imperfection, or anything that does not show well in your home. Sellers should also be honest with themselves about other critical factors that influence a buyer’s decision like location, size, features, and price.