All Forum Posts by: Mason Hickman

@Jack Steen

Water testing is regulated by our local board of health in each individual town. Check with your state for specific guidelines. However, I would advocate to get it tested for your own knowledge and health. 

 I use Top Producer and it is roughly $60 per month. There are other options out there that are cheaper. If you are going to have your license and hang it with a bigger brokerage, they will probably include a CRM as part of their value that they bring. I am with Compass and they have a CRM; I haven't fully transitioned but the Compass system is great for email blasts. 

@Christopher Leavitt

Most lenders will lend based on the lower of the purchase price or appraisal value. There are some options with local lenders if you have an ongoing relationship but it will take some work to get them there. 

@Gurjot Grewal

Why aren't they releasing deposit back?

@Gurjot Grewal

You can get sued for anything. Whether they will win or not is a different question. 

@Rami Khaldi

The reasons you mentioned are all valid possibilities. They may have uncovered something that wasn't in their scope or are just trying to pass the buck onto the next person. Their lender may be tightening things up and putting them in a bad place, too. 

I would ask them why they are selling and then try to assess if you believe their response!

One property in our market that had this situation recently was one that was in a flood zone and the seller mis-calculated construction costs and FEMA regulations and was going to have to physically lift the house to meet FEMA standards. He was just hoping to dump it off to the next unwitting buyer.

 There are a lot of questions in there but I think buying with a short term time frame with the intention to sell at the end of the year is very risky and the transaction costs will likely be cost prohibitive and you will lose money, unless appreciation bails you out big time. 

Renting for the interim period would likely be more cost effective; try to talk with your landlord about not going up as much on rent. 

@Craig Lang

Cape Cod (Barnstable County) is forecast to appreciate for the long term, however the housing stock is not as multifamily heavy as some other areas of the state. 

Although Massachusetts is a much smaller state than California, it is still a large enough state that you will be highly influenced by where your job will be. 

Welcome to the bay state!

 It would be a homeowners policy. You can require your tenants to purchase a renter's policy to cover their belongings and coverage for if they are displaced. 

@Carlos Ventura

The more recent the comps, the better. It will be area and market dependent on how far back to look but the market a year ago is very different than the market today.