Rhonda Duffy's

Learning Cafe for Home Buyers and Sellers – Exposing the Truths and Busting the Myths in Real Estate

Pending Home Sales Up Again!

August23

Pending Home Sales for July increased by 3.2%, more than double the expectations of 1.5%, and representing the sixth consecutive monthly gain…the longest streak on record.

While it’s nice to finally hear some positive news about the housing sector – let’s remain cautious in our optimism, as many first time homebuyers moved up their home purchasing plans to take advantage of the Federal tax credit (according to the Mortgage Market Guide). Read the rest of this entry »

Rhonda’s voice is heard in AOL Housingwatch article!

August20

Please go to http://www.housingwatch.com/2010/08/18/home-listings-only-half-of-last-years-have-sold/ to read it!

How Lockboxes Work.

April17

This article is talking about the Supra Blue electronic boxes that are placed on listings, usually on the front door. The lockbox holds the key to the house and will open for an real estate agent when the agent has updated their password to get into the house. As the agent requests a password update over their telephone modem, it also submits what lockbox and listing the agent has seen and what time they entered the home. Read the rest of this entry »

See Houses for Free When You Are a Buyer!

April15
Buying a home means that you have to get into the home to see it, right? Most buyers can not make a decision to buy a home until they have a deep understanding about what they are buying, the area they are buying in and what the home will mean to them. This means seeing homes with their agent, through open houses or via lock boxes, or having the listing agent let them into the home. Read the rest of this entry »

Does Pricing Matter?

April12

Search the Internet right now in any price range and then ask yourself, are you expecting to see every home in your price range? Of course you do, why else would you be searching? So why is it that many marketing geniuses are still pricing homes for example at $299,900? Let’s run a quick scenario. You are a buyer looking from 300K to 400K. You use the search engine pull down menu on any major real estate website and pull 300K to 400K. Do you think to then look at 250K to 300K to see what is priced at $299,900? No probably not. So the agent of the sellers who have priced these homes to attract buyers at the 300K range have skipped those buyers all together even though they sold the idea to the seller that this would be the best marketing for them as their marketing expert. Read the rest of this entry »

How to Stage Your Home

April9
Staging is the rage across America right now. Whether you are selling your home or simply re-decorating, Staging has given hope to all of the women and men out there who wanted to feel like they were legitimate decorators, but did not want to go to school to learn decorating.
However, Staging has simple principles that most people fail to grasp. Read the rest of this entry »

Good News!

April5
I’m not a financier and I can’t predict what our economy will do.  I do know from my own personal experiences.  Things are changing and for the better. My husband and I have been married for the past 31 years, and the past 30 my husband has been in the used car business. Last Fall 09 he saw the worst months ever since he has been in the business. Our end to 2009 was not a pretty picture, as well as most of the people we know. Read the rest of this entry »

Is It Legal For Us To Pay You?

April3

Read the Department of Justice’s opinion of the Buyer Cash At Closing program and how it effects buyers:

http://www.justice.gov/atr/public/real_estate/rebates.htm