HomeTraq University

When you visit a public open house and an agent asks you to sign the "sign-in sheet" what should you say?   What should you write down?  What are the rules for who can represent you if you decide that the Open House is, in fact, your future Dream House?    Many times the agent holding the open house states the seller is requiring a list of everyone who walked through the house as a measurement of interest and to get feedback on the price and condition of the property.  Some agents state that their company policy, brokerage and/or seller require the list of visitors  for security reasons in case something ends up missing from the house.   While these are legitimate reasons, if you have ever provided your real contact information at an open house, you have probably experienced being contacted for something other than the explained reason.  Most likely you were solicited to see if you wanted an agent to show you a different house or if ...

Can you schedule a showing for a home in Pending status?  Does the Under Contract status mean that there is a chance the current offer on a home may fall through?  Will the seller consider a back up offer from you in the case that the current buyer is unable to sell their current home soon?  These are all fantastic questions and each property status requires these questions to be addressed in different possible ways.  Every professional industry has its own language, and real estate is no exception.  There are probably more terms and acronyms in the housing and mortgage businesses than most.  When you are viewing real estate properties online you undoubtedly will start noticing different property statuses and wonder what each one means.  While a local professional will always be the most beneficial to help navigate each situation, the following are the definitions of statuses according to the local MLS (multiple listing service) to give some ba...