If you buy a house and shortly after moving in you're surprised to find a big crack in the foundation or the septic tank bubbling over, wouldn't your first question be, "Did the seller know about this?" Seattle-area real estate appraiser Richard Hagar says it's bad news all around if problems are not disclosed before the sale. Surprises like this not only mean headaches for the buyer but more times than not they lead to lawsuits for the seller and his real estate agent. So, what exactly should a seller disclose?
As more people move into the Seattle area, the demand for housing goes up. And so does the style of housing with high-rise apartments and condos replacing older, stand alone homes. Real estate appraiser and educator Richard Hagar tells KPLU's John Maynard this trend is expected to continue, thanks to our relatively stable economy and mild weather. Both are factors for people moving here, as are the companies that continue to employ thousands of people such as Amazon and Microsoft.
There are apartments and condos. Then there are co-ops. This type of real estate ownership is pretty common in large East Coast cities such as New York, Philadelphia and Boston, but it's not as common here.
Bored with regular, run of the mill houses? Looking for something unusual? How about buying a fire station or a church for a home?
Seattle-area real estate appraiser Richard Hagar says although places like this could be fun to live in, banks are usually skittish about loaning money for anything out of the ordinary.
KPLU's John Maynard posed this question to Seattle-area real estate appraiser, Richard Hager: "If I sold a $2 million dollar house and paid the real estate agent his standard commission, then he'd get $180,000 out of the deal. Is that a negotiable situation?" Hagar's answer?
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