Author: Hope Peele

Hope Peele is a licensed real estate agent with Corcoran McEnearney in Alexandria, Virginia. She grew up in Old Town and currently lives in Del Ray. As a partner with The Peele Group, Hope is dedicated to guiding her clients successfully through the many-faceted process of buying or selling a home. Contact Hope at 703.244.6115.

Ask Corcoran McEnearney: What is a Mortgage Lender, and how do I choose the right one?

By Hope Peele

This week’s Q&A column is sponsored and written by Hope Peele of The Peele Group and Corcoran McEnearney, the leading real estate firm in Alexandria. To learn more about this article and relevant Alexandria market news, contact The Peele Group at 703.244.6115 or email [email protected]. You may also submit your questions to Corcoran McEnearney via email for response in future columns.

Question: What is a Mortgage Lender, and how do I choose the right one?

Answer: Unless you are buying your home with all cash, and congratulations if you can, then a significant portion of the purchase will be financed through a home loan. Although there are different options to secure funding, like banks, credit unions, online services, etc, it is usually easier and more efficient to go through a designated mortgage lender. Although your local bank may offer mortgages, its primary function is to provide financial services such as checking and savings accounts, personal loans, CDs, etc. A mortgage lender’s exclusive duty is to provide loans for the purchase of homes, land, and other real estate transactions.

So, what do mortgage lenders do, and what is most important to look for when shopping for a lender? A lender will evaluate a buyer’s financial situation, including their credit and job status, to determine what kind of loan they qualify for. It is important to go through this process because without it, a buyer doesn’t know exactly how much they can actually afford.

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Ask Corcoran McEnearney: How can I trust what an agent says about market value?

By Hope Peele

This week’s Q&A column is sponsored and written by Hope Peele of The Peele Group and Corcoran McEnearney, the leading real estate firm in Alexandria. To learn more about this article and relevant Alexandria market news, contact The Peele Group at 703.244.6115 or email [email protected]. You may also submit your questions to Corcoran McEnearney via email for response in future columns.

Question: How can I trust what an agent says about market value?

Answer: When you’re getting ready to list your home, it’s common to interview a few real estate agents. Often, each one will have a different opinion about your home’s market value. So how do you know who to trust?

It’s important that the agent clearly explains how they arrived at their recommended price. That means walking you through comparable sales in your area, the condition of your home compared to others, and the market trends that influence value. Pricing is never a guess. It is a strategy based on data and experience.

While it’s true that some agents may throw out an attractive number just to win a listing, that approach usually backfires. If a home is overpriced, it lingers on the market and becomes stale. If it’s underpriced, the seller risks leaving money on the table. In either case, an agent who isn’t focused on accuracy ultimately hurts their own credibility and your outcome.

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Ask Corcoran McEnearney: When should you get a home inspection?

By Hope Peele

This week’s Q&A column is sponsored and written by Hope Peele of The Peele Group and Corcoran McEnearney, the leading real estate firm in Alexandria. To learn more about this article and relevant Alexandria market news, contact The Peele Group at 703.244.6115 or email [email protected]. You may also submit your questions to Corcoran McEnearney via email for response in future columns.

Question: When should you get a home inspection?

Answer: Many buyers, especially those who have never bought a home before, have a lot of questions about the inspection aspect of the contract process. While it is ultimately up to the seller to decide if they will allow home inspectors to enter their home, the buyer has a few options to ask for.

The most common choice is a “home inspection contingency.” This is a time period set forth in the offer that allows the buyer to bring in a licensed inspector who will inspect the home & write up a report listing items that need to be repaired.

Other inspections may also occur during this contingency period. Home inspectors are generalists, and can advise you when you need to get a specialist – such as a chimney inspector or a mold remediation specialist. They will not diagnose an issue, but let you know what to look out for. For that reason, it is always best to complete the inspection on the earlier side of the contingency so that there is time for additional inspections, if needed.

While this probably sounds fairly straightforward, there are actually two inspection contingency options to consider.

The first option is inspection contingency to negotiate or void. This gives the buyer the most flexibility, and is also the most risky to the seller. With this option, the buyer has a few choices after conducting an inspection – they can move forward with no changes to the contract, void the contract due to items found during the inspection, or request that the seller repair certain items or provide a credit at settlement.

The second option is an inspection contingency to void only. This means that the buyer is agreeing not to ask the seller for any changes after the inspection – they only have the option to void the contract. The general understanding with this choice is that the buyer is mainly inspecting to understand what they should budget for, and will likely only void the contract if there are major defects uncovered.

In competitive offer situations, buyers can make their offer more attractive by either shortening the contingency time period, making the contingency to void only, or waiving the contingency altogether.

In situations that are not competitive, I would never advise a buyer to waive an inspection. Home inspections can be very helpful in estimating future costs, as well as establishing the condition of the home. Sometimes, even in homes that have been recently built or renovated, inspections can find things that may not be immediately visible to the average home buyer.

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