Real Estate 101: Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI)
Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) is one of those ubiquitous real estate industry terms like DOM (days on market) or LTV (loan to value) that sounds simple until a client asks what it means. Then suddenly you're standing in front of someone who just realized those letters "Mean Something [...]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED FOR INMAN.COM APRIL 27, 2026
From the outside looking in, it appears Compass has been on a mission to monetize agent data. Redfin, Zillow and all the other real estate portals curate and monetize agent data via the MLS. Compass is a masterclass in revenue generation and has seemingly determined that it’s missing a
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Chattel, Emblements, Trade Fixtures... Oh my
The distinction between real property and personal property sounds simple until you're sitting in an escrow at the closing table and someone asks whether the chandelier stays or goes. That's when the line between what conveys (real and attachments) and what does not (personal and some fixtures) [...]
One of the most important contingencies buyers have in an agreement is the appraisal contingency. Appraisals provide a third-party reality check on the value of (anything really) real estate. If a property doesn’t appraise at value, then a buyer can renegotiate the agreement—as long as the appraisal contingency [...]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED FOR INMAN.COM APRIL 2026
The housing industry keeps talking about single women like they are a specialty segment. For much of modern history, they were treated that way by the financial system, too, because women were blocked from basic access to credit on their own [...]
Real Estate 101: Agency
Real estate is full of words people use every day without really knowing what they mean. Agency is one of them. Buyers hear it and assume it means “my agent is on my side.” Sellers hear it and assume it means “someone is handling this for me.” Agents hear it and sometimes assume everybody knows the rules [...]
Let me preface this by saying there will always be all cash $300k above asking price in two day offers to talk about, but those are now the exception and not the norm. Real estate is cyclical with each new market cycle bringing some fresh new hell for agents, buyers and sellers. And the fresh new hell for a lot of newer agents is the [...]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED MARCH 2026 FOR REALTYTIMES.COM
Clients think the deal is done when the offer is accepted. That is the cute part. That is the Instagram moment. The real work starts the second the signatures dry. The paperwork is where deals live or die, and it is where most agents—especially new ones—get [...]
