Reba Haas's Q&A

I would put a question back to you first before answering yours, mainly, why would you believe there is risk for having two mortgages in one small city?  You mention "diversify" as though this is a stock purchase. Unless you're trying to do some form of dollar cost averaging within real estate, it's probably not a realistic way to consider it.If you're worried that because it's a small town and there are limited job opportunities, and therefore if one main employer fails then there will be a major drop in home values - then you should probably take into consideration your own employment stability depending on how many income earners are in your household - and your renter's employment stability, etc. Could you afford both properties if one or more jobs were lost? What level of reserves (cash in the bank or other investments) do you have available to make payments if something happens, etc.These would be a few of the financial planning elements I would put into it. If you can get low interest rate loans (which is all over right now) and very reasonable payment levels for your income situation, then you should be good. Don't overextend. Consider that if you are looking for long term holds on one or both of these properties that a low interest 30-year loan would be in your favor.

Postlets is now a Zillow owned company, you could post there and have it syndicated to several sites including Zillow. In my local area of Seattle WA, our managing broker's company has a data feed agreement with Zillow so I am able to see my listings feed into it and then I go "claim" the home as the listing agent. Hope this helps!

You can attempt to negotiate repairs or a credit (if you don't already have any) to be applied toward the cost of repairs, but it could set back your short sale negotiation and possibly kill it if there are significant additional costs. It all "depends". Your attorney should be able to provide good advice but make sure your agent is also talking to the listing agent about the issues. Some plumbing leaks aren't as simple as others on here are talking about. If leaks persist behind walls where you can't see them then they may causing damage.  You might consider having a contractor or plumber review the inspection report or have them come to the property site for a more in depth evaluation that you can then use to help in negotiating with the lenders and the seller too if it's found that bigger issues are at play.

if your agent has already claimed the home, you may need them to unclaim it while you upload photos and then re-assign the claim again after you're done.

There are good and bad agents whether or not they're full or part time just as this is true in any other field of work. However, the frustrating ones I've dealt with are those that aren't staying abreast of the constant changes in our field - particularly with contracts, financing, and legal issues. If someone doesn't have experience in short sales today, that's another one that can be a problem especially if the part time REA is the listing agent and they don't use a 3rd party negotiator. These are time intensive files and if someone can't babysit the lender and be available to handle all the paperwork that's involved, it can be a waste of time for everyone else involved.

Your main question as I see it is about legal issues of cutting out the agent. No one here is an attorney and cannot tell you that info. You would need legal advice. Generally speaking, if there is an agency agreement, then you and/or the buyer may be liable legally.

thanks, David!

http://www.remax.com/property/88334081-60610376/10509-Rustic-Rd-S-Seattle-WA-98178/ that's the link on the REMAX site.

it's not as simple as that, I don't believe. RE/MAX and our local franchise office have direct feeds from the NWMLS to our listings on Zillow so it should be pulling from that - not from anything I am personally inputting.

the folks that all posted it's a home owner's price that they'd consider moving if you offered it. Be realistic though that if you see it, that doesn't mean it's a good price. It's necessary to still do due diligence to see if that is appropriate. Some For Sale By Owners are putting their prices in Zillow for that purpose and they may be accurate with market value, others not so uch. And, I don't know that legally you could require someone to take such an offer just because it's posted on Zillow.I'd love to know Zillow's take on this and if they've had any legal issues arise from such a posting.