A well known strategy to pass your real estate exam is to know the lingo.  If you don't know the words in a question or in the answers it will be difficult to pass the test.  Real estate schools that provide vocabulary tests and tools tend to have the highest pass rates for students.






For example consider these terms:

APR

Buy down

CRV

ECOA

deed-in-lieu

Mortgage insurance premium

Riparian rights

To set yourself up for passing grades you must study vocabulary.  Here is a study tool that you can download that will help you pass your exam.

A simple video that explains a common question on how real estate agents make money.

Many times buyers (particularly first time home buyers) are not familiar with escrow requirements when they purchase real estate.

First of all, escrow needs all of the buyer’s contact information:  home, work, cell and email.

Secondly, a packet from escrow will be provided to you and they will need to know how you would like to hold title to your home.

You also need to let Escrow know if funds are coming from the sale of an existing home. 

After your loan documents have been received, Escrow will let you know what the amount is needed to close.  Funds need to be in the form of a wire transfer or cashier’s check payable to the Escrow Company.

You also need to provide Escrow with the name of your insurance agent and phone number prior to close of escrow.

At Signing:  All individuals named on the Deed and/or Mortgage must be present.  Everyone must present a valid identification in the form of:   a current Driver’s License, Passport, Department of Motor Vehicles Identification Card or other approved identification card provided it has a photograph, description of the person, signature and an identifying number.

You will receive the keys from your real estate agent and the recorded deed will be mailed to you from the County Recorder’s Office.

The median price of homes on Oahu reached another record in November 2014 at $719,500, or a gain of 5.2%. This trend continues to support the prediction of Hawaii’s leading real estate economist Paul Brewbaker, who predicted a $1M median price by 2018. Brewbaker’s prediction is based on projections that home prices would appreciate by 15% each year. In the rolling 12 months, Oahu homes increased 17%.

Inventory levels are still indicating a Seller’s market with only 2.6 months of remaining inventory. Add to that New Listings and Active Listings are both down significantly from the same time last year,  buyers are still experiencing multiple offer conditions when making offers on homes, it’s hard to argue that Paul Brewbaker will again hit his mark as he’s done countless times in the past.

Buyers are cautioned to not putting off buying a home on Oahu thinking home prices are going to drop. At least not in the foreseeable future.

Source: Honolulu Board of Realtors, PBN Biz Journals

I just got my license and my best friend’s cousin calls me saying he needs help because he wants to sell his home via an Open Listing.  I tell him before he does anything let me meet with him to discuss the different types of listings.

I tell him there are four types of listing contracts; a Net listing, an Open listing, an Exclusive listing and an Exclusive Right to Sell listing.

A Net listing is one where the owner specifies a net price he wants for his property, and any amount over and above that price is the commission paid to the selling broker for his services.

An Open listing not only allows the seller to list the property with more than one broker, but also allows him to sell the property himself.

An Exclusive Agency listing gives the employment contract to one broker only and assures him that the property will not be listed with other brokers.  However, the seller has the right to sell it himself and not compensate the broker.

Lastly, the Exclusive Right to Sell listing is one that makes the broker the sole and exclusive agent for the seller.  Regardless of who sells the property the broker will get compensated.

After going over the pros and cons of all of the listing types he turns to me and asks me where I learned all of this.  I proudly say “Inet School of Real Estate”.  He then says, “lets go with the Exclusive Right to Sell”.  I take out the paperwork for signatures and get my first listing, list price……$1,250,000!   Yeah!!