AboutMary Mahoney Expertise My area of expertise is helping buyers and sellers with the purchase and sale of property. Specifically, I deal with mostly with the older homes in Denver Metro and Golden neighborhoods. The company I work for is called Nostalgic Homes. I have extensive knowledge of all of the neighborhoods in these areas and can make excellent recommendations to fit my buyer's lifestyle and needs, whether they are looking for an already established neighborhood, or are interested in obtaining property in an up and coming area. Since the majority of the homes that I help buyers with are dated between 1860-1945, there can be various expensive items that an agent should pay close attention to, besides the obvious cosmetics. While many older homes have already been updated throughout the years, it's important that I am able to bring to my buyer's attention plumbing, electrical, sewer line, roof, structural, and other major systems that may or may not be in good condition. This gives my buyers a much better sense of what kind of 'fix-ups' that will or will not be in store for them after they make their purchase.
When assisting my sellers, in any market place, but especially now, it's important that sellers understand and know what to expect. I do extensive current market research of the neighborhood and area to inform them of how many days they can expect their house to be on the market, the best price they can achieve, given the current condition of their property, any fix-ups they can do to help achieve a higher price, and instruct them on how to stage and prepare their home for the public so that they can achieve the best offer with the shortest days on the market.
Experience I have been investing in real estate since I was 25 years old and own several properties. I've lived in Denver proper for the last 20 years. I have held a certified real estate license for the last 8 years and have been selling real estate full time since.
Organizations Denver Board of Realtors
National Association of Realtors
Education/Credentials My actual degree is a Bachelor of Fine Arts. I worked in this field for several years after college, before my love of real estate developed. As a licensed Realtor, I have taken a code of ethics, assuring all of my clients that they are treated fairly, with respect and knowledge of the field that of my expertise. I continually advance my knowledge of the field by taking many different courses that the Denver Board of Realtors offers each year to stay abreast of current and upcoming market conditions and certain problems to stay aware of to keep my clients fully informed as real estate changes.
Past/Present Clients Can provide a list of names, numbers and emails of current and past clients upon request.
Expert: Mary Mahoney Date: 9/19/2007 Subject: earnest money
Question I recently entered into a buyers agency contract, and put 2000.00 earnest money down. The seller agreed to the purchase price (this is going to be a short sell). After waiting two months and getting nowhere with the short sale I notified my agent I would like to get out of the contract, so we stated inspections reasons, and requested our earnest money back. The sellers agent notified us the seller is in Intensive Care and he is unable to sign off on the earnest money. What can I do to speed the process up. For all I know the seller could be in ICU for a long time.
Answer The buyer and the seller DO have to mutually agree to terminate and agree to give your earnest money back. But in an extenuating circumstance such as this, I would either find out if the seller has any family member or spouse that is assuming Power of Attorney over him and have them sign off on it, or, contact the listing agents managing broker and find out if they would release it for you, or, if neither of those two work, go to your state Real Estate Commission and fill them on the details with a formal complaint. Since they are the ones that have made the rules, they should be able to bend them and expedite the release.
Banks can be a tricky group to deal with...they usually make up their own rules and won't/don't necessarily follow the Real Estate Commissions protocol, which can be frustrating for all parties involved. Good luck with that!
