IF its an older house, you want to look into homeowner's policy for maintenance work -- they are called different things in different places but it is like HMO coverage for the house. It CAN save you lots of dough if a serious issue comes up. The caveat is to make sure you read the details as to what the company will cover and what they will not.

Real estate agents CAN be flexible as to the percentage points of the deal they get as commission. These are actually negotiable but the impression is that they are standardized. They sometimes will give up a few points if a deal is falling apart over the last few x thousand bucks, in order to put it together. A GOOD RE agent who knows the territory and is working for you, knows how to handle negotiations and care for customers, is worth her weight in gold in saved stress.

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