The Jamil Brothers Blog

Gift of Equity: How to Sell Your Home to a Family Member Below Market

  Selling your home to your child, grandchild, or sibling for less than it is worth is one of the most generous things a homeowner can do. Done right, it can hand a family member instant equity, wipe out their down payment, and keep a house in the family. Done carelessly, it can trigger tax paperwor

How Much Equity Do I Have in My Home? (How to Calculate It Right)

The formula is simple enough that it feels like a solved problem. What your home is worth, minus what you owe. Two numbers, one subtraction, done. Then people plan around the answer — a renovation, a second home, a retirement  and find out at a lender's desk or a settlement table that the real numbe

Top 10 Mistakes Rockville Home Sellers Make

Most "seller mistakes" articles tell you not to overprice and to hire a photographer. You already know that. This is not that list. These are the ten things that actually go wrong in Rockville, and most of them are legal or procedural rather than cosmetic. One of them can stop your deed from being r

Selling a House With Unpermitted Work in Fairfax County

A finished basement no one pulled a permit for, a deck the previous owner built one summer, a wall that was moved to open up the kitchen. Unpermitted work is everywhere in Fairfax County's older housing stock, and for a seller it can turn into a stressful surprise the moment a buyer's inspector or a