Rules of Etiquette You Should Know Before Buying a Home

The truth is, there’s a certain etiquette that buyers should follow throughout the home-buying process, and failure to follow it could actually cost you a lot of money.

At the end of the day, it all comes down to being courteous and having some common sense.…

6 Things That Can Drive Your Property Taxes Up

Property taxes are tough to figure out. The federal property tax code alone is thousands of pages long, let alone the local codes all over the country.

In a nutshell, property taxes are determined by a home’s assessed value and the property tax rate for that specific town or county.…

7 Tips For Selling Your First Home

Regardless of how long you’ve lived in your first home, selling for the very first time can be a daunting task if it’s not done right. While there are certain factors that you can’t do much about – such as the current market conditions and your location – there are plenty of other components to the selling process that you have total control over, which can significantly impact the end result.…

5 Affordable Decor Ideas that Always Impress

You might be taking the holiday season as an opportunity to add some ‘cheer’ to your interior decor. But the truth is, revamping your interior could probably use some refreshment at any point throughout the year.

And who says you need to blow the budget in the name of a decor facelift?…

Investing Locally Vs. Long-Distance: What’s Better?

Investing in real estate – it’s been done forever, and it’s one of the tried-and-true ways of building sustainable wealth over the long term.

But the property you invest in can make or break any profits you make. It’ll also play a key role in the amount of hassle you have to endure to manage the property.…

6 Christmas Tree Decorating Ideas For The Holiday Season

The holidays are typically marked with all sorts of festive decorations, but perhaps none is more prominent and attention-grabbing than a Christmas Tree. When it comes to decorating your tree, you don’t necessarily have to break out the same old decorations year after year.…

6 Signs Your Home Has a Drainage Problem

It’s no secret that any water that’s pooled in any part of your home will cause nothing but problems. And if there are drainage issues in your home, you’ll likely experience these problems pretty quickly. That’s why it’s critical that any drainage issues be nipped in the bud before they turn into total catastrophe.…

Private Showings Vs. Open Houses: Which Wins?

Looking for a new home? Before you sign on the dotted line, you’re going to want to have a chance or two to scope out a few homes in detail first. That means you’ll either want to schedule a private showing, or visit an open house.…

5 Ways Real Estate Agents Save You Money When Selling Your Home

It’s understandable – after finally selling your home, it can be tough to fork over the commission fee to a real estate agent. But before you fall into the FSBO trap, consider one very important thing: real estate agents can actually save you money.…

Clever Moving Tips to Cut Down on Time and Hassle

Just the mere thought of having to pack the entire house and move it all to a new destination can seem like a daunting task. And it can be if you don’t plan ahead and use simple yet effective strategies to ease the burden.…

The Dangers of Over-Improving Your Home

Is there such thing as having a home that’s too good for its surrounding neighborhood?

Sure, most homeowners want their home to be up-to-date and attractive, and often that means making some changes and improvements to it. But while many projects can have positive effects on the functionality of a home, its visual esthetics, and the overall value of the property, others, on the other hand, are just over-the-top, and can actually have a negative impact on how prospective buyers see your home.…

Emergency Tips Every Homeowner Needs to Know About

Owning and maintaining a home doesn’t come with an instruction manual, though it would be great if it did. After you’ve found the home you love and moved in, the real fun starts.

But sometimes the fun can be rudely interrupted by certain scenarios that can put the home – and even you and your family – at risk.…

Using Price-Per-Square-Foot Analysis to Price a Home

Listing your home at the right price is critical. Pricing too high or too low can keep your home on the market a lot longer than you’d like, and can even leave thousands of dollars on the table.

Comparing what other similar homes in the neighborhood recently sold for is the more popular way of coming up with an accurate listing price in residential real estate; however, there are other ways to measure value.…

8 Essential Items Your Home Renovation Contract Should Include

It would be nice to be able to trust your contractor’s word when you’re having work done on your home, but a written contract really is the only way to go. Having everything in writing can ensure that every party involved fully and clearly understands what is expected of them.…

Unique Fall Decorating Ideas That Won’t Cost a Fortune

Once the kids are back in school and the long summer days began to grow shorter and shorter, homeowners begin thinking about fall. First comes the change in leaves that completely alters the landscape, followed soon after by Halloween. The next month brings Thanksgiving, which often involves visiting relatives.…

5 Reasons Why Not Staging Your Vacant Home is a Mistake

The goal of every seller is to sell their home quickly, and for top dollar. Nobody wants to have to pay carrying costs while waiting for the right buyer to come along. The home has to be presented in the most attractive light possible, which is why home staging can work wonders.…

No Credit? How to Build it From the Ground Up

Having poor credit isn’t a good thing, but neither is having no credit at all. Getting approved for a mortgage – or any other type of loan, for that matter – is pretty much an impossible feat if the lender has nothing to go on.…

These Features Will Help Your Home Sell Faster

If you’re planning on selling your home and moving some time in the near future, you should think about the features in your house, and whether or not buyers want what you’ve got. Yet a lot of home buyers might be hesitant to blow money on upgrades if they don’t plan on taking advantage of them for long.…

Dorm Room Design on a Budget

It’s that time of year again. High school graduates across the country are packing their belongings into boxes and making the drive to the college campus they’ll call home for the next few years. Many of them will spend at least the first year in an on-campus dormitory, sharing a small space with a roommate.…

10 Easy Kitchen Projects to Enhance Your Space

The kitchen is the place where we cook, entertain, do homework, and even surf the web. We want it to be functional, but we also want it to be stylish, too. Luckily there are some easy ways to tweak your kitchen to breathe new life into it.…