As temperatures drop this winter, you can avoid the expense and trouble of frozen water lines at your home or business by taking these simple precautions: If you have water pipes in an unheated garage or a crawl space under the house, wrap them with insulation. Hardware and home improvement stores carry appropriate pipe-wrapping tape. Close the foundation or exterior vents around your house to keep freezing air out of crawl spaces. In addition, seal off access doors, air vents and cracks. Cold winds can quickly freeze exposed pipes. Remember to avoid plugging air vents that your furnace or wat ..read more

Reviewing the monthly market statistics report for the major areas in Northern Nevada is a great way to understand what your home could sell for, or how much you'll need to pay if you're buying in the area. You'll also find information on how quickly a home sells and how much inventory is on the market ..read more

Below is our October 2023 Market Report for Reno & Sparks. (Find Fernley, Fallon, Carson Valley/Douglas County and Incline Village here).If you'd like an even more local report on real estate in your neighborhood, don't hesitate to get in touch with me via social media, text, email, or phone, and let me know if you'd like monthly updates on what is happening right in your neighborhood.If you or someone you know has questions about these statistics or real estate in our area, please don't hesitate to contact me. > ..read more

As the temperatures cool down this month, our plants, trees and grasses start to transition. Help this natural process of dormancy by reducing how much and how frequently you water your landscape. For your sprinkler system, begin by reducing run times or dropping a day off your weekly watering schedule. Then, as chilly mornings turn into colder days, you can slow down watering your landscape even more, to once a week or less. You’ll notice this transition, as grasses and plants grow more slowly. This is a solid clue that your yard is moving into dormancy. At this phase, less water near your ro ..read more

Make a Home Down Payment Without Wrecking Your Finances Maximizing a home down payment can make sense: The bigger the down payment, the lower the monthly mortgage bill and the better the chance of building equity more quickly. But putting too much down could leave you without enough cash for home maintenance — or anything else. Pinpointing the right amount involves balancing the advantages of boosting the down payment against the need to hold back money for urgent upgrades, life’s emergencies, and having some fun with your new home. “There’s really no one-size-fits-all solution,” say ..read more

Let’s be real: Rejection hurts. It’s particularly hard if you’re denied for a mortgage preapproval, which is one of the biggest hurdles in the home-buying process. Mike and Brittany Delgado know the feeling all too well. In 2013, the couple tried to get a mortgage preapproval and were denied. Why? Mike’s credit report showed no history or FICO score. “This was a surprise to us,” says Brittany Delgado, adding that her husband had paid off old debts, but the couple had never taken steps to re-establish his credit. “Our lender outlined exactly what we needed to do and told us to start small — fin ..read more

Buying a house is exciting, intimidating, and a bit complicated. If you’re like most home shoppers, you’ll spend close to three months just finding “your” home. It’s an emotional roller coaster. You might find what seems the perfect place, only to learn that it’s way over your target price. And that in-your-budget “fixer-upper” is more like a demolition zone. But there are some home search hacks you can use to help you buy smart. It all starts with researching your market. Things you can control, and things you can’t You’ve no doubt heard the terms “buyer’s market” or “seller’s marke ..read more

After ten rate hikes since March of last year, the Fed left their benchmark Federal Funds Rate unchanged at a range of 5 to 5.25 at their meeting last Wednesday. The Fed Funds Rate is the interest rate for overnight borrowing for banks and it is not the same as mortgage rates. When the Fed hikes the Fed Funds Rate, they are trying to slow the economy and curb inflation. What’s the bottom line? The Fed kept the Fed Funds Rate unchanged to give themselves more time to assess incoming data. In his press conference following the meeting, Fed Chair Jerome Powell stressed that the Fed is “strongly c ..read more

By Bill Hauck, Water Supply Supervisor. Truckee Meadow Water Authority This winter brought one of the biggest snowpack years on record, and the water supply outlook for our region is excellent Official April 1st snowpack measurements for the Lake Tahoe Basin came in at 242 of normal. With the big spring runoff, it is expected that all upstream reservoirs on the Truckee River system will fill this year. Lake Tahoe, with its massive 744,600-acre foot storage capacity, should come very close to filling. (The top 6.1 ft. of storage above the lake’s rim is used to provide river flows and drought re ..read more

Check out the Market Report for Reno & Sparks, Fernley, Fallon, Carson Valley, and Incline Village. As you can see, the Northern Nevada Real Estate Market is picking up steam; more new listings are on the market, with slightly higher median prices and homes going under contract sooner. If you'd like an even more local report on real estate in your neighborhood, please contact me via social media, text, email, or phone, and let me know if you'd like monthly updates on what is happening right in your neighborhood. If you or someone you know has questions about these statistics or real e ..read more