New construction homes are popular for a variety of reasons. They offer buyers a blank slate to design their ideal living space. These options include everything from floor plan layouts to building construction materials. They also cover extra options for energy-efficient HVAC systems and customized cabinetry and doors. However, there are a few cons to buying a newly built home that we’ll discuss below. Before purchasing a new construction property, you should consider these potential drawbacks as well as the advantages. The home buying process is a lengthy one, but it can be made easier with ..read more

Americans spend over six hours cleaning their homes every week. Yet, many still wonder if their homes will ever be clean enough. Cleaning seems like an arduous responsibility that takes time and effort. It can feel overwhelming if you don't know where to begin, especially with so many different methods out there. So, where do you start? How often are you expected to keep up with it? Read this guide on deep home cleaning with this spring cleaning checklist. Table of Contents (click any section) ⭕️ How Often Should You Deep Clean? ⭕️ Before Getting Started ⭕️ A Checklist of Things You'll Nee ..read more

Buying a home has lots of steps. Once a home buyer is “under contract” on a property, it’s common for them to hire a professional home inspector as the next step. This contingency allows the home buyer to determine whether anything is wrong with the property before purchasing it. A home inspection typically takes 2 to 4 hours and can reveal plenty of problems with a home. This article covers the 18 most common issues found during a home inspection. Table of Contents (click any section) ⭕️ HVAC Issues ⭕️ Water Intrusion ⭕️ Roof Problems ⭕️ Electrical Issues ⭕️ Poor Ventilation ⭕️ Poor Drain ..read more

How do you get an offer accepted on a house in the most competitive real estate market the United States has ever seen? It’s the number one question for homebuyers in 2021. Real estate agents scramble to figure out how to win against multiple offers and get their clients that dream home. The pressure is building as housing inventory levels have never been this low. This chart from the Federal Reserve shows that the lowest housing inventory levels since the 1960s occurred in October 2020. This type of competitive market is exhausting for home buyers. Waiting to win a bidding war on a home tak ..read more

An “appraisal gap” is the difference between the appraised value of a home and the purchase price in the sales contract. An “appraisal gap clause” is used in a sales contract to guarantee that the home buyer will cover the monetary gap between the appraisal and the sales contract if an appraisal gap becomes an issue. We'll explain how this works below. Table of Contents (click any section) 1. What is an appraisal in real estate? 2. How does a real estate appraiser determine value? 3. What is an appraisal contingency? 4. How does an appraisal gap guarantee clause work? 5. When is an appraisal ..read more

What is the best way to get approved to buy a home? Loan pre-qualification, pre-approvals, and mortgage commitments are letters used to show that a buyer has been vetted by a lending institution and is ready to purchase a home. These letters empower home buyers to go out and look at homes in person with a real estate agent. So, which letter is better and how do they work? We’ll cover that, as well as all the details that you need to know. Here is a quick reference to all the topics that we'll cover. You can use the reference guide below to jump to the parts that most interest you. Table of Co ..read more

If you ask most real estate agents about the best time to sell your house, you'll likely hear "in the spring and summer months.” In Colorado Springs, our real estate market nearly doubles in sales from winter to summer. There is a big difference in sales volume between these different times of the year. For most cities, the summer months tend to have many more homes sold than in winter. This fact causes some people to think that the summer is the best time to buy or sell, but it's more complicated than that. For example, a townhome downtown might not have a problem selling in the winter, whil ..read more

Selling a home for sale-by-owner (FSBO) is not for everyone. According to the National Association of Realtor (NAR), only 9% of homes were sold FSBO in 2020. Most people will hire a professional to sell their home, but it's possible to roll up your sleeves and do the entire job themselves. Since most real estate agents perform much of their work behind the scenes, they make it seem easy to sell a home. I have been a licensed real estate agent for eleven years, and I have owned and operated a real estate brokerage for six of those years. I'll explain every part of the home selling process to h ..read more

Most people need a mortgage to buy a home. However, for many, the mortgage loan process can be confusing. Therefore, we created this guide to ease any fears and anxieties you may have while preparing to purchase a home. A lot goes into the mortgage loan process, so we've compiled a 10-step guide to help. We'll cover all of the tasks needed to obtain a mortgage to buy a home. We'll also explain the steps your mortgage lender will take while they're working on your loan. Here's a quick reference guide to all of the details that we will cover in this article. Table of Contents (click any section ..read more

Which Local Real Estate IDX Websites Actually Rank On Google in 2019? Click the link to see see the results from our latest study. In February of 2014, I wrote an article titled “A Few Major Drawbacks to Using IDX Broker Platinum” after a very frustrating series of events dealing with IDX Broker. When I wrote the article, I had no idea that there were hundreds of other real estate professionals out there who were also struggling with IDX Broker, or a similar IDX service. After over a year of trial and error, and substantial expense, I have finally found a real estate website company that makes ..read more