Building a new home is a perfect opportunity to customize your space according to your own needs and wants — and it can also feel completely overwhelming. Many homes built from the ground up will require the new owner to make more than one thousand decisions about everything from paint color to what fixtures you want in your kitchens and bathrooms. If you’ve always dreamed of having complete control over what goes into your home, then don’t despair. There are lots of ways you can make your new-construction experience smoother and even take some decisions off the table until further on down the ..read more

Buying a new home can be an exciting time. It can also be frustrating and exhausting. To help prepare you for home hunting success, here are five important things to know about the market before you schedule your first viewing, or visit your first open house. 1) Buyers market or seller’s market? And what’s the difference?   Most markets are governed by the law of supply and demand–the housing market is no exception. When demand (buyers shopping for homes) is high and supply (homes for sale) is low, prices go up. On the flip side, when demand is low and supply is high, prices go down. As ..read more

Do you want to buy a home? (No, that isn’t one of the questions.) If the answer, however, is “yes,” then there are more questions you’ll need to ponder before you’re truly ready — even if this is your fifteenth fix-and-flip instead of your very first home. Before you start adding properties to your “favorite” list on your most-visited real estate portal, consider the many possible answers to these questions and then decide what’s best for you. Even if you enjoy making big decisions by the seat of your pants, you’ll find that a little bit of thinking and planning before taking the (huge!) step ..read more

Daydreaming about owning your own home is one of the most intoxicating practices known to modern man, especially now that HGTV is a thing. But when the time comes to actually put your money where your daydream is, it can be challenging for first-time buyers especially to understand how a home that doesn’t currently come anywhere close to “dream” status could be whipped into shape — and how a home that they think is perfect now will end up feeling like a mistake in a couple of years. To avoid that unfortunate scenario, first-time buyers will need to think carefully and weigh all of their opt ..read more

It’s stressful being a landlord at the best of times, but when the time comes for you to sell your investment property and move on, the stress can feel palpable. You’ve probably spent time getting to know your tenants and have built a relationship with them, and most humans don’t deal with change all that well.  Springing the “guess what, I’m selling your residence out from under you” conversation can feel like a big deal, even if everyone involved knows that isn’t really what’s happening. If you own a home with tenants in it that you want to sell, what do you need to know and address?   Y ..read more

Being a homeowner definitely has its advantages, and saving money on your taxes each year just might be at the top of the list. Make sure you’re taking advantage of these common tax perks as a homeowner: 1) Mortgage interest One of the most common tax perks, you can deduct mortgage interest for your primary residence, and for a second home as long as you mean certain conditions.  2) Equity loan interest If you have a line of credit or home equity loan, you may be able to deduct some of the interest within IRS limits.  3) Property taxes or real estate taxes State or city property taxes ar ..read more

When you’re selling your house, it can be tempting to hope that buyers will see past the surface to the beautiful bone structure of your abode and realize what a lovely life they could make in it. But the truth is that most homes could use a little bit of a facelift before you invite people to walk through and hope they’ll make an offer on it. So what do you need to do, exactly, to get your house into perfect shape, and keep it that way throughout all the showings and events? Here’s a complete general and room-by-room rundown of the steps you can take to make and keep your house not only pict ..read more

Selling your house can be a very stressful experience for homeowners. It can be emotionally challenging to make repairs or upgrades to a house that you’re about to hand over to a buyer; you often need to keep the home in pristine condition for marketing and showings; and even if you find a buyer who’s perfect for your place and everything seems to be going swimmingly, a last-minute loan problem can derail your deal and send you back to the beginning — through no fault of your own. It’s no wonder that many homeowners would prefer to work with an all-cash buyer when selling their house. The sal ..read more

There’s a reason why people love looking at photos of homes for sale — it’s rare that we get to see a place look it’s very best, and scrolling through gorgeous room after room helps serious buyers see themselves settling down in those very rooms. But as any seller (or photographer) can attest, getting a home ready for it’s close-up (also known as “staging”) is not easy and is definitely not always fun. It involves a ton of cleaning, some furniture removal (or placement), a plethora of attention to detail, and usually a lot of light. This is why professional stagers charge hundreds (sometimes t ..read more

The home closing process feels like the home stretch to sellers — you’ve done all the work to get the house ready to sell, marketed it in an attractive way to buyers, and now you’re ready to move. Although there is a lot you’ll have to do if you’re like many sellers before you’re ready to hand over ownership (moving comes to mind), there’s also a lot that needs to happen in the closing process before everything is legally able to transfer to a new owner and you can move on with your life. What should you expect from a typical real estate closing? Every transaction is different, just like ever ..read more