How Eco-Friendly Features Can Boost Your Home’s Value Selling your house? Or just looking to increase the value and appeal of your home for when you do? Here’s something you should know – homebuyers are increasingly looking for homes with environmentally friendly features. What Energy Efficient Features Do Buyers Want? According to recent data from the National Association…

What’s Motivating More Buyers To Choose a Newly Built Home? Planning to buy a home soon? Why not go for something brand-new? Because data shows a lot more buyers are seeing the appeal of new home construction these days – and you may find out it’s what you want too. The National Association of Realtors (NAR), explains that newly built homes…

The Personal Joys of Having a Home To Call Your Own There’s no doubt that owning a home comes with significant financial benefits. And this time of year is a great time to reflect on the other reasons why owning a home is so meaningful. A house is more than four walls and a roof –…

The #1 Reason People Move: To Be Closer to Family and Friends Have you ever thought about packing up and moving to be closer to the people who mean the most to you? Maybe you’re tired of long drives to see your family or wish your kids could spend more time with their grandparents. Clearly,…

How Home Equity May Help You Buy Your Next Home in Cash Building equity in your house is one of the biggest financial advantages of homeownership. And right now, homeowners across the country are sitting on record amounts of it. Here’s a look at how that equity could be a game changer for you, and why it’ll…

Is Your Home Décor Appealing to Homebuyers? Thanks to social media, some homebuyers can be ruthless in describing your home to others. If they call your home cheugy (choo-gee), they believe you’re pursuing trends a little too hard, or your home is outdated. What makes a home cheugy is hard to pin down, but these…

Detailing That Will Help Sell Your Home This Spring To sell your home this spring, you should repaint, declutter and deep clean, but details will make the most difference. Before you paint, scuff up the surface with a light sanding or a fine abrasive pad. Clean walls and floors of dust and dirt so painter’s tape…

What Are Federal Home Loan Qualifications? What are Federal Home Loan Qualifications? The “American Dream” of homeownership is supported by federal programs that either insure loans made by lenders (such as FHA, VA, and USDA) or purchase loans from lenders to package them into mortgage-backed securities (like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac). Loans that meet…

How to Avoid Becoming House-Poor How to Avoid Becoming House-Poor According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), affordable housing means that you should be paying no more than 30% of your gross income for housing costs, including mortgage principle and interest, property taxes, home insurance premiums, and utilities. In reality, home ownership costs…

Only an Expert Agent Can Give You an Accurate Value of Your Home In today’s digital age, it’s tempting to rely on automated tools for everything — including figuring out how much your house is worth. But be careful. The automated estimates you’re seeing online often miss key details that affect the true market value of your…