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How do Fed Rate Hikes Affect Mortgages?

How do Fed Rate Hikes Affect Mortgages?

Eeeeek! Rates are going up … or are they? Last week, for the first time after years of historically low rates, the Federal Reserve decided to raise short-term interest rates. For homebuyers, any rate hike often is seen a negative,…

Taxes and Your New Home

Taxes and Your New Home

If you bought a new home in 2015, here are some things to think about as you get ready for tax season: Mortgage Interest One of the biggest perks of owning your own home is the benefit of deducting your…

Dreaming of that New Kitchen or Bath? What Renovations Really Pay Off?

Dreaming of that New Kitchen or Bath? What Renovations Really Pay

Owners of older homes dream of updating or modernizing kitchens and baths. In fact, before they place their homes on the market, some folks go to all the effort to update the kitchen they’ve been meaning to redo for years…

Selling in Winter

Selling in Winter

Traditional real estate marketing says homes sell better in the Spring and that if you haven’t sold by the time school starts, you might as well wait until the weather warms again. But these days, real estate is anything but…

Take Advantage of January Appliance Deals

Take Advantage of January Appliance Deals

Now that you’ve done all the hard work of qualifying for the loan, securing the mortgage and putting the deal in motion…you can start to shop for the new items you’ll need for your new home. First up are kitchen…

Fitting Your Furniture in Your New Home

Fitting Your Furniture in Your New Home

It seemed so perfect on the showroom floor… Then you get it home and no matter how you try it, you just can’t make that furniture fit in the space of your new home! What to do? Plan ahead (duh!)…

Buying with Reselling in Mind

Buying with Reselling in Mind

If you know that the home you are buying my have to be sold within a few years, you have a few extra items you need to pay attention to prior to purchasing. This is particularly true if you’ll need…

Favorite Features from 3 Dream Homes

Favorite Features from 3 Dream Homes

Thanks to those visually stunning video tours, the HGTV Dream Homes have become top-of-mind for buyers looking for the latest and greatest in home design. Each year’s home showcases innovation in concept, layout, building materials and design. Here are three…

Will a Bath Remodel Increase My Home’s Value?

Will a Bath Remodel Increase My Home’s Value?

Spring is just around the corner and the lure of a new home has you thinking about putting yours on the market. Your neighbor added a new bathroom last year and you’re wondering if you should upgrade yours before you…

Curb Appeal for Condo Sellers

Curb Appeal for Condo Sellers

You know that curb appeal is important to buyers of single-family homes, but you are selling a condominium in a large building full of similar units. How do you make yours stand out? Here are a few tips for prompting…

Mortgage Rates and Housing Prices Expected to Rise in 2014

Mortgage Rates and Housing Prices Expected to Rise in 2014

Even though 30-year fixed rates dropped in the first half of January, many analysts expect fixed mortgage rates to go up somewhat in 2014, but to top out at around 5%. What this means for buyers is that while higher…

Wanting to Sell Your Home but Not Quite Ready to Move?

Wanting to Sell Your Home but Not Quite Ready to Move?

You know that you need to move, and the market is right to sell, but you’re not quite ready to pack up everything. After all, you still have to live in your home until it sells. So how do you…

Do I Need to Paint the Whole House White?

Do I Need to Paint the Whole House White?

You are getting ready to paint a home you know you will sell within a couple of years. Chances are, a helpful family member or friend reminds you that to sell, everything should be painted white. After all, a buyer…

Counting Chickens

Counting Chickens

If your house has been on the market for any length of time, or if you need to sell because of an out-of-town job change, you may be tempted to accept a contingency offer on your home, or anticipate the…

Keeping It In Balance: Knowing Your Credit-to-Debt Ratio

Keeping It In Balance: Knowing Your Credit-to-Debt Ratio

Many potential new homebuyers find themselves unable to secure a loan, confined to a smaller home ? or at least to a smaller loan ? because they don’t understand the ins and outs of their credit score. First of all,…

Spooky or Spectacular?

Spooky or Spectacular?

Sometimes, a neighborhood appears awesome…but might be hiding some spooky, ghostly elements! You can’t know, for instance, how welcoming some neighborhoods are to families with small children unless you see small children there. If you’ve only visited the neighborhood during…

Your House and Elections

Your House and Elections

With the national elections ramping up, many voters already have voter fatigue (also called voter apathy). That is, we’re already so tired of hearing about the elections that we don’t bother to vote at all. In fact, voter apathy is…

Design Trends in New Homes

Design Trends in New Homes

When the housing market rebounded, so did home builders eager to show off their design skills. Buyers expect that newly constructed homes will be safer and more energy efficient, but they’re also looking for homes that meet the needs of…