Blog
Capturing Clutter
Whether you’re preparing your home to sell, or your packing up to move to your new home … clutter can be your worst enemy. But, getting chaos under control isn’t always easy. The problem isn’t that you lack resources. In…
Fascinating Home Technology — Run Your House on a Battery
The biggest challenge to solar energy is the inability to both capture it and store it in any meaningful way. In fact, while efficiency in capturing solar power has increased from about 15 percent of most solar panel models to…
Protect Your Home-Buying Budget
You know you love house hunting, and shopping for the perfect home is a fun pastime, but to move from being an open house and model home butterfly requires that big initial financial outlay … the dreaded downpayment. In fact,…
Are You Ready to Buy a Home?
Okay, it’s one of the biggest decisions of your life, so when do you know if you’re ready? Homeownership readiness can come at any age … there are young twenty-somethings that took the plunge, and there are empty-nesters that buy…
The Best Place to Raise a Family
We all have our own idea of the perfect place to raise a family. We want our kids to grow up with all the opportunities available to them. That might mean a large backyard or nearby parks, great schools, sports…
Hack Your Downpayment
The biggest hindrance to home-ownership for most young couples is the dreaded downpayment. In fact, may couples believe that between living expenses and school loans, they’ll never be able to save up enough for a downpayment on a house or…
Slash Your Energy Bill
We don’t think about our heating bill much in the summer, but this is the time to make some upgrades to your home that will see you through the winter, such as adding insulation, changing out windows for double or…
A House for the Whole Family
While multigenerational families sharing a home is common nowadays, finding a home that works for everyone is a little trickier. If you’re searching for the perfect house to share with both young children and aging parents, you need to consider…
Nifty Clutter-Freeing Hints & Hideaways
Whether you’re planning to sell your home and want to make it show-ready, or just want to get organized to simplify the holidays, check out these creative options for extra storage: Under Bed Locker That space under your bed is…
Basketball Themed Home Makeovers for March Madness
With NCAA Final Four Basketball finals coming up, basketball themed bedrooms, game rooms, theater rooms and garages stoke dreams of future champions. Give a makeover to a space in your house and score big time with March Madness fans and…
Real Estate Terminology: Abatement, the First in a Series
Every industry has its own vocabulary, and real estate is no exception. If you are newly in the home-buying market, you may find yourself stumped by the lingo, acronyms, abbreviations and jargon commonly used in real estate sales materials, online…
What Gen Y Looks for in a Home to Buy
If you’ve lived in your home for some time, you notice when the neighborhood around you is changing to a younger demographic. Thinking this might be a good time to sell, you wonder what was so appealing about the house…
Add a Romantic Touch to Your Open House
When staging your home for an open house, consider connecting to the season, holiday or local events to give your home that memorable “I see myself living here” quality. With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, consider adding a vase…
Should You Wait Until Spring to Put Your Home on the Market?
Typically the end of the Holiday season and New Years signal the advent of Spring, so putting your home on the market around the time of the Spring Equinox might be the perfect option for you. Markets vary, so only…
Know Your Style: Country French Style
Originally called French Provincial, Country French Style evokes the casual simplicity and rustic elements of a country home in the South of France. By paying tribute the region’s sunny, warm landscape, Country French style adds cheerful vitality to a home’s…
How to Survive Transition
Timing the closing of your new home purchase with the end of your lease agreement or sale of your existing home is tricky, to say the least. Rarely does it work out that you move directly from one home to…
Condo? Co-Op? Apartment? Townhome?
Which is which? Although all are part of the common-interest housing category, condos, co-ops, townhouses, and apartments may mean different things to different buyers, so here is a breakdown of what each word means and the advantages or disadvantages of…
Open House Pitfalls, Tips and Etiquette for Buyers
So, you’re thinking of buying a home … where do you begin? Potential buyers new to the real estate market may not know exactly what they want in a home, or where they want to live. The dream homes in…