What If You Already Have a Home?
Buying a new home and selling an existing home at the same time has its own set of challenges. With knowledgeable planning, you can ensure everything goes smoothly.
Read more tips in this article.
Category: For Homeowners
Where Housing Costs Less, Energy Costs More
In metros were home owners pay the least amount for housing, they often spend some of the highest amounts on energy each year. On the other hand, in some of the priciest areas, owners get more of a break, according to a new report by Redfin.
Energy costs should be an important factor guiding home buyers. After all, energy bills can increase total housing costs by as much as 50 percent or more. This is particularly common in the Rust Belt, Redfin researchers note.
Read more HERE.
5 Insurance Tips for Home Renovation Projects
A home renovation can be an overwhelming experience with high stakes for your clients. There’s creating the overall vision of the project, gauging its financial feasibility, finding a reliable contractor, and hoping for a smooth construction process. But an important consideration that often falls by the wayside is making sure the project is adequately insured.
Whatever a home remodel entails, it’s important that all the players involved are insured—from the homeowner, to the general contractor, to any subcontractors involved, says Mark Komiskey, Director of Homeowners Products at Esurance.
Here are five insurance tips to help keep financially sound as you consider a home renovation.
4 Lawn Maintenance Tips for Fall
Fall lawn maintenance isn’t just about clearing away leaves, says The National Association of Landscape Professionals. Your clients will want to do a few things in their yard not only to prep it for the colder months, but to ensure that it’s in good shape for spring.
Maintaining a healthy lawn is also great for a home’s curb appeal, and just adopting a standard lawn care program can recover 303 percent of the project cost, according to the 2016 Remodeling Impact Report: Outdoor Features.
Consider these lawn tips and remember that lawn care is something you need to think about throughout the year.
Where You Live Can Impact Life Expectancy
What makes some neighborhoods healthier than others? Researchers point to several factors, including access to high quality education and higher incomes that have been linked to longer life expectancies. Also, areas that offer residents more opportunities to exercise, walk or bicycle. Read more HERE.
What it Means to be a Good Neighbor
Ninety-nine percent of Americans say they’re a good neighbor, finds a new survey by the Community Associations Institute, a community association governance and education group.
Staging Tips for Sprucing Up the Basement
Basements often have the reputation as being dark and dank. But the basement shouldn’t be forgotten when it comes to staging a property.
“Buyers will definitely poke their heads down in this cold, dark place,” notes an article at realtor.com®. “So, imagine their pleasant surprise when it’s actually a functional, comfortable room where they might even want to hang out.”
4 Ways to Make a Home Show Ready
When a home hits the market, it needs to be show-ready. That doesn’t usually require spending a fortune on a remodel, however. Just targeting a few key areas in the home can go a long way.
The New York Times recently highlighted a few tips from real estate pros on preparing a home for sale, including…
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4 Home Maintenance Tasks to Tackle Now
Autumn is the ideal time…to make little home improvements that could make a big difference once winter hits. RISMedia’s Housecall blog recently offered advice on what maintenance tasks home owners should tackle first.
Read more HERE.
Five Fixes To Raise a Home’s Value
For home owners looking to spruce up their home before listing it, there’s plenty they can do to attract more buyers and potentially boost the value of their home too.
Veteran real estate professionals recently weighed in at This Old House on some of the best home improvement projects they believe can help a home show better.
Read more HERE.