Whether this is your first home or your 10th, there are several steps that come after buying a home. We know your to-do lists are long; it can be easy to let certain tasks slip your mind. Use this checklist of to-do’s to ensure you’re set as you continue to move forward as a home […]
Buying a Home
Setting your home buying budget
Buying a home can seem like a daunting commitment, but can be a smart investment and a big life step. If you feel you’re ready to take the plunge, it’s important to first be sure you’re ready financially. Knowing what you can afford before you begin looking will help you make a wise decision when […]
10 Home Buying Mistakes You Can Easily Avoid
As a first time home buyer, buying a house can be overwhelming. It’s usually the biggest asset a person will ever own. On top of mortgages and money, it’s easy to get wrapped in the dream of owning a home and overlook issues that will cause problems down the road. Read this house hunting checklist […]
4 Reasons you should buy (not rent) your next home
Sure, renting is flexible, often takes the hassle of house and yard maintenance off the tenants and may appear cheaper upfront than buying a home, but is it really worth it in the long run? With the housing market back on the rise, we think that now more than ever, buying your next home […]
A buyer’s guide to HOAs
Home owners’ associations, or HOAs, get a bad reputation due to sometimes misinformed ideas about their high fees and strict rules. The CAI’s National and State Statistical Review estimated that 68 million Americans lived within an HOA community in 2015, which leads us to believe there’s a reason so many continue to choose HOAs. If […]
The benefits of house hunting during winter months
Winter isn’t often thought of as the prime time to buy or sell a house, in fact, it is often considered to be “the slow season.” Because of this reason, however, it tends to actually be one of the best times to buy! Those brave enough to house hunt in the winter months will find […]
Keep an eye on these 5 real estate trends in 2017
Since the markets crashed nearly a decade ago, the housing market has seen a peak in 2016, with the low interest rates, high home prices and the highest recorded new home sales since 2008. It’s easy to be optimistic for real estate’s future in 2017. However, with a new president in office for the first […]
5 Tips for preparing your home for cold weather
According to Realtor.com, the damage that Hurricane Matthew’s high winds and flooding wreaked on the Southeastern U.S. coast racked up a price tag of property damage totaling $3 billion to $4.5 billion. While in the Midwest, we are safe from many natural disasters, one of the biggest potential weather threats to your home is the […]
The DOs and DON’Ts of buying a fixer-upper
Maybe you’ve heard the buzz lately around Chip and Joanna Gaine’s show on HGTV Fixer Upper. This fun loving couple finds older homes that are sometimes almost too destroyed to even walk through, and turns them into beautifully updated homes for their clients. Another show that has put the “fixer upper” trend on the radar […]
The Ups and Downs of Buying and Selling a Home
It’s always amazing, as homeowners prepare their homes to sell or future buyers start their search for a new home, how much emotion is involved in this process. The range of emotions can run the gamut from happy, sad, scared, thrilled, worried, disappointed, excitement and everything in between. That’s a lot of ups and downs […]