Learn how to seal drafty windows and heat your home more efficiently. Before the cold sets in, it’s important to ensure that your home remains comfortable despite the outside temperatures. You can check for proper insulation and perform HVAC maintenance tasks, but it’s also important to take a close look at your windows. Windows with air leaks […]
Author Archives: Sabrina Mapes
Moving Stress: Why You Feel It and How to Cope
Moving is often one of the most stressful and emotional life events. Try these strategies to stay calm. Moving can be one of the most exciting times in life, but it can also be one of the most stressful. In a Zillow survey of recent movers, about half said they experienced stress (55%) and anxiety (48%) […]
5 Things Not Necessarily Included in Your Home Purchase
If you fall in love with a feature or appliance during the open house, ask your agent to find out if it’s in the real estate contract. When you buy a house, you don’t get everything in it. The official real estate term for the inclusion of an item with a property is “convey.” As […]
12 Tasks to Tackle This Fall
Cooler weather is coming — prep your home for its arrival while it’s still nice outside. The days are getting shorter, and the nights are getting cooler. Fall has arrived, and it’s time to think about getting your home and yard ready for the seasonal changes ahead. Take care of these 12 tasks to get your […]
Fall Decorating Tips You Can Pull Off in an Hour
Who has time for decorating when your weekends are packed with apple-picking and tailgating? You do. It’s time to put down your pumpkin-scented beverage of choice, and gather some actual pumpkins. That’s how easy it can be to find fall decorations that set a festive tone for the season. Focus on adding simple decor to […]
Which Comes First: Selling Your Home or Buying a New One?
Deciding whether you should buy or sell your house first should be based on your finances, moving timeline and the market conditions of your current and future homes. Generally, selling first benefits sellers of homes in buyers markets and buying first benefits sellers of homes in sellers markets. Buying and selling at the same time is […]
‘The Fever Has Broken’: Is the Housing Market Frenzy Really Going To Cool Off This Fall?
Over the next few weeks and months, the long-overheated U.S. housing market is expected to continue to cool off in the bracing chill of autumn. After a wild year of unprecedented price increases, a worsening shortage of homes for sale, and cutthroat bidding wars where offers six figures over the ask price weren’t uncommon, conditions […]
What Is Escrow?
When buying a home, you’ll probably hear your lender or real estate agent use the word escrow. The term escrow can describe a few different functions, from the time your offer is accepted to the day you close on your home — and even after you become a homeowner with a mortgage. There are essentially two types of escrow […]
A shock is headed for the housing market
At the height of the pandemic, more than 7.2 million homeowners were in the mortgage forbearance program, which allows some borrowers to pause their payments. The economy has since posted one of the fastest recoveries in history. Now, just 1.7 million borrowers are enrolled in the forbearance program. But soon it’ll be zero. The Biden-Harris administration has […]
First-Time Home Buyer Programs
About 46 percent of home buyers are purchasing a home for the first time, and with that first home can come particular financial hurdles around saving for a down payment, and paying for closing costs. About two-thirds (64 percent) of first-time buyers put less than 20 percent down on their first home, and a quarter put down 5 percent […]