Author Archives: Sabrina Mapes

The typical mortgage payment in these housing markets consumes less than a third of the median household monthly income. Finding a home that fits your needs while leaving money in your pocket to enjoy life can feel like an impossible journey at times. But real estate markets vary widely, and there are still markets where […]

Price cuts and an uptick in for-sale listings mark the start of the busiest season for home buyers and sellers. Spring home buying season — typically the most active time of year for home shopping — is about to begin in earnest with a calmer market. But while the boost in newly listed homes that […]

Seasoned homeowners weigh in on what caught them off guard, what delighted them and what lessons you can learn from them. Talk to any homeowner and they’ll probably tell you how excited they were when they first bought their home.  After they’ve lived there a while, they’re likely to tell you about the things they […]

How this non-traditional path to ownership leads to substantial savings and surprising community. For most new homeowners, getting the key to their own home means saying goodbye to roommates they lived with during college or while building job experience. And then there are homeowners like Christine Knapp, who began posting online for a roommate soon […]

When using a mortgage to finance your home purchase, an appraisal lets you and the lender know that the property is priced appropriately. That way you don’t end up paying more for a home than it is worth, and your lender doesn’t need to make adjustments to the loan amount, since they will only lend as much […]

A Zillow study reveals paint colors that may wow prospective buyers — and colors that fall short. Do you find yourself browsing homes on Zillow and pausing at a home that has a stand-out front door? Maybe it’s a bright red or a sunshine yellow. There’s a reason you paused — and it’s likely because the seller was […]

A guide for finding a home you love in a place that feels like home. Deciding where to live — whether it’s for a year or a lifetime — can mean weighing up dozens of complex considerations. These span from broad factors like the local job market, to more specific concerns like whether it will […]

Renovating doesn’t always mean big returns. See which improvements pay off when you sell. Whether you’re thinking of selling in the next six months or a few years down the road, remodeling with return on investment (ROI) in mind is a smart financial move. Few investments recoup more than 100% of their cost, but collectively, […]

See which seaside and vacation towns made the list. Small cities and towns captured the imagination of Zillow® surfers in 2023, drawn perhaps by smaller home prices and proximity to major cities with lots of amenities. “Affordability was the word on home shoppers’ minds, and it shows in the most popular cities that buyers on […]

A mortgage is a loan you take out on a piece of land or real estate when you don’t have all the cash-on hand to buy, improve or maintain it on your own. A bank or other financial institution will lend you the money under the condition that you repay the loaned amount by a set […]