The Top 5 Simple Ways To Increase Your Home’s Value

The Top 5 Simple Ways To Increase Your Home’s Value

If you’re like most people, your home is the biggest financial investment you’ll ever make. Even small improvements to your home can equal big returns later when you are ready to sell. Here are a few easy and (mostly) inexpensive ways to increase your home’s value and improve its marketability, whether you are looking toContinue Reading

14 Changes Ahead For Home Mortgages

14 Changes Ahead For Home Mortgages

A handful of new rules, rising government fees and an improving economy: These developments and others are about to have big effects on the cost and availability of home mortgages — maybe even on the types of loans we choose to finance our homes. It’s too soon to know precisely how the changes will affectContinue Reading

5 Tips to Manage Snow & Ice This Winter

5 Tips to Manage Snow & Ice This Winter

Winter is here, and with tonight’s first snowstorm of the season, you’ll be shoveling, salting, deicing, scraping and blowing or throwing snow on your property soon. Here are 5 tips to help you prepare for whatever winter sends our way. 1. Upgrade your snow shovel There are a surprising number of snow shovel designs —Continue Reading

Did You Know These New Years Traditions?

Did You Know These New Years Traditions?

Think the fact that we focus on a ball dropping in New York City at midnight is interesting? Just wait until you hear what they do in Colombia. And Spain. And Belarus… 1. The new year is “the most important holiday in Japan, and is a symbol of renewal,” said Infoplease. “At midnight on Dec. 31, BuddhistContinue Reading

Top Tips To Sweeten Your Credit Score

Top Tips To Sweeten Your Credit Score

Its a three-digit number that carries a lot of influence over your future. It can dictate whether or not you’ll qualify for a home, car, or business loan. It can also be the deciding factor in whether or not you qualify for a low interest rate. What exactly is a credit score and what factorsContinue Reading

The 7 Steps to Buying a Home

The 7 Steps to Buying a Home

You’ve finally found the home you love (with my help of course!). Now what? You can expect to follow these seven steps, from offer to closing. 1. Making an offer If you’re sure the home you love is right for you, it’s time to make your move. This means writing up a formal purchase offerContinue Reading

U.S Postpones 2014 Hike In Mortgage Fees

U.S Postpones 2014 Hike In Mortgage Fees

It’s a Christmas miracle! Planned fee increases that would have added to the cost of millions of mortgages will be postponed. Currently, borrowers seeking loans backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are set to pay higher upfront fees starting April 1. The fees, ordered by the Federal Housing Finance Agency earlier this month, areContinue Reading

Old Water Tower Converted Into A Home In Belgium

Old Water Tower Converted Into A Home In Belgium

So there was a water tower in a small Belgian village that no one paid much attention to. That is, until a businessman decided to convert it into the dream home I had no idea I wanted. The entire exterior was restored to its original state and the inside, well… the photos speak for themselves.Continue Reading

Meet the Artist Who Inserts Himself in Real Estate Ads

Meet the Artist Who Inserts Himself in Real Estate Ads

  Photos from phildesignart.com While most people either walk by or sit near the faces of real estate agents whose ads grace bus benches and billboards, art designer Phil Jones developed an “affinity” for them. “There’s not that many professions out there that put their faces on billboards,” he said of his fascination. Jones, 31, became soContinue Reading

Decorating For Winter, Not Just The Holidays

Decorating For Winter, Not Just The Holidays

‘Tis the season for Santas, Christmas trees and halls decked with holly — at least until your holiday festivities are over. Before you know it, you’ll be packing up your themed decor and wondering how to warm up your home for the rest of winter. According to Marc Thee, a Zillow Digs Board of Designers member andContinue Reading