You decide to place your home on the market and hire the perfect Realtor, at least that’s what you thought. After placing your home on the market, though, it just sits for months and months without any showings. After contemplating everything, you decide it’s time to change Realtors or companies. But how? Before deciding to fire your Realtor, take a strong look at your listing and other homes that have sold while yours has been on the market. Is it truly the agent or is it the home itself? Many times the Realtors are easy to blame but in actuality …

Home buyers dream of that perfect home with just the right amount of square footage, but for many, that dream will never become a reality. Even if your home has less square footage than you had hoped for, opportunity often exists right under our very noses. In most homes, up to 20 percent of the available space is underutilized. For some, it’s a long, narrow hallway or an attic employed only to store Christmas decorations. For others, it’s a formal dining room used only twice a year. To find more room where none appears to exist, you need to rethink …

After a hard day’s work, you arrive home eager to enjoy a meal on your deck or patio, only to look over and see your neighbors staring right back at you. Small lots, heavy traffic and loud neighbors can take the joy out of your backyard. There are plenty of steps you can take to make your outdoor living space more private and relaxing. But first things first: Always check with your village or homeowners association about restrictions on material and height. A wooden fence is the most obvious way to add privacy to your yard. They are also the …

Buds are on the trees, temperatures are on the rise, and spring cleaning is on the docket for many homeowners, especially those who are looking to put their properties on the market. Although many of us clean our homes from top to bottom, there are always those overlooked spots that could use a little extra love from us. Behind, under and on top of the refrigerator is where food particles and crumbs love to gather. Many refrigerators are on wheels, so it’s easy to slide them out and vacuum and wash beneath and behind them. A refrigerator’s drip pan is …

Most people think of home buying as a pitched battle between buyers and sellers, with the person sitting across the table from you being your mortal enemy. Oftentimes, though, the real enemy in a real estate transaction is yourself. When it comes to buying a house, you need to heed the old maxim, “He (or she) who hesitates is lost.” Buyers can hurt themselves either by hesitating to make an offer, or by not responding to lender deadlines and contract contingencies in a timely manner. Hesitating can open the door to competition and bidding war. On the flip side, sellers …

An issue that arises whenever you sell a home or refinancing is the appraisal process. In this process, the lender usually will send out an appraiser to give them an honest and unbiased opinion on the value of the property. When the appraisal comes back at less than the purchase price or the amount owed on a refinance, it can more money to come out of your pocket or kill the deal entirely. Most appraisers are in the home for only a couple of minutes. The best thing you can do is make sure you have all the important features …

Since the real estate bubble burst a few years ago, many homeowners have lost their properties to foreclosure. Recently, federal and state officials announced that the federal government and every state except Oklahoma have reached a $25 billion agreement with five of the largest mortgage lenders in connecting with loan servicing and foreclosure abuse. The investigation and negotiation process took 16 months to complete and emerged as the largest joint federal-state settlement in history. The agreement included Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, and Ally Financial, which was previously known as GMAC. These lenders agreed to provide financial …

With 2013 here, you may be considering purchasing your first home or investing in a second property. The biggest challenge you may face is coming up with the down payment. There are a variety of loan programs with different down payment levels. The most common are FHA loans, which offers options as low as 3.5 percent, and conventional program, which often require 20 percent down. Making more money is easier said than done for many, but truth be told, you already may have your down payment hidden in other resources you never even thought of. Many times, eliminating a bad …

One of the biggest fears of home buyers is the unpredictability in home-related costs, whether it’s a necessary large repair or a bunch of smaller unexpected costs. Property tax increases can be one of the largest unexpected costs. Imagine this, you qualify for a 30-year-fixed mortgage, and along with that you set up an escrow account with the lender so you will not have to worry about the tax bill when it’s due to the county twice a year. One day you receive a letter from your bank informing you the mortgage payment will be going up due to an …

Whether your purchasing a home or living in it, it’s crucial that you check it for radon levels, and take appropriate actions if there are problems. A radioactive gas, radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States, according to the Surgeon General. Colorless and odorless, radon can only be detected using the proper equipment. Radon can enter your home through many different avenues. Since the air pressure in your home is typically lower than the pressure underneath the foundation, your home acts like a vacuum drawing the gas inside. The most common way is through …