The idea of conducting an energy audit on your home might seem like something complicated that should be left to the experts, but there are ways for you to make your home a little greener without consulting anybody. Instead of having someone else do the work, here are a few simple ways for you to inspect your home and green up its energy use. Do A Candle Test Of Exterior Walls Since cold air coming in from outside your home can impact your energy use significantly, do the simple test of taking a candle on a tour of your home to determine if there are any drafts. Ensure that you check all of … [Read More...]
While making a real estate purchase can be filled with many questions, buying to invest in a long-term property can be even more confusing. If you're looking into investing in real estate and wondering what variables to consider, here are a few tips that you'll want to keep in mind before deciding on an investment property. Be Aware Of The Market You're Buying Into Since you'll need to be aware of what other people are looking for in a property if you're diving into real estate to invest, you'll want to carefully consider the neighborhood and city that you're buying in and think about what the … [Read More...]
Last week’s scheduled economic news included readings from the National Association of Home Builders on housing market conditions. Reporting on housing starts and building permits was released along with weekly reports on mortgage rates and jobless claims.
NAHB: Home Builder Confidence Grows as Demand for Homes Increases
November’s national reading for home builder confidence in housing market conditions for single-family homes rose three points to an index reading of 83 and the expected reading of 80. Component readings for the national index were mixed. Builder confidence in … [Read More...]
Rent has gone up significantly during the past year. Even though it is not unusual for rent to go up over time, the average rent across the country has increased significantly during the past year. This means that the average rent will probably be even higher next year than it is this year. Even though this is one of the biggest deterrents against renting, there are other reasons to get out of the rental market as well. Renters Stand To Lose More Money This Year One of the biggest reasons why renters are losing so much money is that the average value of a house has gone up significantly. … [Read More...]
It doesn't matter if you heat your home with electricity, natural gas or some other energy source; prices continue to rise and that means increased heating costs for most of us. In today's blog post we'll share three easy ways that you can save money on your home energy costs this winter. Install and Use Programmable Thermostats Now that Nest and other companies have brought Wi-Fi enabled, programmable thermostats on the market there's very few excuses to avoid using them. At bare minimum you'll want a digital thermostat that can be programmed to turn on and off at certain hours of the day. … [Read More...]
When it comes to selling a home, it is a common belief that once the offer is accepted, there is nothing else to be negotiated. However, issues and obstacles that can arise during the home inspection can be a cause for discussion with the seller. Whether you're currently searching for houses or your offer has already been accepted and you're preparing for the next step, here are some tips in the event that the home inspection isn't up to par. Be Cautious About What You Say Without a doubt, anything that you discuss with the real estate agent regarding the property you're looking at is going to … [Read More...]