4 Reasons You Should Own a Home

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Though the home rental industry is growing, owning a home is still a major goal and achievement for the majority of Americans. Beyond an eye-catching car or designer clothes, a home is the single most powerful way to define your lifestyle and settle into a place that is all your own. In addition to the obvious benefits of homeownership, the following four perks shouldn’t ignored.

Tax Savings

Taxes are a headache, but owning a home can at least make them a more rewarding headache. The government currently rewards homeowners in the form of homeowner tax deductions. You can deduct the interest paid on your mortgage and your other home-related expenses from your income in order to pay less taxes. There are other possibilities for tax deductions that only become available through homeownership, like installing solar panels on your roof. Read more

Out-of-the-Box Ways to Market Your Home for Sale

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The process of buying and selling homes has existed as long as homes themselves, but thanks to new technology, homes can now be marketed in many creative, exciting, and unique ways to speed along the sales process. If you want to market your home in a way that garners attention and improves your odds of the perfect sale, consider these ideas!

Offer Rewards For Facebook Shares

Despite other social media platforms trying to compete, Facebook has become the ultimate source of news and social communication in our society. So, it makes sense to try to leverage Facebook to sell your home! Sellers and agents have found that one clever way to market the sale of your home is to offer a cash reward for any “share” that leads to the sale of your home. Read more

What You Need to Know about Inspection Notices

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Buying a home involves more than the transfer of money; the buyer and seller must both complete and uphold certain processes that protect and respect all parties involved. A home inspection is one such process that is essential to ensure that the buyer is not investing in a property that will turn into a money pit. This means that any realtor must pay close attention to the results of a home inspection, and deliver proper inspection notices to the buyer and seller accordingly.

What Exactly Is a Home Inspection?

A home inspection is completed by a professional inspection specialist in order to provide an objective visual examination of the physical structure and systems of a home. This includes every major system from the roof down to the foundation: the heating, central air, interior plumbing, electric, roof, attic, walls, ceilings, floors, windows, doors, basement, and structural components. Read more

How to Write Winning Real Estate Listings

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You have a beautiful property that any future buyer would be lucky to invest in, but how can you pack all of your home’s features into an engaging listing that helps it sell? It doesn’t have to be difficult! These tips will help you write a winning real estate listing and sell your home faster than you thought possible.

Find the Right Balance of Description

You want to be descriptive, but not so descriptive that your listing becomes three pages long. As you describe the best parts about your home, make every word matter. Skip the subjective and cliche phrases like, “You’ll love making memories here” and instead opt for objective language that helps readers visualize the specific features of your home. Instead of “nice outdoor space,” write, “stone patio complete with firepit and garden view.” If you can mention each appealing aspect of your home in about 250 words total, you will have a winner.   Read more

When Real Estate and Technology Collide

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There are few aspects of daily life that modern technology has not transformed, and real estate is no exception. Though it has long been commonplace for real estate agents to support home sales by listing properties online with pictures and descriptions, the technology utilized in real estate is quickly becoming even more sophisticated.

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Have Sellers Finally Gained Enough Equity to Upsize or Downsize?

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Every adult in America distinctly remembers the recession of 2008 that led to a weak economy and housing crisis. Home prices plummeted between 2006 and 2012, and in 2008 the Case-Shiller home price index reported its single largest price drop on record. Despite the government’s $900 billion in special funding to the housing market, more and more homeowners found themselves living in homes suddenly worth less than what they owed.

This prospect of being “upside down” in a mortgage loan and devoid of equity sent many homeowners into foreclosure. Others had no choice but to continue making monthly payments in the hopes that their home values would recover in the future. According to real estate experts, homeowners looking to sell have finally found relief. Attom Data Solutions recently released a report that homeowners who sold in the first three months of 2017 achieved the highest average gains seen since 2007. Read more

Is It Possible to Simultaneously Sell Your Home and Buy Another?

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Buying a house is an enormous undertaking,and so is selling your existing home. What happens when you find yourself needing to do both at once? Believe it or, it is possible to simultaneously sell your home, buy another, and keep your sanity in the process. Here is what you need to know!

First, Study Your Local Market

The 2017 housing market is expected to continue to become stronger, but it’s still important to investigate your own local market before deciding it’s time to sell your home and buy another. It could be that your market is specifically geared toward buyers or sellers for the time being, and that knowledge will help you strategize. Read more

Top Tricks for Enjoying a Smooth Home Closing

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The process of purchasing a home involves a vast number of steps that finally culminate on closing day. Closing, also known as settlement, is a meeting between the home sellers, buyers, and any agents and representatives in order to sign documents that transfer property ownership. It is also the time to pay closing costs and escrow payments. As the very last requirement before your dream home is finally yours, closing day should be handled with the utmost attention-to-detail to ensure that everything runs smoothly. These tips will help you enjoy a simple and stress-free closing on your new home. Read more

Important Home Ownership Tax Implications You Don’t Want to Ignore

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Is there a word in the English language that inspires more stress than “taxes”? Maybe not, but that doesn’t mean that taxes need to overwhelm you! If you are selling your home, chances are you won’t even need to consider paying taxes on your profit. But if you are one of the few who do, these tricks will help you maximize the amount of money you keep in your pocket.

You’ll Know You’re Exempt From Paying Taxes If… Read more

A Simple Guide to Buying Your First Home

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Owning your very own home is an integral piece of the American Dream, a goal that people young and old alike strive to achieve. However, despite its excitement, the actual process of buying a home can feel rather daunting. Terms like credit score, preapproval, down payment, and mortgage might leave you with a sense of being overwhelmed, but it doesn’t have to be that way. This simple guide will walk you through the basic steps of buying your first home so you know what to expect. Read more