Tips - Real Estate, Updates, News & Tips

Protect Your Home From the Extreme Cold

Many parts of the U.S. have been struck with a snap of subzero temperatures. While keeping themselves warm during the bitter cold, homeowners also need to take precautions to keep their home safe, too.In Wisconsin's capital, the Madison Water Utility posted a photo on Twitter to show homeowners how a burst pipe can damage a home. The photo was taken at a vacant home in Madison. “They shut the heat off, so then the water burst up in th

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Outdated Advice Buyers Should Ignore

People who have gone through the homebuying process are often eager to give advice. But too often, these so-called insider tips may very well be outdated.Realtor.com® recently highlighted some of the most common advice home buyers may hear from their peers that no longer applies in the current housing market, including:“Wait for spring.”Buyers shouldn’t feel like they’ll be at an advantage if they wait for the busiest season in

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TIP: Household Tools That Cause the Most Injuries

Homeowners could be putting themselves in more danger as they increasingly tackle home repairs themselves. Using common household tools can be dangerous, especially when it comes to ladders. Accidents involving ladders landed nearly 200,000 people in the emergency room last year, according to a new analysis from Porch.com, a home repair and maintenance website. Porch.com researchers analyzed data from the National Electronic Injury Surv

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TIP: 3 Signs a Neighborhood May Be in Trouble

How can buyers determine if a community is a good fit for them? Sure, they should walk the neighborhood and make visits at various times of the day. Realtor.com® recently interviewed housing experts to identify signs that a neighborhood could be on the brink of a decline. Here are some of those possible indicators:Several houses are on the market.Two or three homes for sale in close proximity is OK, but more than that could be an indic

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TIP: 5 Ways to Future-Proof Your Kitchen

Revamping a kitchen can be a costly undertaking, with the median price of a remodeling job coming in at $60,000. So, how do you make sure the changes you make won’t look dated in a few years?HouseLogic, a home improvement website by the National Association of REALTORS®, offers ideas to future-proof your kitchen, including:Stick with whiteWhite has remained the top choice of the National Kitchen and Bath Association’s annual s

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TIP: The Home Remodeling Projects Owners Most Regret

Home remodeling isn’t as easy as it looks on TV. And for nearly two-thirds of homeowners who’ve attempted a do-it-yourself house project, they say they regret not calling in an expert on at least one of their projects, according to a new survey from ImproveNet of about 2,000 Americans.But the motivation to save some money is a big driver for their attempts. On average, homeowners said they hoped to save at least 60 percent in costs by bypassi

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TIP: 3 No-Cost Ways to Stage a Property

You may not have the extra funds to stage a property, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t ways you can still spruce it up.“Everyone needs to stage their home to sell it efficiently,” Laura McHolm, co-founder of NorthStar Moving, told realtor.com®. “But you do not need to spend a lot of money to stage your home.”Some of the biggest staging moves can be free. Beyond decluttering and depersonalizing the property, realtor.com® recently h

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3 Home Repairs That Can Save a Sale

Sellers whose homes aren’t in tip-top shape may need to spend extra money or put in a little elbow grease to get their properties in market-ready condition. But what are the most important repair or maintenance tasks that support a higher asking price? “Smaller and less expensive updates in combination with good staging will have a great return,” Susanna Haynie, GRI, a sales associate with Colorado Real Estate Group in Colorado Springs, tol

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Exploding Refrigerators Prompt Consumer Alerts

You and your clients may need to consider the signs of a refrigerator that is about to explode when making your next appliance purchase.Though refrigerator explosions are rare, recent cases have prompted consumer alerts, and they should no longer be “ignored disasters,” says Neil Everitt, former editor at air-conditioning and refrigeration magazine ACR News. Refrigerator explosions occur spontaneously and sometimes with little warning.In

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Home Upgrades Buyers Crave

Luxury home sales are cooling off, and some home sellers are finding they may have to invest in a few upgrades to nab top dollar for their home.High-end sales posted a 7 percent gain in October annually, the second slowest increase in more than two years, according to an analysis from realtor.com®. And while sales are slowing, inventories of homes for sale are swelling. The total number of properties listed at or above $1 million is posting doub

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