Real Estate Tips

Sorry, folks, we've got news for you: Just because you’re selling doesn't mean you're off the hook from routine maintenance tasks—and that's especially true if you’ve already vacated the house.

The single biggest reason anyone would choose a discount brokerage is because they want to save money. However, with lower cost also comes a potential for lower quality of service and expertise. And if you don’t get the house or sell the house, then the commission didn't matter in the first place.

Whether you are receiving a refund of a few hundred dollars or several thousand dollars, if you’re contemplating buying your first home, here are 3 ways to use your tax refund for buying a new house.

Breaking into homeownership can be difficult. Hurdles such as affordability, credit history and market prices keep many people from achieving their goal of owning a house. Fortunately for Floridians, federal and state programs and mortgage products are aimed at first-time homebuyers to help ease the burden and make homeownership possible and lasting, especially as homeownership rates decline throughout the state.

Once you get to a certain age, you’ll probably make the decision to retire, and with that decision comes a lot of thought. One of the biggest decisions you’ll have to make when you’re retiring is where you’re going to do so. Here are five reasons to retire in sunny Florida.

Some homeowners opt to sell their residence without a real estate agent to get around paying a commission and make more of the profit. Forty-three percent of people (down from 48 percent last year) who sell without a real estate agent think that if they sell themselves, they’ll end up doing a little extra work in exchange for not paying a commission or closing fee. According to the research, however, what they actually get is a lot of time spent hustling to make the sale and a final selling price that is less than what the market can bear.

It’s unfortunate when buyers and sellers get saddled with a self-involved agent who comes off as too busy to care, too arrogant to listen or too eager to coerce you into purchasing a home that you’re just not that into. Much like a quarterback competing in the season of a lifetime, buyers and sellers depend on their real estate agents to carry them to the playoffs, helping them reap the investment they’re after, or put their hard-earned cash toward the starter home of their dreams.

If you are considering throwing your home into the hot housing market, here are seven things to consider before you do.