By Kristine Gill | Better Homes & Gardens
Pets are a top factor in today's home purchases, and these pet-related upgrades could help sell your home.
For many Americans, a pet makes a house a home. In fact, studies show that many homebuyers report prioritizing pets’ needs when shopping for a new home. It would stand to reason then that certain pet-friendly features can not only enhance the value of your home but also help it sell faster.
“As our furry friends become ever more integrated into our families, their needs are increasingly factored into home-buying decisions,” says Scott Beaudry, broker and owner with Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Universal.
We’ll take...
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From our friends in KCM
If you’re thinking of selling your house this spring, now is the perfect time to start getting it ready. With the market gearing up for its busiest time of year, it’ll be important to make sure your house shines bright among the competition.
Here are some valuable tips you can use to get your house market-ready.
Declutter and Organize
First impressions matter, and if your house is a mess, that can easily turn off potential buyers. Before listing, take the time to declutter and organize each room. Decluttering is about more than just tidying up – it’s about creating a sense of space and openness that allows potential buyers to envision...
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From our friends in KCM
Chances are at some point in your life you’ve heard the phrase, home is where the heart is. There’s a reason that’s said so often. Becoming a homeowner is emotional.
So, if you’re trying to decide if you want to keep on renting or if you’re ready to buy a home this year, here’s why it’s so easy to fall in love with homeownership.
Customizing to Your Heart’s Desire
Your house should be a space that’s uniquely you. And, if you’re a renter, that can be hard to achieve. When you rent, the paint colors are usually the standard shade of white, you don’t have much control over the upgrades, and you’ve...
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From our friends in KCM
If you’ve been holding off on selling your house to make a move because you felt mortgage rates were too high, their recent downward trend is exciting news for you. Mortgage rates have descended since last October when they hit 7.79%. In fact, they’ve been below 7% for over a month now (see graph below):
And while they’re not going back to the 3% we saw during the ‘unicorn’ years, they are expected to continue to go down from where they are now in the near future. As Dean Baker, Senior Economist at the Center for Economic Research, explains:
“It also appears that mortgage rates are now falling again. They will almost certainly not...
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By our friends in KCM
When you read about the housing market, you’ll probably come across some information about inflation or recent decisions made by the Federal Reserve (the Fed). But how do those two things impact you and your homebuying plans? Here’s what you need to know.
The Federal Funds Rate Hikes Have Stalled
One of the Fed’s primary goals is to lower inflation. In order to do that, they started raising the Federal Funds Rate to slow down the economy. Even though this doesn’t directly dictate what happens with mortgage rates, it does have an impact.
Recently inflation has started to cool, a signal those increases worked and are bringing inflation back down. As a...
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By Melissa Dittman Tracey | Realtor Magazine
Home sellers reveal why they decided to bypass professional representation—and the mistakes they made without a trusted adviser.
Homeowners who decline to use a real estate agent to sell their property are twice as likely to say they weren’t satisfied with the selling experience, according to a new survey from Clever Real Estate(link is external) of 1,000 home sellers in 2022 and 2023. Survey respondents say they realize they likely made less money on their home sale and faced more stress by not having a professional representative.
Those who didn’t use a real estate agent said before their transaction that they think pros are overpaid...
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