Home Buying Tips

• What Is Title Insurance? Why Do You Need It?
  You're having breakfast. There's a knock on the door. A former owner's brother introduces himself. He was out of the country when his sibling passed away and didn't sign-off his interests as an heir to the estate. Could this be a problem? Continue article...
• Does Home Remodeling Always Pay Off?
  Perhaps you've heard stories about homeowners who've greatly improved their net worth by remodeling homes and selling them. Continue article...
• Most Common Mortgage Mistakes And How To Avoid Them
  The Canadian Institute of Mortgage Brokers and Lenders conducted the annual survey with sponsorship from the federal government’s housing arm. Continue article...
• How To Plan Custom Home and Cut The Cost
  Last spring I participated in an "Ask the Experts" panel in Sarasota, Fla. Afterwards, a woman in the audience asked me to review her plans for a new beach house overlooking the Gulf of Mexico. Continue article...
• House Inspectors: Choosing The Right One...
  A qualified house inspector is the surest way to discover a house's not-so-obvious problems. Most professional inspectors are from some type of construction background, such as engineering, architecture or contracting. Their responsibility is to crawl beneath the floors, squeeze through the attic and generally comb the house's structure and mechanical systems for shortcomings. They give the buyer a complete report; with this, the buyer can decide whether or not the house is a good deal, or at least put together a "punch list" of items that must be fixed (it isn't unusual for this report to contain about 50 items). The fee for this service generally runs from about $300 to $500 and up. Continue article...
• How much work should you do before selling?
  Recently a couple that owned a home in Berkeley, Calif., decided to move to neighboring Piedmont. They started their search by visiting Sunday open houses. It was quite apparent to them which listings had been prepared for sale and which ones had not. They were invariably drawn to listings that were charming, clean, and uncluttered. Continue article...