BUYING

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11 Myths Homebuyers Should Never Believe
Don't get discouraged or misled by certain real estate "rules." Find the right home for you by ignoring these 11 home buying myths.
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Here's What to Look for When Buying a House
Shopping for a new home can be exciting, and it’s tempting to grab the first house you fall in love with. But exercis...
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10 Small Towns with Big Home Bargains
The housing market has definitely rebounded since the Great Recession, but if you know where to look, you can still get a home for well under $100,000—especially ...
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12 Things Realtors Look For in Homes of Their Own
The property professionals who show and sell houses for a living have to live somewhere too! So what’s on their “must" list for homes of their own? Real estate ag...
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10 Surprising Reasons to Start House Hunting in Fall
It’s a well-established pattern: Home sales heat up every spring and summer, and then, as the leaves begin to change, the market begins to cool. By November, with...
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10 Simple Mistakes That Could Cost You Your Dream Home
In almost every city in the United States, certain neighborhoods are in hot demand, and real estate dealings in those areas can become alarmingly cutthroat. Don’t...
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10 Spots It's Okay to Snoop at Every Open House
Attending open houses can feel a bit awkward at first—after all, you’re basically invading the private space of a perfect stranger. But buying a home is a time to...
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9 Ways to Get the Best Price on Your Dream Home
Purchasing a house is a major undertaking--and, even for folks who’ve been through it before, the process can be a bit terrifying. The sums are usually huge, the ...
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15 Signs That Fixer-Upper Might Be a Money Pit
While a fixer-upper can be a lot cheaper than a home that's move-in ready, some fixer-uppers just aren't worth the headache. If the home you have your eye is plag...
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Boost Your Curb Appeal with 4 Doable DIY Projects
When it comes to putting your house on the market, you spend much of your time considering how to stage your rooms to...
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10 Things to Know Before Buying a Foreclosed Home
A foreclosed home may seem like a great way to get a sweet deal on a house—but buyer beware! Foreclosed homes that have been abandoned or neglected for months—or ...
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How to Find a Real Estate Agent: 17 Tips for Success
Whether you are buying or selling a home, it's a challenge to find the best real estate agent. Our tips will help you simplify the agent-selecting process.
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19 Home and Garden Brands That Were Born in the U.S.A.
When you’re shopping for tools, household products, and home fixtures, consider buying quality goods that are made right here in America.
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The New Homeowner's Survival Guide
So you’ve bought your first house—congratulations! You’ve searched for and found a place that you love. You've secure...
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Don't "Fall" Down: Surviving Autumn's New Real Estate Rules
Well, that didn’t last long. The buoyant housing market of this past spring has already sputtered out, and mounting e...
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Quick Tip: House Hunting
 If you're house hunting, here are some things to keep in mind on your walk-through. Check for structural integrity. ...
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3 Steps to an Easy Mortgage Approval
Risky practices consigned to the past, mortgage lenders are now returning to applying the same standards that your pa...
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5 Pro Tips to Help You Find the Perfect Fixer-Upper
As founder and president of The Rural Connection, a real estate company based in Upstate New York, Randy Florke has p...
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A Good School District Is Worth How Much?
You don't need children to understand that good public schools support the value of homes in their district. And whil...
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Don't Let Emotions Cloud Your Real Estate Judgment
Real estate agents like to say that house hunters make offers based not on price, but emotions. Recently, Duke Univer...
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What to Consider Before You Buy a Foreclosed Home
Jean Nayar is a licensed real estate agent with Bond New York and the author of several books on decorating and desig...
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How To: Find Affordable Housing
In most areas of the U. S. , housing costs are rising faster than wages. To meet the federal government’s definition ...
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4 Things to Know Before Buying a Historic Home
Perhaps you have been searching for several months or even years, and now you have found the perfect home. Your dream...
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Consider a Condo for Your Second Home
Bob Vila’s Home Again opened its fifteenth season with a bay-front condo remodel along the Venetian Island stretch of...
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Evaluate the Home Systems
So you like the way the house looks and believe the footprint will accommodate your family’s needs. But how does it f...
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Evaluate the Home Interior
The Floor PlanFind out how many rooms the house has and whether or not the number will meet your family’s needs. In p...
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Evaluate the Home Exterior
Before you buy a home, you should hire a professional inspector to conduct a thorough analysis of the true state of t...
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Don’t Waive That Inspection Contingency!
With home sales running a solid 12% ahead of last spring, some house hunters are waiving the inspection contingency. ...
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What’s Up with Down Payments?
For the past several years, 20% has been the minimum down payment for standard loans, but as the market recovers and ...
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Has the Recovery Hit Your Block?
The residential housing market is finally experiencing an upswing across most markets. Even relatively stable regions...
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Want to Build Wealth? Pick the Right Mortgage
Owning a home is the best way to build family wealth—that's been the prevailing wisdom, at least, for the last severa...
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Walkable Locations Step Up Value
Common sense dictates that homes in walkable neighborhoods, with easy access to public transit, would pull higher val...
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Quick Flip: Is Now the Moment to Buy, Improve, and Sell?
All of a sudden there are not enough houses for sale to meet homebuyers' rising level of demand.  Could you pull off ...
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How To: Sleuth an Open House
Traditional real estate wisdom dictates that you should never buy the nicest house on the block. Calibrate potential ...
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Buy for Your Buyer
The smart way to buy today is with resale in mind. Here are four long-term trends that will likely shape the marketab...
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Bob Vila Radio: Buying Short Sales
Lots of home-buyers look for “short sales”, because on the surface, they can seem like a bargain. CM_BVILANOTES-6 Buy...
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Bob Vila Radio: Buying Foreclosures
In the current real estate market, it’s not hard to find foreclosed properties to buy. But a home that looks like a g...
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Gen 'Why' Ponders Homeownership
Though they've seen their parents lose equity, today's 20-somethings have home-buying on their minds. A just-released...
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How To: (Really) Win a Bidding War
It's a realty agent's dream: bidding wars are back! At least, that's the hyperventilation du jour. From Boston to Los...
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Checklist: A Safe and Insurable House
Following some simple guidelines can safeguard your property, keep your family protected, and lower your insurance pr...
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Quick Tip: Hire a Home Inspector Before You Buy
Search for Hidden ProblemsNow, more than ever, buyer beware. Most sellers just aren’t motivated to do expensive repai...
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Getting a Loan
Loaning money is at the heart of a bank's business. But to stay in business, the bank must do it carefully, lending i...
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Should Your First Home Be a Fixer-Upper?
Mark Brock is a fan of fixer-uppers. He bought his first in the midseventies, a circa-1935 house in Columbia, SC, tha...
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