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Want the Couch, Too? How to Price Furniture When Selling a House
A buyer is ready to make an offer on your house. As they size up the home itself, they’ve also been eyeing a few extras. The sectional that fits squarely in your family room, your wistful backyard...
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An Offer Comes in on Your Home: How Long Do You Have to Respond?
You’ve received an offer (maybe several) on your home and a big decision awaits. With so much money on the line, you need to give careful consideration to your next move, whether it be rejecting the...
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What’s the Catch with Rent to Own Homes? 7 Reasons to Beware of These Deals
Updated August 31, 2021 Owning a home is many a renter’s dream. It’s a goal that can take years of scrimping and saving to squirrel away a down payment — not to mention the careful spending and...
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Calculating Square Footage: Which of These ‘Gray’ Areas Should You Count?
It’s critical to calculate your home’s gross living area to determine your home’s value. Square footage isn’t always so cut-and-dried, though. For instance, you may need help calculating those...
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What Is a Stigmatized Property, And Does My House Qualify As One?
The first thing that comes to mind when you think of stigmatized houses are ones that were the scene of a famous murder, or are otherwise reputed to be haunted. But it’s not just rumors of grisly...
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Kitchen Islands With Built-In Tables: Cooking Meets Conversation In Latest Trend
Kitchen remodels don’t offer a lot of flexibility to homeowners looking for a refresh. The stove, fridge, sink, and cabinet placement are pretty much set unless you’re gutting the space. Your design...
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My Attic Has No Insulation — Should I Invest in Adding Some?
Perhaps you’ve noticed that your upstairs master bedroom is always 8 to 10 degrees colder than the rest of your home in the winter and hotter by the same margin in the summer. So you venture into your...
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What Is Wainscoting — And Does It Add Any Value to a Home?
For some, the word “wainscoting” conjures up the ornate sets of “Downton Abbey.” Others may hear the term and picture the brown wood paneling popular in the 1970s and ‘80s. So what exactly is...
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How to Clear a Tax Lien Against Your House So You Can Sell It
DISCLAIMER: This article is meant for educational purposes only and is not intended to be construed as financial, tax, or legal advice. HomeLight always encourages you to reach out to an advisor...
View ArticleHow to Avoid (Or Reduce) Your Taxes When Selling a House
DISCLAIMER: Information in this blog post is meant to be used for educational purposes only, not legal or tax advice. If you need help determining the taxes on your home sale, please consult a skilled...
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Help! I’m Stuck with a House I Can’t Sell — Any Advice?
Being stuck with a house you can’t sell becomes more emotionally and financially draining with every day that accumulates. You start to wonder if you’re just in a slow market (that’s possible), if your...
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How Many Bedrooms In Your Home Can You Legally Advertise?
Robin and her family were finally ready to buy their dream house: a four-bedroom colonial in a quaint Wisconsin town. The showing was going great, with the first three bedrooms hitting everything on...
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The Thrifty Buyer’s Guide to Getting a Great Deal on a House
It’s tough to get a great deal on a house when the trend is to pay over the asking price. Our Q3 2020 survey of more than 1,000 top real estate agents confirms that 87% of homebuyers are bidding over...
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Why Price Reductions Beat Closing Cost Credits: Let’s Talk Seller Strategy
Disclaimer: As a friendly reminder, information in this blog post is meant to be used as a helpful guide and for educational purposes only, not legal or professional tax advice. For guidance on your...
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7 Key Ways to Save on the Average Cost of a Basement Remodel
Time for a basement facelift! Maybe you hope to turn your dank, dark storage space into a home office, add a bedroom, or revamp your fully finished entertainment space. Goodbye wood paneling and shag...
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How Much Does a Custom Closet Cost? I Need More Storage!
Demand for home organization projects, including custom closets, is expected to rise 3.8% annually and reach $12.7 billion by 2023, according to leading business research company The Freedonia Group....
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7 Steps You Can Take Today to Help Prevent a House Fire
Home is where your heart is — in precious family members, irreplaceable heirlooms, treasured memories, prized valuables, and in the comfort you feel when you return to rest your head after a crazy day....
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Windows Need Replacement? Your Guide to the Installation Process
Your windows are acting stubborn and often stick. Wind whistles through gaps and cracks. You’re shocked by high energy bills. These are some of the main reasons you (and many homeowners) may decide to...
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Here’s How to Clean Your Deck Before Staining It for Five-Star Results
Every few years, you should stain your wooden deck to improve its appearance and protect the wood from rot. But don’t just slap a coat of stain on in a hurry — you’ll need to clean your deck before...
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Dark Wood Be Gone! Painting Your Trim White, Step By Step
If you’re on a tight budget but seek to modernize your home with some elbow grease and DIY prowess, painting your trim white could be a great project to tackle. For approximately $200-$600 in supply...
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Fresh Fibers: How Much Does It Cost to Carpet a 10×12 Room?
In the flooring world, classic hardwood and trendy options like luxury vinyl plank tend to steal the spotlight. But soft flooring still accounts for 40% of the flooring market, a sign that many...
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How to Clean Your Garage Door So It Looks Like New
Is your garage door looking a little worse for the wear? Wind, rain, or shine — your garage door endures exposure to the raw elements on a daily basis. Over time, buildup of dirt and grime can start to...
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‘I’m Not Selling!’ Getting the Home Sold When One Partner Refuses
Disclaimer: Information in this blog post is meant to be used for educational purposes only, not as legal advice. If you need assistance navigating a complex transaction, HomeLight always encourages...
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Here’s How Owner Financing (aka Seller Financing) Works for Real Estate Deals
DISCLAIMER: This article is meant for educational purposes only and is not intended to be construed as financial, tax, or legal advice. HomeLight always encourages you to reach out to an advisor...
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Is Probate Necessary For All Estates or Can You Avoid It?
Disclaimer: This article is purely informational and is not meant to be legal advice. If you have any questions, please consult a probate attorney. Coping with loss when a beloved family member passes...
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Asphalt vs. Concrete: Details on the Great Driveway Debate
What material to use for the driveway is a quandary many homeowners eventually face. On the one hand, the driveway must get your car from the street to your garage every day, making durability the...
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Rent vs. Buy: Which One Will Give You the Good Life?
Rent vs. buy: Which is better? …Trick question. You could call the U.S. a nation of homeowners, with the majority of Americans (64.8%) choosing to own a house as of 2018. But it’s all a matter of...
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I Just Inherited Property in Probate, What Happens Now?
Losing a loved one is never easy, especially if you’re the one responsible for the property left behind. Unless the decedent has set up a living trust, you’ll need to go through the probate process —...
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What Can a Real Estate Agent Do That You Can’t? 5 Things That Only Come With...
There’s a reason only 10% of home sales were FSBO (for sale by owner) last year — and it’s not just the daunting mounds of paperwork involved in selling a house. The best real estate agents in the...
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Don’t Forget! Disclose Those HOA Documents As Part of Your Home Sale
The amount of paperwork required during the home sale process is staggering. When you’re buried under a mountain of 180 pages related to the deal, it’s easy to neglect a stack that seems to hide on the...
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How Much Does Home Staging Cost? 5 Ways to Save Money and Still Turn Your...
Why do you think model homes sell so fast?” asks Laura Sanders, a 21-year veteran real estate agent in Coral Springs, Florida. “It’s because they’re staged. Sellers get the money they spend back and...
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Can the Cookie-Cutter Strategy: Clever Ways to Sell Unique Real Estate
Unique real estate, whether an avant-garde architectural masterpiece, a home with historical significance, or a property in an unparalleled location, holds a special place in the real estate market....
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Here’s Why You Need a Real Estate Agent if You’re Flipping Houses
House flipping may sound like a fun, easy way to make fast money on a real estate investment, but flipping a house isn’t as simple as it seems on TV. Buying, remodeling, and selling a home in a short...
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Natural Hazard Disclosure Report (NHD): Disclosing Disaster Risk When Selling...
A cliffside Spanish villa with spectacular views of vineyard-dotted valleys, a historic Greek Revival mansion built on the banks of a picturesque river, a retro Art Deco beach bungalow overlooking the...
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6 DIY Dining Room Staging Tips That Preserve a Classic Space
With fewer families eating together at home, some trend watchers have cast the formal dining room as a stuffy relic from the past that sits empty 360 days out of the year. But according to the National...
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How to Get Started Flipping Houses: 5 Tips Reality TV Won’t Teach You
The home-flipping fad isn’t just an obsession among reality TV addicts. The number of people flipping homes in real life is still growing. In 2022, 8.4% of all home sales were flips, compared to just...
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Should You Get Professional Home Staging or Do It Yourself?
While professional home staging may seem easy, experts such as Peter Sollecito, a top-selling real estate agent in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, have a word of caution. “It’s difficult to know how to...
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How to Find the Right Real Estate Agent for Probate Property
When a person passes away, it’s often left to family members to handle their final business affairs and determine the fate of their belongings. In most states, estates of a certain value that have not...
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7 Tips for Executors Tasked With a Difficult Job: Selling the House
Whether the deceased is your dearly departed loved one, or you’re simply a court-appointed personal representative, the weight of fulfilling someone’s final wishes during probate is a heavy load to...
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What Is a Home Appraisal and How Does It Impact Your Home Sale?
“What’s my home worth?” That’s the million-dollar question throughout the home sale process. Unfortunately, not everyone will agree on the answer. Sellers disagree with their agents about the home’s...
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How Much Can You Make Flipping Houses? The Answer May Surprise You
Flipping can be a great way to earn quick cash,” advises Dustin Parker, a top-selling real estate agent in Millsboro, Delaware, who’s also a house flipper himself. “However, you run the risk of...
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Can a Realtor Represent Both the Seller and Buyer in a Transaction?
Typically as you go through the process of selling your house, the agent you partner up with assists you and only you throughout the course of the transaction. This single agent has what’s called a...
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The Probate Timeline – A Simple Walkthrough for a Complex Process
Grief tends to linger near the surface when you’re the one in charge of a recently-deceased family member’s estate through the lengthy probate process. While this may tempt you to rush through the...
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Looking to Improve Home Value? Avoid These Projects With Terrible ROI
Celebrities who perform dramatic home makeovers on TV and the average homeowner on Main Street live in two very different worlds. One has the budget of a reality show to foot the bill for materials and...
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How to Stage Every Room Like a Showplace for Your Listing Photoshoot
A picture is worth a thousand words, or in the world of real estate, thousands of dollars. “The quality of your listing photos can increase the number of showings you get,” explains Dalton Carroll, a...
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How Long Does Probate Take? These 5 Factors Can Make All the Difference
Slogging through a seemingly endless probate process is the last thing you want to do while you’re in the midst of grieving for the loss of a loved one. So, it’s only natural to ask, “How long does...
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The Seller of My Home Failed to Disclose Water Damage. What Now?
You’re deep into the honeymoon phase with your new house — picking out wall colors, rearranging furniture, playing with your décor options — when suddenly, disaster strikes! Perhaps you discover...
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When Does It Make Sense to Rent vs. Own Your House?
When it comes to paying for a place to live and choosing between renting vs owning your home, which is better? While there’s a strong argument for both positions, the truth is — there’s no right answer...
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How to Sell Your House in a Slow Market: 7 Mistakes to Avoid!
For-sale signs have taken over your block, the local jobs market doesn’t look great, and big red price reduction labels tarnish most of the online home listings in your area. You’ve got enough evidence...
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What’s a Short Sale in Real Estate? This FAQ Sheet Breaks Down the Basics
Every time you open your mailbox, you’ve got stacks of collection notices from every creditor. You’re behind on the mortgage with no way to catch up, and now you’re facing foreclosure. Soon, you’ll be...
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