Jay Rinehart, a realtor in Rock Hill, South Carolina, took over a listing for a house that couldn’t sell after going on the market last year. One of the things he did was ask the seller to swap out an old bathtub faucet so it was consistent with the sink faucet installed in a remodeling a few years earlier. His team also helped stage the kitchen that had been renovated.  “We got an offer within 30 days on the market,”...

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Investing in real estate can be risky, and the uncertainty raises many questions:  Is success based on “timing the market? Is it found in getting only great deals? Or are there more pieces to the puzzle?” These are questions Forbes contributor David Greene, raises in a recent article. He may not have foolproof ways to hit it big, but after nearly a decade of investing in real estate and speaking with other investors, he clearly knows what...

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If you have a child in college, no doubt you’ve experienced the severe sticker shock that comes with higher education. There’s little you can do about rising tuition fees, but what about room and board? One option is generally overlooked: Sometimes, buying property in the college town can lower your costs-and provide a lucrative investment down the road. Consider Tom K. Wilson’s story, as related by Boston.com. In 2001, the electrical...

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Let’s face it, It takes a leap of faith to commit to a 30-year home mortgage. After all, who knows what the next 30 years will bring, financially speaking? The good news is that if your circumstances improve, or the market shifts, you can save yourself thousands of dollars in the long run by revisiting your loan. Consider these three options, as detailed by thebalance website: Refinancing: When refinancing, you take out a new loan with new...

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The kids have grown and flown the nest, and now you’re looking at your longtime home and wondering what do to with all that space. Time to downsize? To answer that question, it’s best to re-frame the issue. Don’t think of it as downsizing. Instead, consider it rightsizing. Rightsizing means thinking of your current needs and what will best fit them. Perhaps you’re tired of doing lawn work. Rightsizing could mean moving to a patio home or condo....

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Last year on the home front we saw white kitchens, subway tiles, quartz countertops and a host of gadgets that made our homes “smarter” than ever. But that was then, this is now. So what’s ahead for 2018? According to Realtor Magazine, we can expect everything from robots and “smart” windows to old-fashioned gardens that offer a respite from all the high-tech innovation. Here are several trends Realtor sees coming our way: Smart glass: Just...

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