Posts in category 'Buying A Home'

Not everyone loves yard work, but a beautiful, well-kept yard is a great way to enhance the curb appeal of any home.

No matter where you live, there are certain plants that will add color and life to your lawn in an easy way — it's a fun and sustainable form of home improvement. Let's look at some of the best plants that are truly easy to care for:

• Ribbon Grass
  Ribbon grass thrives in a wide range of temperatures. No matter whether you have shade or full sun, it can still flourish. It even adapts to wet or dry soil. It spreads fast when given even terrain and grows to a uniform height of about one foot.
• Forsythia
  These early bloomers will let you get the first glimpse of spring right in your front yard. They are renowned for their distinctive yellow flowers. They strongly prefer full sun...

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Whether you're a first-time buyer or an experienced homeowner, at some point you'll need to make home repairs. And those repairs will cost money. It's something first-time buyers often don't think about ahead of time and experienced owners may have learned the hard way. So budgeting at least some money in advance for these expenses is a must. Here's how to figure it all out.

Common Budgeting Approaches

The first step is deciding how much to save for home repairs. Here are a few different ways you can approach budgeting.

• Save 1 to 3 percent of the price of your home per year. That means if your home was $200,000 you should devote $2,000 to $6,000 per year to your home repair budget. This rule is based on a per-year average over a longer period of time. Some years you'll spend less a...

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Even though home prices  have moderated over the last year, many homeowners still have an incredible amount of equity. But what is equity? In the simplest terms, equity is the difference between the market value of your home and the amount you owe on your mortgage. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) explains how your equity grows over time:

"Housing wealth (home equity or net worth) gains are built up through price appreciation and by paying off the mortgage."

How Your Equity Can Help You Achieve Your Goals

The equity you build up over the years can be used to your advantage when you sell your current house and buy your next home.  If you no longer have the space you need, it might be time to move...

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There's been a lot of focus on higher mortgage rates and how they're creating affordability challenges for today's homebuyers. It's true that rates climbed dramatically since the record-low we saw during the pandemic. But home affordability is based on more than just mortgage rates – it's determined by a combination of mortgage rates, home prices, and wages.

Considering how each one of these factors is changing gives you the full picture of home affordability today. Here's the latest.

1. Mortgage Rates

While mortgage rates are higher than they were a year ago, they've hovered primarily between 6% and 7% for nearly eight months now (see graph below):

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The spring season appears to be warming up in housing as more and more buyers enter the market. And after rising mortgage rates sidelined so many buyers last year, that's a good sign for sellers. Realtor.com has the latest:

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