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 Discover your personality type and what careers are best suited for you
How to hire a good home contractor
Don't hand your home-remodeling project to an unreliable or dishonest contractor. Here are 6 things to look for.
Increasing your property value often entails remodeling. Whether you have a fixer-upper or a great house that you plan to stay in indefinitely, you'll probably hire a contractor sooner or later to finish the basement, remodel the kitchen, or renovate other rooms.
Decisions on home improvement should be made in a judicious manner. If you want to recoup your investment, choose projects that are likely to add value to your home, such as a new kitchen or an extra bathroom.
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Trading houses? 6 Must-Knows
Swapping homes may seem like an easy way out of a tough seller's market. But you'll want to mind these tips so you're not bamboozled.
by AnnaMaria Andriotis, SmartMoney
Over the years, the Internet has helped many lonely hearts find mates. Now the Web's matchmaking skills are being put to use in a much different way: setting up homeowners who are looking to swap their homes.
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10 tips on staging your home to sell
It doesn't take long for a prospective buyer to form an opinion about your house. Here's how you can tilt the odds in your favor by making your home appeal to the widest clientele possible.
by Christopher Solomon, MSN Real Estate
You don't have much time.
Prospective home buyers form an opinion about the home you're selling in 15 seconds, by one estimate. And the clock starts ticking at the curb -- even before the home buyers get in the house. So how do you tilt the playing field in your favor? Increasingly, it's by staging your home.
Generally speaking, staging means making your home as appealing as possible, as quickly as possible, to the broadest clientele you can.
"In this market now, staging is desperately needed even more so, because it's so competitive," says Julie Dana, who runs The Home Stylist in Buffalo, N.Y., and who co-authored a book on staging.
In fact, Barb Schwarz of StagedHomes.com estimates that about one in four homes nationwide are now staged. So if you're not doing it, you may be at a disadvantage.
There are techniques to pulling this off -- some of them obvious, and some not so apparent. We polled the experts to get some of their top tips.
Staging as un-decorating
Staging takes some effort and some money -- but it works. According to a study of 2,772 properties sold in eight California cities in 1999 that was done by real-estate broker Joy Valentine, staged homes remained on the market less than half the time that unstaged homes did -- about 14 days versus 31 days. The average difference in sale price over list price for staged homes was 6.3%, versus 1.6% for unstaged homes.
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by Bank of America
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Nobody really LIKES to move do they? And for those busy single moms who are trying to juggle jobs, kids, and the laundry it is not necessarily fun.
Moms suddenly finding themselves moving across town or across the country can make the change easier with a little bit of planning.
More than 20 million American households, or at least 16 percent of the population, move every year. Taking a little time to prepare can go a long way to helping the process.
Here are some tips from Bank of America:
• Make a master plan. There's a lot to do, ranging from writing a budget and pre-qualifying for a mortgage to buying boxes. Gather lists and incorporate them into one planner. Break down the list by weekly chores to help spread out the work and make sure everything is accomplished on time.
• Start a list of people you need to notify about your new address. Keep a list handy so you can add to it as you go through daily routines such as going to the doctor, the gym, the post office, an accountant, or visiting friends.
• Get the basics out of the way early.
» Pay bills online ahead of time, or schedule them for later so you don't have to worry about them during the move.
» Get gift cards for older children. The children will be able to buy supplies or run errands quickly, without waiting to get money from you.
» Make sure insurance is in order so household belongings are protected during and right after the move.
• Find supplies. Get boxes, packing tape, markers and bubble wrap early so you can take spare time to pack off-season clothes and other items you aren't using. Start saving newspapers, which can be used for packing.
Bank of America recently launched an enhanced online Movers Resource Center, which provides a checklist, enables visitors to sign up for weekly reminders and also lets them keep track of whether a particular task has been completed. The list includes financial information, as well as timelines for when to pack, transfer school records or find recycling facilities for items that can't be moved.
"We understand that moving involves much more than just transferring checking accounts, so we've put many other aspects of moving into our resource center," said Sanjay Gupta, e-Commerce executive at Bank of America. "We want to help make moves easier so our customers continue to count on us as their lives and needs change."
For more information, go to the Bank of America Movers Resource Center at www.BankOfAmerica.com/moving.
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How to deal with economic stress
Stressed about the economy? You certainly aren’t alone. According to a recent survey from the American Psychological Association, 74% of Americans say work or money cause them stress and anxiety.
The thing is, stress has a huge impact on your body. It can cause headaches, impair your immune system, disrupt your digestive system and can even affect heart function.
Here are some stress-busters you can start today to help curb your symptoms.
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The Super, Sexy, Single Mom on a Budget
by Renee Rayles
A quick reference guide designed for the busy,
single mom who has little time to read while running the mom taxi, cooking dinner, helping with homework, and trying to fit in a date night every now and then.
TheOnlineMom.com offers parents and consumers a guide to the top-rated, age-appropriate, kid-tested and parent-approved tech toys and gifts.
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Your 5-minute guide to protecting your identity
20 steps to protect yourself from identity theft, and seven ways to clean up things if you become a victim.
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10 ways to avoid moving scams
Horror stories about sketchy moving companies abound. Don't let one take you for a ride. Here's expert advice to help.
by Fred Minnick, Bankrate.com
You've heard the stories. Movers load up your stuff one day and hold it hostage the next, demanding more money and threatening to dump your precious treasures if you don't pay.
You believe you've agreed upon a price, only to find out it's going to cost you a lot more than that.
"These salespeople are commission-based and will do whatever it takes to get a deposit on file and lock the customer into a signed estimate," says Tom O'Gorman, sales director for Gentle Giant Moving Co. "Then, when push comes to shove, there's a lot of gray area around this estimate.
"They will say, 'The estimate was based on moving only these things. You weren't packed, so it took us four extra hours to pack.'"
O'Gorman says some of these outfits give the impression that "you are dealing with a moving company, but you're really dealing with an online broker who passes the job off to some local moving company in some region for a commission. So you're not even dealing with the end user. You have no control over who ends up in your home."
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18 easy ways to save on your move
Many people overlook obvious ways to lower the cost of schlepping stuff to a new place, but you can save hundreds of dollars.
by Christopher Solomon
If you're among the millions of people pulling up stakes this year and resettling in a new home, getting your goods to a new location means digging deep into your wallet, right? Not so fast.
Moving can be expensive, but many folks in their panic or disorganization overlook easy and obvious steps that can save them hundreds or even thousands of dollars, moving experts say.
We've done some of the, ahem, heavy lifting for you already, by assembling these 18 tips:
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2008 MSN Real Estate best bargain markets
Why live in an expensive city when there are some great, affordable treasures out there? Here's MSN Real Estate's list of the nine best, livable cities where you won't need to trade the good life for the boring.
by Melinda Fulmer
Minimalism is the cutting edge now. My decorator calls it Dorm Chic. Wait, you'll see, everyone will have this look in a year or two. And then maybe I'll go out and get myself some overstuffed chairs." ...
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Viva Research converts your free time into hard cash! Take surveys from home and get paid from $5 to $75 per survey completed. It's FREE to JOIN. Instant surveys available! Click here to start!
Your 5-minute guide to home buying
Home shopping is a high-stakes, stressful venture. Here are 24 tips to help you through the biggest purchase of your life.
Seriously consider this question: Are you really ready to buy a home?
It's an expensive, long-term commitment. If you change jobs or the neighborhood declines, you can't quickly get up and go. Selling a house can take months and cost lots -- likely 10% of a home's value -- in agent fees, closing costs and moving expenses.
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7 home-buying traps
First-time home-buyers face an unfamiliar road and risk purchasing the wrong place at the wrong time. Here's a guide to the potholes.
by Liz Pulliam Weston
Buying your first home is an exercise in faith. You don't really know what you're getting into, you're awash in unfamiliar terminology and everyone you meet seems to have strong (and utterly contradictory) ideas about which way the housing market is headed.
You may not be able to avoid every home-purchase mistake, but you can keep your regrets to a minimum by avoiding the following traps:
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Home Affordability Calculator
How much house can you buy?
Enter your income, the monthly minimum payment on your debts and the amount of cash you can put toward a new home. You'll need to choose an interest rate and estimate your credit rating. We'll calculate the maximum house you can afford, the size of the loan and an estimated payment, making some basic assumptions about taxes, insurance and closing costs. We'll also adjust for your credit history. These are guidelines. Lenders may approve a loan for more, but that doesn't mean the loan is a wise choice.
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