Author Archives: Sabrina Mapes

Considering residential solar installation for your home? Ask these questions to help avoid common pitfalls. Solar power can be an attractive prospect for homeowners and shoppers. Home solar technology offers resilience, electricity bill savings and more energy independence. For the environmentally conscious, it provides an eco-friendly alternative to existing electricity sources. What’s more, Zillow research indicates listings that highlight […]

Selling your home is no easy process, in terms of both the actual logistics and the emotional connection you often have to your home. After all, according to the Zillow Group Consumer Housing Trends Report 2021, the average seller reported living in their homes for about 14 years before selling. While most sales don’t go 100 […]

Incorporate these tips to help lower your home buying expenses when your offer is accepted. The housing market is tough; interest rates are hovering at or around 6%, and inflation is bumping up the cost of everything you’ll want to purchase for a new place once you find one. No matter your offer price for […]

During periods of inflation, buying a home can offer a way to stabilize housing costs for decades to come. Today’s housing market looks a lot different than it did when the year started, with buyers and sellers adjusting to the twin realities of high inflation and spiking mortgage interest rates. While the market remains a hot […]

Looking for home upgrades that add value and don’t cause you to blow your renovation budget? This list has great suggestions. Paint. Broadband. Dog house. You might think these easy, low-cost home upgrades wouldn’t add much value, but Zillow research shows that these and other home upgrades with estimated price tags of less than $100, $500 or $1,000 […]

Searching for your dream home and wondering if it’s worth buying a fixer-upper and making it your own? Here’s what you need to know. While the process of buying and renovating fixer-upper homes has increased in popularity due to fix-and-flip home improvement TV shows, not everyone is cut out for major renovation projects.  In fact, […]

If you’re in the process of buying a home you may have heard the term “contingency.” These are clauses in your contract that give you an out if something unforeseen arises from the time you make an offer until you close. Real estate contingencies protect you from losing your earnest money if you walk away from the transaction and […]

2022 is proving tough for all aspects of home renovation, from hiring contractors, to buying supplies. Here’s what to expect — and ways to cope. If you have plans to renovate your home — or if you’re shopping for a fixer upper to buy, you might be wondering whether now is a good time to remodel […]

11 pet-friendly maintenance and decor tips that can help keep your house a sneeze-free zone. You love your pet, but you don’t love it when your pet triggers your allergies. If cat fluff and dog dander give you a scratchy throat and watery eyes, you don’t have to live an animal-free life. You can still have […]

About 46 percent of home buyers are purchasing a home for the first time, and with that first home can come particular financial hurdles around saving for a down payment, and paying for closing costs. About two-thirds (64 percent) of first-time buyers put less than 20 percent down on their first home, and a quarter put down 5 percent […]