Carol’s Blog

Finding and choosing a reliable plumber is one of those things that most homeowners know they should do at some point ... and they usually wait until there's an emergency to find someone, prioritizing availability over quality. That's an understandable situation to find…

In real estate, escrow refers to the window of time in between a buyer's offer being accepted and meeting the seller at the closing table to sign the finance and title transfer documents and receive the keys to their new house. It's managed by a third party (often a title…

If you've seen the Tom Hanks classic movie, "The Money Pit," you know that while it's funny happening to someone else, when your fixer-upper home becomes a money pit, it's more like a horror movie. If you're looking for a new property and considering an underpriced…

Pets are a joy and a delight that help make our lives feel more meaningful -- but let's face it: The folks who have a problem with pets because of the mess and wear and tear on an average home kind of have a point. Pets shed their fur everywhere. They don't always smell…

Every real estate brokerage is pretty much the same -- right? Even though this seems like common knowledge among buyers, the truth is that the real estate brokerage where your agent hangs their shingle can have a pretty big influence on your home buying experience. Some…

Buying a home is always an anxiety-ridden process, and that goes triple for anyone who's embarking on homeownership for the very first time. There's so much to do and so much you don't know that "overwhelming" hardly seems like an appropriate description of how it feels.…

The home closing process feels like the home stretch to sellers -- you've done all the work to get the house ready to sell, marketed it in an attractive way to buyers, and now you're ready to move. Although there is a lot you'll have to do if you're like many sellers before…

Buying a home is always an anxiety-ridden process, and that goes triple for anyone who's embarking on homeownership for the very first time. There's so much to do and so much you don't know that "overwhelming" hardly seems like an appropriate description of how it feels.…

In markets where all-cash offers are common, it can be easy for buyers to become discouraged early on in their home purchase process. After all, how is an everyday buyer supposed to compete with a cash offer on a home? Most of us don't have several hundred thousand dollars…

Even the very best real estate agents at the top of their careers have to deal with clients who are upset with them after the transaction closes and everyone walks away from the table. But even though it's a fact of life, that doesn't make it especially pleasant or…

Is now the best time to sell your home? That's an intensely personal question that depends on a number of factors -- many of them beyond your control. In 2006, some sellers might have been wondering if they should have waited another year and netted even more profit ... but…

Daydreaming about owning your own home is one of the most intoxicating practices known to modern man, especially now that HGTV is a thing. But when the time comes to actually put your money where your daydream is, it can be challenging for first-time buyers especially to…