An overload of advice is offered to you, as a homebuyer, on what you should do before and while you deal with the process of purchasing a new home. Did anyone ever tell you what not to do? The most important advice, which is best laid out at realestateabc.com, is to keep your finances in order. What does this mean?

First, it means to deal with one life-changing purchase at a time. In the process of buying a new home, don’t feel the need to purchase anything else new. Now is not the time to purchase a new car, plan an expensive wedding, buy all-new décor, plan a vacation and the list goes on. Unless, of course, your finances are in good enough shape to handle more than one life-changing purchase at one time.

Secondly, don’t move your money around. The process of reviewing a potential homebuyer’s finances is more closely analyzed than ever before. While a loan lender or a mortgage underwriter is reviewing your finances, make the process as simple as possible. This means not moving large sums of money from one account to another, opening a new account or changing banks. The last few months of bank statements and liquid assets will need to be reviewed, so the more changes you make now, the longer the process will take and the more frustrated you’ll become.

Bottom line: keep your finances in order, and keep your funding decisions simple until the review process is complete.

If you are currently in the need for more living space or you are tired of your outdated home, it’s a tough decision to know if you should spend the money to remodel, or if you should altogether move to a new house and location. If you are dealing with this tough decision, here are some factors to take into account:

• What changes do you need and what changed do you want? Make two separate lists, first the “changes needed” list, and research how much these changes will cost in renovation. If you still have savings left after considering these costs, move onto the “changes wanted” list.

• If you cannot figure out a way to renovate your home to make these changes possible, or if the cost is much higher than you expected, consider moving. Though the cost of moving is substantial, you also receive a revenue from selling your house. With a renovation, it’s money out of your pocket now, and no return investment, although a renovation might help increase the sale of your home in the future.

• How much do you enjoy your location? If you need a larger home, but you absolutely love your neighbors, your children’s schools or your quick commute to work, you might want to add onto your existing home. Don’t give up everything you love for the sake of extra space.

• According to an article from bobvila.com, many houses provide the space that is needed, but are just configured incorrectly. Walk through each room and consider how you could rearrange furniture or purchase new furniture in order to utilize the room better. For an improved judgment, ask an outside family member or friend.

• With remodeling or add-ons, once you receive a cost estimate from construction firms, contact a lender if you will need a loan. Will you want to move in the near future? Taking out a loan now might postpone future move plans if you have too many loan payments at once.

All in all, here are the considerations that it should come down to:

• Remodeling considerations: How much of your personal time will need to go into this project? How long will the whole process take? Is the weather suitable enough for this project to be completed in a timely manner? Will the noise of construction and inopportune walls being knocked down distract you from your work done at home? Do you have space to add onto your home, and will you mind space from your yard disappearing? Will you need extra air conditioners, water heaters, etc. to fill the added space? Will the upgrade add to the value of your house? When it’s all said and done, is the outcome worth the price and time?

• Moving considerations: Would a new layout benefit you more than the one you have? Could you still commute to work from a new location? Are there good schools, convenience stores, etc. in the new area? Is the price doable? Can you afford the higher taxes that go with a larger home? Is your house in a condition to sell? Is your credit in well enough condition to receive a loan? Is every family member on the same page with moving? Do you have the time that goes into cleaning up the home, decluttering, hosting open houses, packing up and unpacking somewhere new?

If you’re still torn, consult with a construction firm to find out a cost estimate for remodeling. Then, figure out the market value of your home and what type of new house you could afford, and visit www.BuyOwner.com to shop around, and attend open houses. It might be easier to start with a new layout, and plan your new extra space accordingly. Though it’s a hard and complicated decision to make initially, no matter which choice you make, the end result should suit your needs perfectly.

Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and though we’ve previously discussed how home sellers should keep holiday decorations to a minimum, there is nothing wrong with adding fall flare to your home or with adding warmth and coziness to your layout.

Wow your dinner guests with homemade or purchased decorations that not only show off the vibrant colors of fall, but that also celebrate the coming together of friends and the beginning of our founded nation. In the hype of winter holidays to come, Thanksgiving décor is sometimes forgotten, but it just as lovely and important as any other holiday.

To decorate for your Thanksgiving, try to incorporate some of these ideas:

• Show off some cornucopias! Place a few medium-sized examples around the home, or just display one large example as your table’s centerpiece. Fill this treasure with real or fake fall leaves, acorns, pine cones and twigs, or fill it with brightly colored flowers, fruits or vegetables! As a goody bag for your guests to take home, Disney’s FamilyFun.com suggests filling sugar cones with multi-colored hard candies and writing each person’s name on a cone with cake icing!

• Dedicate a table or a corner of the room for pumpkins and an array of uniquely shaped and colored squash and gourds! These can be found in your local grocery store, or you could make a day out of choosing some at a local pumpkin farm. You could even serve the squash as part of the meal! One popular fall recipe includes cutting an acorn squash in half, scooping out the seeds, placing some butter and brown sugar in the middle, and cooking the squash in the microwave for 10 minutes.

• To promote green living to your family and friends, host a green Thanksgiving, using only eco-friendly decorations! Our Green Thanksgiving blog provides you with an abundance of options, which include serving soup in hollowed-out baby pumpkins or adding an autumn scent with candles made out of recyclable goods! You can read all kinds of eco-friendly decorating ideas.

• Remember the pilgrims and Indians that made this day possible? Decorate with wheat stalks or cornstalks, to celebrate the harvest. Hang Thanksgiving stickies on your windows that display a pilgrim and Indian setting. Fill a vase with colorful feathers. Surprise your guests with homemade Indian and pilgrim hats! For instructions on how to make these hats, visit ziggityzoom.com. You could even tell everyone to dress up in costumes, or as the host, dress up alone!

• No matter what side dishes you decide to serve, every Thanksgiving meal has one thing in mind: turkey. Celebrate this common element by displaying stuffed animal turkeys, window stickies with turkeys, or just drawings of turkeys. One renowned way of creating an artistic, personal turkey is to trace your hand, draw the face in your thumb, and color your fingers different colors for the feathers.

Thanksgiving decorations should be quick to set up and quick to take down. After the last guest finishes his or her slice of pumpkin pie and heads out the door, you could quickly toss the hollow pumpkins and homemade turkey drawings, take down the window stickies, fold up the Indian costume and store away the cornucopia for next year. Keep things simple!

Not only does living green provide a healthier lifestyle and lower electricity and utility bills, but according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), 90 percent of home buyers have said that energy efficiency is a significant factor that they are looking for in a new home! Now that you know it could improve the interest of your potential buyers, here are green improvements to consider:

• Add insulation where it’s needed. Outside, walk around the exterior of your home and look for cracks in the construction. On a windy, cold day, head to the attic and/or basement to listen for whistling sounds that might be making their way through cracks. Pay attention to drafts anywhere in the house. For more information on energy-efficient insulation, click here.

• Install new energy-efficient windows, or add a screen or an extra pane of glass to the windows or sliding glass doors. The more layers, the more efficient against wind and cold temperatures. Keep the curtains open so that the sun can shine through in the cold, and keep them closed to keep the heat out in warm temperatures. For more information on windows, click here.

• Purchase new Energy Star appliances that are the most energy-efficient options out there. They are expensive, but they are a huge selling point for the kitchen, which is one of the most popular rooms that a buyer pays attention to. For more ways to create a green kitchen, click here.

• Invest in a tankless water heater, and/or add energy-efficient, low-flow water fixtures to your sinks or showers. Show potential homebuyers your water or heating bills to prove how much money these mechanisms will save them. For more information on tankless water heaters, click here.

• Fill the home with natural or eco-friendly lighting by adding a skylight, adding dimmers to light switches, or replacing all of the lights with fluorescent bulbs. For more information on skylights, click here.

Loads of more green, eco-friendly advice is available in our archives, which you can browse here. Knowing that 90 percent of potential homebuyers are interested in eco-friendly aspects should aspire you home sellers to look further into the suggestion!

The housing crisis is finally showing slow signs of improvement. Commercial and retail properties have suffered in all areas of the country, but according to an article from Realty Times, apartment rentals have remained the strongest sector.

Of all building rentals, multi-family apartment units have held up the best. Buildings have stayed full, and rent has remained stable or even increased. Particular cities with the lowest vacancy rates, around 5 percent, include Pittsburgh, San Diego, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., San Jose and Albuquerque. Areas where vacancy rates are higher, reaching up to 12 percent, include Tucson and Phoenix. Still, the average for the country is 7.4 percent, which is lower than it has been in past recessions.

What’s the reason for this? It could mean that people are afraid of the real estate meltdown and are resorting to renting instead of purchasing. It could mean that in order to find jobs, college graduates have moved to where the jobs are, forcing them to move into housing that they can afford. It could mean that people losing their homes through foreclosures are moving into apartment buildings. It could just mean that apartment living is always going to be needed, no matter what the economy or the real estate market is looking like.

Whatever the reason, it definitely means that if you’re looking for extra revenue, apartment buildings may be the smartest investment purchase you could make. To search for buildings available in your area, go to BuyOwner.com and search under Multi Unit or Apartment Building listings.

Estate sales are commonly run by professionals on behalf of a deceased property owner. However, you may hold your own estate sale for many reasons:

• if you are downsizing
• if you are moving to a facility where you are unable to keep your belongings (assisted living, retirement home, etc)
• if you want to get rid of unnecessary items to avoid foreclosure

Why hold your own estate sale?

The bottom line is that running your own estate sale saves you money. Not only must you pay a professional for his/her services, but you’ll also have to fork over a pretty penny for advertising, research, security, refreshments and other fees. The professional will often take a percentage of the profit, as well, which could run anywhere between 20 and 50%! If there has been a death in the family, it may be too overwhelming for you to conduct the estate sale of your loved one’s belongings. However, if any of the abovementioned reasons apply to you, it would be a great idea to run the sale by yourself.

What are the logistics?

Depending on the amount of items you want to sell, estate sales last from one to three days. There is often a price reduction at the end of the last day, to ensure that every item has been sold. The advantage of hiring a professional is that he/she will do extensive research in order to accurately price your precious pieces. However, professionals are sometimes more stringent on bargaining with patrons, so you might end up giving quite a few things away for free in the long run if you cannot sell them within the first few days. By attending some estate sales in your area, you can get a sense of how things work and how to price your items. And don’t forget to advertise. Post a free listing on Craig’s List or print up some flyers to hang about town in super markets and other businesses with high amounts of foot traffic.

A decrease in temperatures could mean an increase of unwanted pests joining your household. This year, instead of purchasing another pesticide, try these natural pest control tips.

According to a report by Environment Health Perspectives, 83 percent of American households contain up to four different pesticide products, even though these products often cause health risks, such as allergies, an immunity system breakdown or even brain effects. In 1993, 140,000 poison cases were reported to poison control centers. Pesticides have up to 300 active ingredients and up to 1,700 inert ingredients! That leaves room for a lot of health risks, just for the sake of ridding your house of unwanted pests.

To read the whole EHP report, visit pubmedcentral.nih.gov.

With that said, there are natural, green ways to keep pesticides away, presented by care2.com. To prevent pests from entering your home in the first place, try these tips:

• Get rid of standing water or damp areas. Immediately clean up spills, even if it’s just water; clean and dry dishes right away; fix leaky faucets.

• Sweep and vacuum weekly, especially in the kitchen. Wipe down counters and tables. Clean up all those crumbs! Store food in tightly closed containers, and consider wrapping plastic bags around boxes that pests could bite through.

• Re-caulk and seal cracks and openings in the walls, floors and ceilings. Line doors and windows with weather stripping; add screens to windows and doors.

• Change bed linens regularly, and if you have pets, wash them regularly.

• Take the garbage out often, and only throw food away in a covered garbage container or in a composting bucket. Keep the recycle bin in the garage.

If you follow these rules and pests still find their way into your home, purchase a non-toxic pesticide. You can even make homemade pest-repellents, such as an all-natural fly strip made with brown packing tape dipped in a mixture of honey, sugar and water. To repel fleas, use scents of rosemary, lavender, vinegar or lemon.

For more natural pesticide ideas, visit care2.com/greenliving.

According to an article from FOX Business, the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo sentiment index fell to 18 this month, even though economists had guessed that it would rise to 20. It was marked at 19 in September. An index of 18 means only one out of six builders has a positive view of the housing market.

With this number set so low for the month of October, it can be assumed that it will decrease even more in November, with the expiration of the tax credit available for first-time homebuyers.

What does this mean for you? For one thing, brand-new homes might be hard to come by, so now’s a great time to check out www.BuyOwner.com to search already built homes for sale by owner. Also, this slowed building market may help even things out in the oversaturated market, which is good news for sellers. Time will tell.

In a previous post, you read that it is still possible to sell your home after you have filed for Chapter 13 Bankruptcy. But once you have received an approval from the courts, closed the sale of your property and allocated the proceeds to your trustee/creditors, what do you do now? How do you go about buying a house when you have filed for Chapter 13?

First things first: you will most likely not be able to qualify for a home loan if you are still in debt, under an active Chapter 13 payment plan. Filing for bankruptcy puts a huge damper on your credit score for a few years. However, keep in mind that other factors go into acquiring home loans besides your credit score. This includes the amount of money you have for a down payment, your positive payment history on the active Chapter 13 and other credit cards, your income, etc.

If the proceeds from the sale of your home cover all of your debt, your case is discharged. And although your credit score has gone down, you may recover a little faster as opposed to if you were still active on the Chapter 13 payment plan. There could even be a chance that you will make enough money from the sale of your home to repay your debt and put a down payment on a house.

A common option for people under Chapter 13 is to rent a condo or an apartment for the time being, so they may get their finances in order. Watch out for those association dues, though, if you choose to go the condo route. By renting a property for a few years, you will have time to come out of Chapter 13, to improve your credit score and to ultimately prove to federal agencies that you are creditworthy of a mortgage loan for a new house.

There are many reasons why people choose to file for Chapter 13 Bankruptcy instead of Chapter 7. For one, if you had already filed for Chapter 7, you may not do so again for another eight years. Also, if you want to make up missed payments on a mortgage, you may only do so via Chapter 13. Whatever the reason, many homeowners that file for bankruptcy find themselves concerned with how they will make enough money to pay their debts over time. Moving to a smaller home/condo or renting an apartment might be a great plan for the budget, but the ultimate question most people find themselves asking is, “Can I sell my home while I’m under Chapter 13?”

Simple Answer: YES!
However, there are a few factors that go into play before you may sell your property:

1. Both the court and the creditors must be informed of the home’s sale price and given written proof of the value of the property.
2. Your attorney must notify all of your creditors before the property is sold.
3. You must inform the court and the creditors how you plan to distribute all the proceeds from the sale.
4. The final step is getting an approval from the bankruptcy court.

Before you consider anything (i.e. putting your house on the market), you should first consult with your lawyer. You need to make sure you have plenty of time to get an approval from the courts, as there is quite a bit of paperwork involved. You should also tell all prospective buyers about the bankruptcy situation. If you don’t, once it is revealed in the midst of negotiations, the buyer might get scared and back out of the deal.

It may take up to a month to receive an approval from the judge, so give yourself plenty of time to close the deal. If the proceeds cover all of your debts, your case will be discharged. However, if you need some of the money in order to purchase your new home, you and the judge must come to an agreement on the amount of money allocated to the bankruptcy trustee.