When people talk about retirement planning, the conversation usually starts with a 401(k), IRA, Social Security, pension, or investment account. Those things matter. But for a lot of homeowners, the biggest asset they have isn’t sitting in a retirement account. It’s the house. You may have spent 20, 30, or 40 years paying down the…
A lot of homeowners tell me they want to stay in their house as long as possible. That makes sense. You know the neighborhood. You know the house. You may have spent decades paying down the mortgage and building equity. Moving isn’t necessarily something you want to do just because you’re getting older. But staying…
Fall is the season when your house starts giving you warnings. The furnace makes a noise you don’t remember hearing last year. You notice the garage door doesn’t quite seal at the bottom. There’s a crack in the driveway that seems a little wider than it was in June. The upstairs rooms feel colder than…
For the last several years, a lot of buyers and sellers got used to a housing market that forgave mistakes. A seller could put a house on the market without doing much preparation and still get multiple offers. A buyer might have to decide almost immediately because somebody else was waiting behind them. A house…
One of the biggest mistakes I see homeowners and buyers make is assuming that a problem automatically means the entire plan has to change. Your windows are drafty, so you think you need to replace every window in the house. Your student loan payment is killing your mortgage qualification, so you assume you can’t buy…
Most homeowners are pretty good at reacting to problems. The driveway cracks badly enough, so they replace it. A parent falls, so the family starts talking about grab bars and ramps. Mom or Dad moves into assisted living, and suddenly somebody has to figure out what to do with 50 years of furniture, clothing, tools,…
Some of the most expensive homeowner mistakes start with a sentence that sounds perfectly reasonable. “I thought FHA loans were only for people with bad credit.” “I figured I should refinance because I need some cash.” “I assumed a better roof would automatically lower my insurance.” “I thought solar would require $40,000 out of pocket.”…
