Blog

Oh, Christmas tree, oh, Christmas tree, thy placement is so vexing. Picture this: You’ve recently moved to a new Washington, DC, apartment or snagged a new home for sale in Houston, TX, and your furniture is perfectly positioned: There’s just enough room for your swanky chesterfield sofa, club chair, and coffee table. But as theRead more

Whether you’re a homeowner, homebuyer, or home seller, you’ll be interested in this top change in the 2016 housing market. Two words describe the 2016 real estate market: low inventory. When you analyze the housing market at the end of a year, you can often spot trends — and 2016 definitely had a big one:Read more

  Wrap the edges of a cardboard pie slice box (paramoreartworks.etsy.com) with decorative ribbon (thestockroom.etsy.com). Wrap cookies in parchment, then secure with ribbon and tuck inside box. TOTAL TIME: 1:50 PREP: 0:15 LEVEL: Easy YIELD: 16 cookies Ingredients 1/2 c. (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut up, plus more for pan 1 1/2 c. whole-wheatRead more

A little organization before the new year could land you with fewer taxes to pay in April. December 2016 may see the end of a number of tax breaks that homeowners took advantage of in the past. No one wants to talk tax when holiday festivities are in full swing. After all, this year’s taxesRead more

I have recently become obsessed with spaghetti squash, do you love it too? I have realized that you can really cook anything in it, and everything tastes good mixed with spaghetti squash…it’s amazing. I wanted to stuff some broccoli into this bad boy, and then knew it needed some cheese…so, here we have Broccoli &Read more

Your home is a great source of pride. By implementing this tactic, you can call it all yours even sooner. Your loan term might be fixed, but it doesn’t have to dictate when you’ll be mortgage-free. Find out how to speed up the process. A lot can happen in 30 years. Kids become adults, jobsRead more

Bye, granite! Marble is going to take over in a major way for 2017. Find out the biggest decor trends now, before they dominate on Instagram. Although it hasn’t arrived yet, 2017 is already shaping up to be an interesting year for decor. There’s a sea change coming to our homes that designers have beenRead more

The “right” time to buy a house has a lot more to do with your personal situation than market factors. Take a look at the numbers and see why there are very compelling reasons to choose a mortgage payment over a rent payment. With rental deposits significantly lower than most down payments — not toRead more

Walk into your next open house with tools to help you figure out if it’s the right place for you. You might like what you see at an open house, but don’t make a decision until you’ve asked some probing questions. It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of an open house. It’sRead more

How do you know when it’s time to stop renting? Why the bloggers behind a popular home design blog say homeownership is a must. Buying a home can be a scary milestone, especially when you’re somewhat new to town. For Kim and Scott Vargo, buying a house was less about investing and more about puttingRead more