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The annual percentage rate, or APR, is how much you’ll pay in interest and other fees when borrowing money (e.g., when you get a mortgage loan or a credit card). APR can also be considered the total cost for borrowing money over a one-year period.

The “and other fees” clause is key here. When home buyers get a loan, they often obsess over the annual rate alone—say, that 5% extra you’ll pay every year for the life of your $300,000 loan. But that’s not where your expenses end, and that’s where APR comes into play.

“The APR includes the interest rate and other charges, which is why it’s usually higher than just your interest rate,” says Michele Lerner, author of “Home Buying: Tough Times, First Time, Any Time.”

What to know about APR, and which fees are included?

People tend to think of annual percentage rate as the “true” amount they pay, because it includes all of the major upfront fees associated with the loan (e.g., closing costs, points, origination fees, and private mortgage insurance). It’s also known as the effective APR.

The former president and CEO died of natural causes on Nov. 27, according to a company announcement. The company will continue to support Burleson's philanthropic efforts.

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What is a pre-qualification letter? A mortgage lender will give you this official document once you decide you might want to borrow money from the lender. But how much will that letter actually boost your chances of successfully making an offer on a house? Experts say it offers very little help.

“I tell most people they can take that pre-qualification letter and throw it in the trash,” says Patty Arvielo, a mortgage banker and president and founder of New American Funding, in Tustin, CA. “It doesn’t mean all that much.”

Of course, this letter does serve some purpose for home buyers, otherwise it wouldn’t exist, right? So is it worth pursuing pre-qualification before bidding on a house? Read on.

What to know about a pre-qualification letter

Of the two kinds of letters buyers typically obtain before they start house hunting—pre-qualification and pre-approval—the pre-qualification letter is the lesser of the two when it comes to buying power, says Denise Shur, a Realtor with 1:1 Realty in San Jose, CA.

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A mansion known as the “Glass House,” in Boulder, CO, delivers crystal-clear Rocky Mountain views.

Built in 2008, the four-level masterpiece has hit the market for a whopping $12,995,000.

“The No. 1 feature of this home is the setting—sitting on a hill overlooking Boulder, offering incredible views to the west and to the east,” says Hunter Jorgensen of Compass, who is co-listing the property with The Patrick Brown Group.

And next on the long list of selling points? That would be the property’s luxe materials and impeccable construction.

Brent Dobsch joins the Chicago-based real estate brokerage as chief financial officer, Dana Bina was promoted to chief technology officer and Branden Lopez joins the firm as director of legal.

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Can you show your home with an offer on the table? Sure, you’ve found a (nearly) perfect buyer. You’ve accepted the offer, which means you’re in wedded bliss and off the market, so to speak, right? Not so fast! Just as a romantic relationship can go sour, so can your real estate transaction. No matter how perfectly matched your buyers are to your property, issues can arise that are out of your control, and sometimes the buyers’ too.

That’s why it’s in your best interest to let your real estate agent play the field and allow your home to be shown, even if you’ve accepted an offer.

Can you show your home with an offer on the table

“Until all contingencies on a contract are removed, anything can happen,” explains Jane Peters, broker and owner of Home Jane Realty in Los Angeles. “Each side has to meet certain contractual obligations, and if one side doesn’t, then the other side can initiate a cancellation of the contract,” she says.

Such contractual obligations can include both sides not agreeing on a request for repairs after an inspection, says Peters. Other times, the buyer believes there’s too much to deal with and decides not to go forward. It’s also possible that your buyer can’t get the loan approved. And if your home doesn’t appraise at the contracted price and you decide not to lower it or grant the buyer concessions, then the buyer can walk, too.

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With mortgage interest rates near 7% and home prices hovering at a national median of $425,000, many homebuyers might be wondering how they’ll be able to pay for a property, and searching for ways to reduce costs.

While there are a variety of mortgages aimed at helping homebuyers afford a home—such as FHA loans and VA loans—one type that’s often overlooked are USDA loans, which offer excellent terms to those who qualify, including a 0% down payment and low interest rates.

Here’s everything you need to know about USDA loans, and whether they’re right for you.

What is a USDA loan?

A USDA loan is a mortgage that is either issued or guaranteed by the United States Department of Agriculture. Also known as Section 502 or 504 loans, these programs are specifically reserved for people with low or moderate incomes looking to buy in designated rural parts of the country.

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To celebrate our first night in our new home, we ordered a feast of Chinese food. The next morning, to our horror, we found a huge stain on our kitchen’s marble counter where the moo goo gai pan had seeped out of its cardboard container into the stone. We went into a frenzy to try to find out how to remove stains from marble.

I know I’m not alone here. Even though marble counters and floors look like they can withstand whatever a cook can throw at them, these surfaces in fact are extremely porous and can soak up liquids. If it’s just water, it usually dries without a problem. But if you leave wine or grease spills on marble, you’ll have to deal with a stain.

The good news is that whatever goes in can come out, says Mark Meriaux, accreditation and technical manager of MIA + BSI: The Natural Stone Institute, based in Oberlin, OH. “But sometimes it takes a long time.”

How to prevent stains on marble

The best cure is prevention, of course: Always seal marble when it’s installed.

Revive won the 2022 Pitch Battle sponsored by the National Association of Realtors, claiming a $15,000 prize from Second Century Ventures, NAR's technology focused, for-profit investment subsidiary.

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Are you looking to live where your neighbors will mow your lawn when you’re away on vacation, donate diapers to a young family that’s just moved in, or buy school supplies for children whose parents can’t afford them?

Then you might want to start looking for homes in Georgia, according to a recent kindness survey led by kindness.org and commissioned by Nextdoor and Verizon.

The second annual survey interviewed 10,000 people across all 50 states to measure which acts of kindness people would do for their neighbors and ranked each state according to a “Kindness Quotient.”

Eight of the 10 kindest states in America are located in the South, known for its friendliness and sense of community. And all but one have a median home list price less than the national average of $427,250 in September. (Utah was the only exception.) Conversely, states such as New York, Hawaii, California, and Florida, where median home prices are among the highest in the U.S., didn’t even crack the top 25 for kindness.

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FHA loans, which are insured by the Federal Housing Administration, help home buyers secure financing to buy a home despite their low income, lack of savings, or poor credit scores—the kind of things that often prevent people from getting a conventional loan.

“FHA loans are a great option for a lot of home buyers, particularly if they’re buying their first home,” says Todd Sheinin, mortgage lender and chief operating officer at New America Financial in Gaithersburg, MD. And while not all lenders offer FHA loans, many do, because their government backing guarantees that lenders won’t lose their money if the buyer defaults. So it’s win-win all round!

Yet although FHA loans have looser qualification requirements than traditional mortgages, that doesn’t mean they have none at all. While the exact rules and thresholds will vary a bit by lender, here’s a ballpark guide to what you can expect you’ll need to qualify.

1. A minimum down payment of 3.5%

With conventional loans, it’s generally recommended that you make a 20% down payment, which would amount to a whopping $50,000 on a $250,000 home. FHA loans lower the bar to a far more realistic level, requiring as little as 3.5%. So, on a $250,000 house, you would only need to plunk down $8,750 to qualify for an FHA loan.

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As a protégé of Frank Lloyd Wright, Wisconsin architect Russell Barr Williamson designed many homes on Milwaukee’s North Shore—including this midcentury modern ranch house on the market in Fox Point.

Fittingly, this house was designed to showcase panoramic Lake Michigan views.

The 5,454-square-foot home was built in 1959. It has five bedrooms and 4.5 baths and is listed with Lauren Siegel of First Weber Real Estate for $1,995,000—down from the original asking price of $2,150,000 in September.

At the start of his career, Barr Williamson was Wright’s chief draftsman from 1915 until 1917. After that, Barr Williamson established his own firm.

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Unlike single-family homes, multifamily homes are dwellings with more than one unit that each have their own bathroom and kitchen. Interested in how this type of property could pay off for you? Read on for our breakdown of multifamily homes.

Multifamily home characteristics

The most attractive part of investing in and renting out a multifamily home is the steady revenue stream you can get from collecting rent. Most people living in a multifamily home are looking to offset mortgage payments by using the income from renting out the other unit, says Lee Kiser, principal and managing broker at Kiser Group in Chicago.

There are also tax advantages to buying a multifamily home. You can write off expenses related to your rental income and deduct the prorated portion of the mortgage interest.

Also, an owner-occupied property may be a wise choice for homeowners living with members of their family, such as their adult children or elderly parents. They can live in one of the units for a period of time and not have to fork over all their savings on rent or a mortgage.

A penthouse within a not-yet-developed luxury condo building on Fisher Island is asking $90 million, and at that price, the sale would blow previous records for condos in the area out of the water.

Cut through the online clutter and armchair quarterbacking of the real estate industry with these expert predictions from Windermere Real Estate Chief Economist Matthew Gardner.

Median home price growth has slowed the fastest in Austin, Phoenix and San Jose, with fellow pandemic boomtowns Las Vegas and Boise also seeing significant slowdowns.

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A storybook house is a quaint style of architecture known for its cottage-inspired sloping roof, turret, and other fanciful features. Also called fairy-tale homes, they essentially look like a family of elves or maybe Snow White herself would answer the door if you knocked.

Although these houses evoke visions of the European countryside, this style is wholly American—specifically, Hollywood in the 1920s. At that time, soldiers had recently returned from Europe after World War I, and those who went to work in Los Angeles’ film industry (including Walt Disney, who drove an ambulance in Europe) often built sets inspired by the villages they saw in England, Belgium, and France.

“Silent films were often set in Europe in an earlier era, and actors, set designers, and audiences alike fell for the charming look of the houses in these film sets,” says Douglas Keister, photographer and co-author of “Storybook Style: America’s Whimsical Homes of the 1920s.”

A history of storybook houses

The home thought to be the original storybook house was known as the “Witch’s House,” built in 1921 on a studio lot, designed by an art director to serve both as offices and a film set. In 1926, the house was converted to a residence and moved to a corner in Beverly Hills, CA, where it remains today (and where it scored a cameo in the movie “Clueless”).

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After a sassy makeover by local designer Tracy Turco, the Cheetah Hotel in Palm Springs, CA, is on the prowl for a new owner.

The 12-room, 12-bath inn, built in 1954, wants $2.95 million. That’s a discount of $450,000 from when it came on the market in June (and then again in September) at $3.4 million.

Turco snapped up the vintage building in October 2021 for $2 million. Then she quickly redesigned it—mainly wrapping it in everything cheetah, from wallpaper to bedspreads.

The refresh was mostly a change of spots.

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In your search for a new home, you may have seen the term “site condo” in listings. Unlike regular condos, which are typically apartments or townhomes attached to at least a few other units, a site condo looks like a freestanding single-family house; it even has its own yard. Nonetheless, a site condo is located in a condo community with all the benefits (and restrictions) of condo living, explains Realtor® and blogger Norm Werner.

Here’s how to tell if a site condo is right for you.

Characteristics of a site condo

There are five criteria that must be met in order for the units in the complex to be considered site condos, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development:

Units must be single-family and completely detached from each other. This includes garages, archways, breezeways/porches/decks, or any other attached buildings.No part of the house, land, or airspace can be considered a common area.Insurance and maintenance costs of the individual unit and property fall solely on the unit owner.Any condo fees collected are for amenities that are outside the bounds of the property.Owners must abide by all condo association rules, known as covenants, conditions, and restrictions, or CC&Rs.

 

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In today’s hot housing market, rents are on the rise, which may have you wondering whether it’s time to consider becoming a landlord and buying a rental property. After all, who doesn’t like the idea of raking in rent checks from tenants every month? Still, being a landlord isn’t a cakewalk; it takes work, and sometimes being a landlord may seem like you’re shelling out more than you’re bringing in from rent.

And let’s face it, knowing how to be a landlord and knowing how to be a good landlord to your tenants are two different things.

Just so you know what you’re getting into, here are some tips on becoming a landlord who not only makes money from rent but also keeps tenants happy.

Figure out if you can afford to become a landlord

Renting out real estate on which you’re paying a mortgage is a balancing act. To be a successful landlord, you have to make sure that the money coming in from rent covers what goes out—or else you’re operating at a loss on your real estate.