There are a variety of reasons for buying a home during the holidays. The advantages of purchasing at this time of year include less competition for homes, year-end tax advantages, lower home prices and faster closings.

There are a variety of reasons for buying a home during the holidays. The advantages of purchasing at this time of year include less competition for homes, year-end tax advantages, lower home prices and faster closings.

Purchasing a home is a very overwhelming time for anyone regardless of whether they have purchased a home before. The ideal way to ensure that you are ready to finish your transaction is to be sure that you are properly organized to do so. If you are purchasing a home in the Miami area, it is greatly beneficial to work with a mortgage broker in Coral Gables. Consider these three ways to close your escrow by Christmas.

A closing date is very critical to all parties involved. The sellers and buyers have many arrangements to make leading up to closing, and the lenders and title companies have many prepartions to make before closing. A holiday can impact how quickly you may close on a home. Take into account these 5 different circumstances and how they can affect your closing date.

Whether you’re a long-time homeowner or a first-time buyer, you’ll surely want to make your house feel like home. A few tweaks here and there can make any minor home improvement feel like a major upgrade. Not only that, but strategic home renovations can also lead to a generous appraisal when it comes time to sell.

All home buyers have one thing in common: They don’t want to get ripped off. Whatever the state of the housing market, it’s especially important to make sure you pay a fair price. Yet how do you know that you’re getting a good deal—even in a tight market—before you make an offer? You need to know how to evaluate the price of any home, so you can make a sound investment decision. The following 10 tips will show you how to get a great deal on a house.

It may not seem like the most ideal time, but the holiday season does have its benefits—provided you position your home in just the right way. You might not get in the middle of a bidding war, but you are going to deal with serious buyers who are ready to close a deal. Here are six reasons why the holidays are a good time to sell a house.

Homeowners should look for easy, cost-effective ways to increase their home’s value over time, especially if they’re planning to sell in the future. Here are six practical ways to increase your home’s value and get a strong return on your investment.

What’s the difference between “Signing” and “Closing Escrow?”

When people talk about a real estate purchase, they sometimes use the terms “signing” and “closing” interchangeably in reference to the event when the buyers sign documents with Escrow. However, there are several events that take place between the buyer’s signing appointment and the actual closing of the real estate transaction. Let’s take a moment and review that process.

Before selling your home, you will want to make sure the escrow process is as stress-free as possible. In order to do that, use a licensed and qualified escrow agent. If using Home Bay to sell your home in California, we’ll refer you to our in-house escrow company, CalTech.

California is a unique state where the Title company is typically separate from the escrow company. However, in some areas of Northern California, most notably the Bay Area & San Francisco, it’s more common that the Title company processes the escrow internally. In Attorney states like Illinois and Georgia, it’s common practice for an attorney process the escrow.

If you're planning to sell your house, you might be tempted to go overboard with updates and upgrades to help you fetch the highest price at the closing table. While some home projects—such as replacing your garage door or doing a minor kitchen remodel—add value to your home, others offer little opportunity to recover the costs when it's time to sell. Here are six upgrades you may think add value to your home, but really don't.

Buying a house can be a complicated process, one that most people are generally unprepared for and don't really understand. Within the stages of buying and selling a home—from the offer, to the home inspection, and getting that mortgage approval—are other actions that must happen.

One of those hard-to-understand elements is the process of being in escrow, which occurs between the time a seller accepts the offer and the buyer gets the keys to the new house. How do you prepare for it? Here is a 10-step walk-through of the process, so you won't be left standing in the rain without a roof over your head.

Whole house renovations can add value to your home, but there are ways to upgrade your home without going into debt or ransacking your savings. Painting, re-grouting tile, and power washing the outside of your home won’t cost a lot of money, but these do-it-yourself home improvements can add real value to your home.

With some sweat equity, a DIY attitude, and a few dollars, you can list your home for more money if you’re ready to sell. And if you’re not quite ready to put your home on the market, you can enjoy having a more beautiful place to live. Here are some low cost, high value home improvement projects to consider.

If you’re ready to sell your home, you may have reason to want to sell it fast—such as a new job that starts soon in a different city. How do you generate interest in your house? After all, the more potential buyers you can attract, the better your chances of selling at a good price.

Whatever your reasons for selling, here are six ways to sell a house quickly, even in a slow market.

Like any big project, a successful homebuying experience is all about getting the details right from start to finish. These tips for first-time home buyers will help you navigate the process, save money and close the deal. We organized them into four categories:

• Preparing to buy tips.

• Mortgage selection tips.

• Home shopping tips.

• Home purchasing tips.

Closing is the final step to make the deal official and receive your money from the sale of your home. In most cases, a third party will hold the buyer’s money until all the closing tasks are completed. This is called escrow, and the closing tasks are part of the escrow instructions. When all the closing tasks are complete, the third party will give the money to the seller and the keys to the buyer. Here, we’ll walk you through the escrow process and explain how each step affects you as a seller.

A real estate deal is generally a long and stressful exercise that involves many steps and procedural formalities. Closing occurs when you sign the papers that make the house yours, but before that fateful day arrives, a long list of things has to happen. This article describes the 12 steps that must be taken between the moment your offer is accepted and when you get the keys to your new home.

Curious about your role and responsibilities during escrow as a seller, and how on earth escrow works in general? While much of a seller’s job throughout escrow is to hold tight as the buyer works through the details on their end, this guide will explain the basics of escrow and provide you with some easy tips for how you can help move the needle toward closing, too.

When you're buying a home, the escrow period — that time between having your offer accepted and having the keys in your hands — can drive even the most zen buyer to the brink of insanity.