My real estate friends tell me that it is not impossible to sell a home in a short period of time, it just depends on the home. Still, with the housing market the way that it is, you don’t want to spend a lot of money getting your home ready for the market, but you don’t want it to sit out there forever being passed over for other houses that are also for sale. Use some smarts and a little elbow grease to make your home stand out among all the rest of the housing inventory, and do it for … Continue reading →

The housing market continues to go into decline according to the Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller Home Price Index. Expert indications are that it will continue to decline in 2012. Some areas have been hit worse than other areas. Recently, the Housing Misery Index was published by Trulia, an online real estate search and marketing website. The reports lists and ranks each state’s housing market, taking into consideration the changes in home prices plus the rates of delinquency and foreclosure. They also tend to have high unemployment. One thing that is interesting to note is that many of the states hit … Continue reading →

For sale, one deserted village in France. Includes several buildings with exposed beams and fireplaces, a tennis court, a horse stable and even a swimming pool. It was the homesite of Jeanne d’Albret, mother of King Henry IV, and is said to have several springs that have healing powers. Price: $400,000 or best offer. Hmm, maybe it is time to move to France. For the cost of one smallish house here in my neck of the woods, we could have an entire french village, Courbefy. Wow–think of how much fun the kids would have. Maybe we could even grow grapes. … Continue reading →