. . . and why PMI in the first place? PMI or Private Mortgage Insurance, is the lender’s protection in case you default on your mortgage and your home goes into foreclosure. Homebuyers unable to come up with a 20%… Read more

SEVEN WAYS THE NEW TAX LAWS AFFECT HOMEOWNERS With new tax changes having come into effect in the past year, it’s a great time to revisit how some of those changes might affect homeowners. While everyone’s situation differs, there are… Read more

I recently wrote about upgrades that are WORTH THE SPLURGE? , which got me to thinking about remodeling, refreshing, and rearranging your home. In the good old days, homeowners had few options when it came to “test driving” potential purchases… Read more

One of the most common questions I am asked by both buyers and sellers has to do with upgrades to a home. Sellers want to know if the investment they make will pay off. And buyers are wondering if they… Read more

One of the most common questions I am asked by both buyers and sellers has to do with upgrades to a home. Sellers want to know if the investment they make will pay off. And buyers are wondering if they… Read more

Over the past several years, we’ve been experiencing a strong seller’s market here in the Puget Sound, including the geographic market I specialize in (Covington, Kent, Maple Valley, and Renton). In almost every way, sellers called the shots. They were… Read more

Last year, I wrote about the real estate industry’s love-hate relationship with Zillow. If you missed that post, you can catch it here.  And now there’s even more to love … or hate … depending which side of the fence… Read more

 We’ve been talking about new construction on the blog lately and discussed the pros and cons of resale homes as well as new construction. That’s probably started you thinking about the type of home that’s right for you. Maybe you’ve… Read more

Recently we wrote a series of blog posts to help you figure out if a new home or a resale home is a better fit for you. We talked about: • The pros of new construction • The downsides of… Read more

Did you have a chance to read our previous blog post, on the advantages of buying a new home … and the one where we looked at the potential downsides of new construction? If so, you learned that there are… Read more