Pocono Jack

If you’re still enjoying the lazy days of summer, there are some projects you can be doing to prep your home for fall.  Knocking out some small projects now will not only lessen the workload down the road but will also help you avoid the stress and expense of emergency situations in the thick of cooler weather.

1. Have your furnace inspected.

An emergency fund should cover disasters such as a job loss, sudden illness, broken car or other catastrophe that can leave you without money or the means to work for a while. Knowing how much money to save depends on a few factors. Here are some to consider:

The importance of home staging to sell your houses is well-known. But does your home staging change with the season?

Now that fall is fully here, use  these five tips from Ronique Gibson  to help you spice up your home for upcoming showings and open houses this fall.

Liven Up Your Interiors With Better Lighting

You’ve been saving for a while, and you’re finally ready to move out of your apartment and take the leap to home ownership. Becoming a first-time homeowner is both an exciting and a stressful process, but the payoff is well worth it once all the papers are signed and the keys are in your hands. Be sure to read on for some useful tips for preparing for home ownership and what to expect once you move in.

If you need help paying some bills or taking care of your family, the government can sometimes help. Many state and federal programs exist to help not just low-income families, but people of varying income levels. Many programs are meant to help homeowners.

Here are some of the various types of government help available:

Keeping track of every single dollar you spend can be difficult, no matter how closely you track your spending and monitor your bank accounts. Automatic payments from your checking account to pay for a gym membership, for example, can be forgotten and leave a checkbook unbalanced.

But besides accounting for where your money goes, there are some invisible money leaks that you may not be paying attention to that can add up to wasted money. Here are four:

By Realtor.com Creative Studio

For nearly 16 years, Beverly Willett lived with her husband and two daughters in what was her dream home: a four-story, 4,000-square-foot brownstone in Brooklyn, N.Y. But sometimes when life changes, dreams do, too. By 2013, Beverly was a single woman whose eldest had moved out and whose youngest was about to head off to college—and she found herself toying with downsizing.