What Your Remodeling Contract Should Say
By: Oliver Marks Review your remodeling contract carefully and adjust it to make sure it protects you in terms of payments, work schedules, and project specifications. The essential job of a construction contract is to spell out the project’s “scope of work.” This is...
Energy Efficiency: Pick Upgrades that (Actually) Drive Down Costs
By: Lisa Kaplan Gordon A new study says home owners won’t see their utility bills drop until they’ve conducted four or more energy upgrades. Here are projects that will give you the greatest bang for...
Compile a Home Inventory with the Right Tools
By: Gwen Moran A home inventory of your belongings for insurance purposes is a relatively inexpensive way to make any future claims go smoother. Take pictures of your belongings Photos of your belongings go a long way toward demonstrating ownership and value. Digital...
8 Tips for Finding Your New Home
By: G. M. Filisko A solid game plan can help you narrow your homebuying search to find the best home for you. 1. Know thyself Understand the type of home that suits your personality. Do you prefer a new or existing home? A ranch or a multistory home? If you’re leaning...
Sacramento County Real Estate Update January – February 2012
Doug Reynolds, a Sacramento Realtor, provides an analysis of the local market statistics from December 2011. This month discussing how inventory is still on the low side at the time, and sales were strong for December. He also discusses a strategy for buyers to get...
Consumer Confidence Shoots Higher Again
By Chris Isidore CNNMoney NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Consumer confidence shot higher for the second month in a row in December, according to a survey from The Conference Board. The research firm's overall confidence index, released Tuesday, jumped 9.3 points to 64.5. The...
American Dream Homes Turn Green
By Rusty Weston, Yahoo! Real Estate Despite historic problems plaguing the U.S. housing market such as tumbling values, record foreclosures and tight credit for buyers, a new Yahoo! Real Estate survey of current and aspiring homeowners indicates that owning a home is...
Is Housing Bouncing Back?
By Neil Irwin, Washington Post The deeply depressed housing sector finally seems to have found its bottom — and may even be starting to bounce back. A wide range of housing indicators — construction, home sales, prices — have stabilized in the past few months,...
Freddie: Low Mortgage Rates to Hang Around Next Year
By Drew FitzGerald Mortgage rates are expected to remain very low at least through mid-2012, while housing activity improves slightly, according to Freddie Mac’s economic and housing outlook released Wednesday. The outlook also projects fewer single-family home-loan...
Why Home Prices Are (and Aren’t) Stabilizing
Remember, this article is national news. Sacramento Has more local stats that support a more stable market than the country as a whole. By Nick Timiraos, WSJ Prices of homes that aren’t selling out of foreclosure have been holding steady. CoreLogic reported that home...


