Tips to Save Time and Money on Home Maintenance from HouseLogic

Washington, D.C. – June 7, 2018 (PRNewswire) Many homeowners would be surprised to find out all the areas they are wasting money on maintaining their home. This month’s “Secrets for Maintaining Your Home With Less Time, Money” spotlight from HouseLogic.com, the comprehensive website for homeowners from the National Association of Realtors®, features five articles and an infographic containing information, tips and advice on how homeowners can keep their home in tip-top shape without breaking the bank.

Check out the full spotlight at www.houselogic.com.

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Here are some of HouseLogic’s suggestions keeping home upkeep costs down:

7 Household Expenses You’re Probably Wasting Your Money On. There are plenty of areas where homeowners are spending money where they simply do not need to. Check out HouseLogic’s list of common money mistakes, including buying budget light bulbs; the initial costs may be cheaper, but they die out more frequently and are harsher on energy bills than LED bulbs.

9 Money-Saving Tips That Grandma Never Told You About. People always say ‘listen to your elders,’ and for good reason! Grandparents understood the importance of pinching pennies before the DIY craze began. Look at HouseLogic’s list of time-tested, money-saving tips, such as ditching paper towels and investing in washable rags.

The 5 Contractor Scams (and How to Avoid Them). While most contractors are hardworking professionals, it is crucial that homeowners are able to identify the bad apples among them. HouseLogic breaks down how to avoid some of the most common scams, such as if a contractor says he or she doesn’t need to get a building permit or asks for more than 10 percent (or $1,000) up front.

You Only Think It’s True: 10 Myths Costing You Time and Money. Some home maintenance tips are repeated with such frequency that everyone assumes they are true – but you cannot believe everything you hear! HouseLogic debunks some of the most costly home maintenance myths, including that running lemons through the garbage disposal will act as a natural cleaner when, in fact, the citric acid will actually corrode the metal parts of the disposal.

7 Tips and Tricks to Keep Your Home Cleaner Longer. Why clean twice when you only need to clean once? Check out HouseLogic’s advice for making cleaning efforts last longer with tips like coating glass shower doors with a rain-repellent product made for car windshields, which will create an invisible barrier that causes water, oils and soap suds to roll off – like magic!

9 Habits for a Home That Always Feels Neat and Fresh. Look at HouseLogic’s infographic highlighting two-minute habits every homeowner should adopt to keep their home clean all the time, such as making the bed every morning and always unloading a clean dishwasher.

For more information on home maintenance, visit HouseLogic.com.
HouseLogic is a free source of information that helps consumers make smart, confident decisions about all aspects of home ownership. Made possible by Realtors®, the site helps owners get the most value and enjoyment from their existing home and helps buyers and sellers make the best deal possible.

The National Association of Realtors® is America’s largest trade association, representing 1.3 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries.

Information about NAR is available at www.nar.realtor. This and other news releases are posted in the newsroom in the “About NAR” tab.

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For further information contact:
Jane Dollinger
(202) 383-1042
jdollinger@realtors.org

Redfin Survey: 35% of Recent Homebuyers Bid on a Home Before Seeing it in Person

45% of Millennial Homebuyers Made an Offer Sight-Unseen; More than Half of Respondents in Los Angeles Did So

Seattle, WA – Feb. 26, 2018 (PRNewswire) (NASDAQ: RDFN) Thirty-five percent of people who bought a home last year said they made an offer without first seeing it in person, according to a late-2017 survey commissioned by to Redfin (www.redfin.com), the next-generation real estate brokerage. That’s up from 33 percent in May 2017, and 19 percent in June 2016.

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This is based on a Redfin-commissioned survey conducted in November and December 2017, which included responses from 1,503 people who purchased a home in the previous 12 months. Today’s report is the final issue of a three-part series on the results of the survey. The first and second reports focused on politics and the housing market.

Millennial homebuyers were even more likely to make an offer sight-unseen, with 45 percent in November and 41 percent in May saying they had done so. These results likely reflect millennials’ comfort relying on information they find online about homes for sale, neighborhoods they might not have visited in person, and the home-buying process in general.

More than half (57%) of respondents who bought a home in Los Angeles last year made an offer sight-unseen. The prevalence of foreign investors in L.A. may have played a role in sight-unseen offers’ popularity there. The market-by-market breakdown below shows that the trend was also driven by buyers in other competitive California metros, with 46 percent in San Diego and 44 percent in San Francisco having done so.

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People who can’t get in to tour a home right away because they’re busy or relocating from out of town often rely on tools like Redfin 3D Walkthrough and FaceTime® to explore the home itself, and the vast array of statistics, reviews, maps and articles online that can help a prospective buyer understand what it’s like to live in a neighborhood. However, in the case of offering sight-unseen, the agent can be a buyer’s greatest resource.

Angela Hunter, a Redfin agent in Omaha, worked with a family relocating from Jacksonville, Florida to Offutt Air Force Base in Bellevue, Nebraska.

“This family had a only a few weeks to find a home and they did not want to live on-base or rent,” Hunter said. “Because the wife was 8 months pregnant at the time, they needed a move-in ready home within 20 minutes of the base. While conducting video tours with them, I was very careful to explain things that they would not be able to experience virtually, like the sounds, smells, and textures. I pointed out flaws that are hard to detect through video so that nothing would be a surprise to them once they visited in person. It’s not the easiest way to shop for a home, but together we found the perfect match.”

With no end to the housing shortage in view and more millennials entering the housing market, the trend toward sight-unseen bids is likely to grow in 2018.

To read the full report, complete with data, charts and a full methodology, please visit: www.redfin.com.

About Redfin

Redfin (www.redfin.com) is the next-generation real estate brokerage, combining its own full-service agents with modern technology to redefine real estate in the consumer’s favor. Founded by software engineers, Redfin has the country’s #1 brokerage website and offers a host of online tools to consumers, including the Redfin Estimate, the automated home-value estimate with the industry’s lowest published error rate for listed homes. Homebuyers and sellers enjoy a full-service, technology-powered experience from Redfin real estate agents, while saving thousands in commissions. Redfin serves more than 80 major metro areas across the U.S. The company has closed more than $50 billion in home sales.

What Are The Best Times to Post Content to Social Media? (Infographic)

CoSchedule.com have created this infographic in a bid to answer the question:

“What’s the best time to post on Facebook….Twitter….Instagram?”

The short answer is that it depends on where you and your ‘fans’ and ‘followers’ are located but here is a lot more info!

Social Media Infographic