FamilyFirstRealtyBlog

Who Represents You in a Real Estate Transaction? Knowing which type of relationship you have with your agent, and his broker, will help you negotiate the best possible deal, whether you’re a buyer or a seller. Image: Liz Foreman for HouseLogic SPONSORED BY   SHARE THIS Email This Pin This Tweet This TOPIC Buy & Sell,  Sell, Should I Sell My House? Print article When you hire a real estate agent, it’s important to understand whose side she’s on as you select a home to buy (or list your current home for sale) and head towards closing, where the actual transfer of ownership happens. There are a lot of ways agents may represent clients. Yours might represent: Only you Only the other parties in the transaction Everyone in the deal By knowing where your agent’s loyalties lie, you’ll know what you can tell her and what you can’t. (If, for example, you’re dealing with an agent who doesn’t represent you but is representing the sellers of a home you

5 Ways You Didn’t Know You Could Save for a Down Payment One of the biggest misconceptions of home buying? The 20% down payment. Here’s how to buy with a lot less down. Image:  Entryways SPONSORED BY   SHARE THIS Email This Pin This Tweet This TOPIC Buy & Sell,  Buy, First-Time Home Buyer Print article Buying your first home conjures up all kinds of warm and fuzzy emotions: pride, joy, contentment. But before you get to the good stuff, you’ve got to cobble together a down payment, a daunting sum if you follow the textbook advice to squirrel away 20% of a home’s cost. Here are five creative ways to build your down-payment nest egg faster than you may have ever imagined. 1. Crowdsource Your Dream Home You may have heard of people using sites like Kickstarter to fund creative projects like short films and concert tours. Well, who says you can’t crowdsource your first home? Forget the traditional registry, the fine china, and the 16-speed blender.

"National Night Out" is on the first Tuesday of Augugst.  Neighborhoods across the nation host block parties,  festivals, parades, cookouts and other community  events with safety demos, seminars, youth events,  visits from emergency personnel and exhibits. They find or create reasons to stay out a little bit later in an effort  enhances the relationship between  neighbors and law enforcement while bringing back a  true sense of community. It furthermore provides an  opportunity to bring police and neighbors together.    If you would like to know more or get your own neighborhood involved, click the link below for info. National Night Out Info

The Link Between Clutter and Depression It’s been proven. Clutter is a bummer — literally. Image: Aleksandra Kovac/Stocksy United   SHARE THIS Email This Pin This Tweet This TOPIC Improve,  Organize & Maintain,  Cleaning & Decluttering Print article Dishes in the sink, toys throughout the house, stuff covering every flat surface; this clutter not only makes our homes look bad, it makes us feel bad, too. At least that’s what researchers at UCLA’s Center on Everyday Lives and Families (CELF) discovered when they explored in real time the relationship between 32 California families and the thousands of objects in their homes. The resulting book, “ Life at Home in The Twenty-First Century ,” is a rare look at how middle-class Americans use the space in their homes and interact with the things they accumulate over a lifetime. Our over-worked closets are overflowing with things we rarely touch. Related:   Tiny Change, Big Impact: Organize a Small C