Listen up, kids: Paying interest is painful. Really, really painful. Parental wisdom is easy to ignore until you’re left scratching your head over simple adult responsibilities like paying taxes and budgeting. (We all have to make our own mistakes, right?). But even if you were listening to your parents, there are some important credit tips they likely didn’t mention. When…
Irma-gosh, this hurricane season is already a pretty active one. Harvey threw his best at Texas and the Gulf Coast, now we have a couple named storms that may have Florida in their sights. Here are a few things you can do to prepare for hurricane season. First, develop a plan for where and how you are going to evacuate…
Surely, it’s not news to any of you that Hurricane Harvey hit Southeastern Texas pretty hard recently. The flooding is severe. Many people have been displaced and some have been lost. Those of us on The First Coast are all too familiar with what Texans are only beginning to deal with. If you are anything like us, you felt helpless….
Keep your home from being a target with these easy tips. The season of long weekends and beach getaways is upon us, and the last thing any homeowner wants to imagine when they’re soaking in the sun or taking a dip at the lake is a burglar snooping around their empty home. While there is no use in being paranoid…
Short Answer: If there’s any doubt about the condition of your house, pay for a professional opinion. Look, it’s easy to grow attached to your home and overlook some of the wear and tear. But while those familiar flaws may feel like home to you, they might not be to potential buyers. After all, if someone is making such a…
Pardon the dust! The St. Johns Town Center is exploding, in a good way. If you have taken a journey to the Town Center recently you have seen the massive expanse that is being cleared and built up. If you are pulling out of the existing Town Center, maybe just leaving the Cheesecake Factory, what you’ll see across the street…
When considering selling your home, wondering what improvements will get you the most bang for your buck is a common issue. As you can see from the examples above, the average payback is less than 100%. There is a clear message here: do not over renovate the home. People like to dream about their new home and what they…
What are closing costs? Closing costs are lender and third-party fees paid at the closing of a real estate transaction, and they can be financed as part of the deal or be paid upfront. They range from 2% to 5% of the purchase price of a home. (For those who buy a $150,000 home, for example, that would amount to between…
This week the Kavie Stahl team decided to swing by Good Dough, in the San Marco area, to check out what all the hype was about. We were not disappointed! When you are going to do something like eating doughnuts for brunch it is important to keep in mind the old adage “Everything in moderation”. Well, as soon as we saw…
“This would be my office!” “This would be my Man Cave!” These statements should be music to the sellers’ ears, as these buyers have already mentally moved in! One of the best ways to increase these types of responses to your home is by staging the home. What is Staging? Now, while most homeowners know they should declutter,…
