Home Buying Tips Archives

Category: Home Buying Tips

real estate agent and a happy couple

Lessons From a First-Time Home Buyer: How the Pros We Worked With Are Still Helping Us

A few months ago, I wrote about how the professionals we choose to work with when buying our home made a huge difference and made our experience a positive one. Now, one year later, I'm somewhat surprised to say that they continue to help us out on a regular basis despite the transaction that first brought us together being well behind us. So, between that milestone and with it being...
a block house with 2024

Lessons From a First-Time Home Buyer: One Year as Homeowners

It feels absolutely crazy to say but it's now been a full year since we closed on our house. Perhaps it doesn't feel as long since we didn't actually move in until closer to Christmas — but, either way, time has flown. Before my wife and I got married, her mother said something to her about getting to know someone in all seasons. Well, now, we've come to know our...
repair man looking at a stove

Lessons From a First-Time Home Buyer: The Problem with Appliance Repair "Quotes"

When we were buying our house, one piece of advice we were given was, "Get three quotes before hiring someone for repairs." While this sounds like a lot of work, I can absolutely appreciate this tip. After all, even when you're potentially spending thousands of dollars, saving any money you can is still important. As I shared, a few months ago, our water heater broke, ultimately leading us to replace...
illustration of a toy home on top of a caluclator

Lessons From a First-Time Home Buyer: What Fed Rate Cuts Could Mean for Home Buyers and Owners

Yesterday, for the first time since 2020, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates. In fact, to the surprise of some observers, the rate was cut by half a point (as opposed to the quarter point that was widely anticipated). For many people, this update might not mean much — but, for those who have been looking to buy a home or who purchased during recent rate highs, this could be...
a smart lock on a front door and a carbon monoxide detector

Lessons From a First-Time Home Buyer: 5 Safety and Security Items We've Purchased for Our House

When you're a renter, there's a certain level of safety and security that your landlord is required to provide. So, when you become a homeowner, suddenly you're solely responsible for these important aspects of your life. And, of course, this also likely means spending more money to protect yourself. In our case, since moving in last year, we've made at least a few purchases related to keeping ourselves and our...
installing a water heater

Lessons From a First-Time Home Buyer: Our First Major Repair as Homeowners

Well, it had to happen sooner or later. This week, my wife and I placed a maintenance call, with the hope that it might be a small fix — but, of course, it turned out to be a worst-case scenario. The culprit causing harm to our wallets this time? Our water heater. The good news is that, through this process, we learned a few things that I think will help...
signing a lease and getting a house key

Lessons From a First-Time Home Buyer: Should You Break Your Lease to Buy?

In a perfect world, the transition from renting to buying would be seamless — you'd find a great house to buy, close the deal, and move right into your new place. Alas, it's rarely this easy. That's because many renters are on a lease, which may heavily impact their timing when buying a home and limit their options overall. This was definitely the case for us as we still had...
woman holding her hands to her temple thinking

Lessons From a First-Time Home Buyer: Worst Time to Buy a House? There Are Always Exceptions

If you've been thinking about buying a house, looking at the news lately has likely disheartened you. As CNN reports, a recent Gallup poll found that 76% of Americans believe it's a bad time to buy — with only 21% saying it's a good time. There are several reasons for that sentiment, with the top two being the combination of high interest rates and high home prices. So, are you...
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Travelers with two Best Western Credit Cards

Best Western Debuts Two New Rewards Credit Cards

After pausing applications for their previous rewards card, the hotel chain Best Western has unveiled a new pair of rewards credit cards with a new issuer. About the Best Western cards: Best Western is partnering with First Bank & Trust and Mercury Financial to introduce two new co-branded credit cards. First up is the no-annual-fee Best Western Rewards Visa Signature Card. With this card, customers can 4x points on Best...
Marriott Bonvoy card and a woman on vacation

Marriott Bonvoy Bold Card Launches Travel Contest

Chase and Marriott Bonoy have unveiled a special contest while continuing to offer its best-ever welcome bonus. About the welcome bonus and Bold Chat Court Contest: Marriott Bonvoy and Chase have launched a special opportunity called the Bold Chat Court contest. As part of this contest, 10 lucky travelers will be awarded 500,000 Marriott Bonvoy points (for a total of 5 million) as well as $5,000. For this contest, the...
Bilt and All Reward logos

Bilt Adds 2 New Transfer Partners Including First 3:2 Transfer Rate

Bilt is once again expanding its travel transfer rewards program — and is even breaking the mold with one new partner. About the new additions to Bilt: This week, Bilt launched partnerships with two more travel brands: TAP Air Portugal and Accor. As a result, Bilt members will now be able to transfer their points to Miles&Go and ALL Reward, respectively. In total, Bilt now has 18 transfer partners including 13...
Fioney Top 10 Must-Read Personal Finance Articles Septemeber 2024

Top 10 Personal Finance Articles of the Month — September 2024

Welcome to Fioney's look at the top 10 personal finance articles of the month. On the first Friday of each new month, we look back at some of our favorite posts published in the weeks prior and highlight them right here. This includes a mix of sites that have become staples of our lists as well as many first-timers. To start things off this month, we'll look at some articles...

2024 SoFi Checking and Savings Review

Ever since I started taking an interest in the FinTech sector, one company whose name I’ve seen pop up over and over again is SoFi. Lately it seems as though that theme has been sent into overdrive as the company has not only become a household name thanks to its stadium naming rights deal but also because of the company’s continued product expansions. The most interesting development in my mind...