Buying or selling your home can be a big undertaking. Having your home inspected before you buy or sell can prevent delays in the selling process, get you a better price or prevent you from buying a home that might require costly repairs. Don’t underestimate the value of hiring an inspector to thoroughly review your home.

Here’s a list of important areas you should have inspected before making moves in the housing market.

Purchase negotiations can be intimidating for many first-time homebuyers. Prices, property values, repairs, closing dates and other variables all factor into homebuying negotiations. 

How can you prepare for negotiations and improve your homebuying confidence?

Do you feel cramped and crowded in your small home? Or maybe you’re looking at going smaller for your first home? Either way, if you’re a bit short on the square footage, it doesn’t mean your home has to feel small. With a few tips and tricks, you can make your home feel bigger on the inside.

Here are several ideas that can have you well on the way to a seemingly roomier home.

When house-hunting, one of the best things you can do to ensure a bright future in your new home is to take stock of the surrounding neighborhood. Depending on your situation, you might look out for school options, nearby activities, parks or prevalence of crime.

Here are five other points you should take into consideration when picking out your ideal neighborhood. 

If you’re shopping for a home, you know that they don’t always come cheap. Unless you’re one of the lucky few who stumbled across a hoard of treasure or won the lottery and can pay with cash, you’re likely going to need to secure a loan in order to finance your home purchase. Lenders will always look at your credit score to see how well you manage debt.

Below are a few things to keep in mind regarding credit scores.

Have you decided to sell your home and you’re not sure where to start with sprucing up the place for the sale? Putting in the effort to make your home stand out will help it sell and add extra reinforcement to your asking price.

Some things in life come naturally—some just don’t. Buying a new home, especially your first, doesn’t always come naturally. If you just got done paying off your student loans or your car, for example, jumping into a new, 30-year investment plus coming up with a downpayment might seem difficult. However, a smartly thought out savings plan and a few nips and tucks to your budget here and there can have you well on your way to affording a downpayment on a new home.

Here’s how you can start saving for your downpayment.

Ready to jump into the housing market? Buying a home is an undertaking that can cost time and money. But you’re not alone—even veteran repeat homebuyers can sometimes forget about the best ways to navigate the market and optimize your savings.

Thankfully, first-timers can gain some peace of mind by avoiding these common mistakes.

First-time homebuyers don’t get all the benefits of buying in South Dakota—in fact, those looking for their second or third (or more) home might qualify for assistance from South Dakota Housing Development Authority (SDHDA) as well. 

But what’s in it for a lender? Check out some of the benefits of offering the Repeat Homebuyer Program to your customers or members.

When selling a home, time is often of the essence. The longer your home is listed without receiving offers, the greater potential for your listing to become “stale” and overlooked.

So what are some of the best ways to speed up the process? Here are six.