It's tempting to disregard the steep price tag and hire a professional contractor for home improvement repairs rather than doing them yourself. Home repairs can seem complex and intimidating to the uninitiated, and fear that your own attempts at fixing that leaky faucet or drafty window will cause further damage may further discourage you from going DIY.

At long last, after years of renting, it's time to get a place of your very own. Most likely, you already have a good idea of how much house you can afford and you've been saving up for a down payment - 10 to 20 percent of what you plan to spend is the ideal. However, many other expenses will come up throughout your journey as a first-time homebuyer.

One way to show you are serious about buying your dream home is to get pre-qualified or pre-approved for a mortgage before starting your search. Even if you are in a market that is not as competitive, knowing your budget will give you the confidence to know if your dream home is within your reach.

And with test kits costing as little as $20 at your local hardware store, there's no reason not to get right on that. Source: HGTV

Once you become a homeowner, you quickly learn that house maintenance never ends. There's just so much that goes into the upkeep of your home, on the interior and the exterior, that even with a detailed checklist, you're going to miss some things. But it's important to make sure you take good care of your house, and the systems and appliances within it.

That moment when you decide that you'd like to get a place of your own may hit like an epiphany-the kind that comes when you least expect it. Many of us have experienced that thrilling realization, "I need to get my own place." That's the fun part. The latter half to that is the perplexing question of: "But... how?"

A place to live is a basic need-it's as integral to happiness as water, food, and watching Tiger King on Netflix so that you can implicitly understand all the fun memes circulating these days. Going into the psychology of a place to call one's own is a favorite pastime, after all, we are in the mortgage business.

Whether you're a first-time home buyer who just moved in, or you you've recently upgraded to a larger home to fit more family members, hosting Thanksgiving is probably the last thing on your mind. Like most homeowners after a big move, you probably just finished unpacking your boxes, or maybe you haven't even gotten to that step yet! No matter where you're at in this process, don't stress. We're here to help prepare you and your new home for the holiday season.

Is it time for you to get out of the rent race and buy a home of your own? There are plenty of advantages to homeownership. And while buying isn't right for every person or for every life stage or circumstance, there are several perks of homeownership that tend to stay stable over time. These include building long-term equity, the comfort and pride that can be associated with owning your own home and, of course, lower overall monthly cost.

The U.S. homeownership rate soared to an almost 12-year high in the second quarter as low interest rates allowed more Americans to qualify for mortgages. The homeownership rate jumped to 67.9%, the highest since 2008's third quarter, from 65.3% in the prior quarter, the Census Bureau said on July 28.