The Stearns Team - Thrive Financial

New home sales numbers beat predictions in early 2023 Home prices haven’t softened that much across the country, and interest rates are still not fun. So why, according to...

Making your puppy’s new home a place of comfort and joy takes planning The excitement is mounting. Soon you’ll be bringing your home’s newest resident — a puppy — home, changing the lives of more entities than one...

Beware: RE fraudsters are getting more convincing by the minute They know. They know how eager you are to close escrow on your dream home. And that’s when they hit. Scammers know that when buyers are excited, stressed, and chomping at the bit to sign on the dotted line, it’s the best time to strike...

Repurposing an entire room takes thought and planning Ever just want to start from scratch with a room in your home? Perhaps that room your grown child once occupied is now up for grabs. Or you decided to finally establish a room that is for guests only...

Whose market is this anyway? Those of us in the real estate and mortgage industries are hard-pressed to find words to describe the market in which we find ourselves. Buyers’ market? Sellers’ market?

Beware the newest, most sophisticated types of scams Anti-fraud experts note that scammers have proved ingenious when it comes to updating traditional criminal operations such as the romance scam or the Ponzi scheme with new twists to...

Learning from others’ mistakes can prevent regrets when it comes to home buying What can happen when people make decisions quickly? Sometimes common sense goes by the wayside and as a result, they have regrets — not a fun place to be when all the dust settles...

What segment of buyers is actually scoring homes these days? Where real estate is concerned, there is always a “cult” of buyers and sellers who seem to make things work for them while everyone else waits for a challenging market to adjust.

Is your home radioactive? Kryptonite may have been Superman’s nemesis, but when it comes to true reality shows, radon is actually a dangerous radioactive chemical that lurks far closer to home...

Indoor DIY projects that can lighten your winter step Oh, the weather outside is frightful but inside your home, it’s so delightful. Cold winter weather doesn’t mean going into hibernation on home projects...

Recent survey shows American military among the most optimistic homebuyers for 2023 According to a study conducted by Veterans United Home Loans, nearly three-quarters of current service members (71%) plan to buy a home in the next five years...

10 seller responses that can illustrate how ‘TMI’ can rob you of offers If you’re a seller, you’ll find that buyers ask all sorts of questions. As they should. But some perfectly innocent questions — like “why are you selling your house?”

Buying a newly built home: separating ‘included’ from ‘optional’ When you buy a new construction home, you don’t have to put up with someone else’s idea of what it should look like. No tile, hardwood, or carpet colors you would ever have chosen...

Hope reigns eternal as interest rates begin floating downward It doesn’t take much to make consumers react to a mortgage rate dip when they’ve been waiting for so long for it to happen....

Got a windfall of cash? Consider casting your fate to a recast mortgage There are purchase mortgage loans, cash out refinance, a total refinance, and home equity lines of credit . And there is one more you may not know about. It’s called a recast loan...

Make a clean sweep of your chimney When the story of Mary Poppins included a semi-boyfriend named Bert The Chimney Sweep, it was set in a time when wood-burning fireplaces were...

Renos that can change the way you use your home in the new year When real estate news is as scarce as it is lately, perhaps the most engaging news is about what people are doing to their homes in the new year. Such is the case with...

When a lien ‘leans’ on the sale of your property, consider your options Hey, Mr. Cunningham. How's your entailment getting along?” When To Kill a Mockingbird’s Jean-Louise innocently asked that question, she didn’t really understand how the man that showed up at their door with hickory nuts had limited power over his own property...

New year, new colors. Give your house a makeover with colors that add a new dimension If you’re getting ideas for adding or replacing paint colors in your home with new ones, 2023 is set to be the year to get creative. The thing is, the colors that are trending for this year aren’t just colors...

A gracious guide for unwanted gifts (and how to avoid them) Face it. Unless you’re five years old and trust Santa to place all the most, dreamed-about, fun gifts under the tree, you’re probably not going to get an entire array of things you’ll want to keep...

Temporary buydowns re-surge as everyone waits for rates and prices to fall While high interest rates and home prices are doing great jobs issuing put downs and smackdowns, how familiar are you with mortgage buydowns?

Warm memories of the holidays relies largely on a good homeowner maintenance Just because you are nestled all snug in your bed with visions of sugarplums dancing in your head doesn’t mean your house is using its heating system efficiently. Bah humbug? Nah...

Keeping your sanity when holiday guests are coming: the quick house pick-up Let’s face it — you know the difference between real and cosmetic. One is thorough, while the other skims over the surface to give the impression an effort was made. Take housecleaning, for example. When your house is clean...

Some metro areas potentially on track to go for the gusto in sales and prices in 2023 Another year, another brand new real estate market? Perhaps in some areas...

If you're looking to keep your address private, it's doable with some careful planning. Not much is private anymore. And it’s easy-peasy for someone to find your home address in this instantly digital world. People who routinely would not want their names associated with...

Getting a handle on how to store fresh food can go a long way to lowering your grocery bills When gas prices go up, people begin thinking about being more frugal when using their cars. Carpooling. Taking public transportation. Riding a bike. But what can we do when food prices keep skyrocketing?

Acceleration clauses in mortgage loans are no joke, so pay attention So you've finally closed escrow, and the house is yours. All that paperwork at closing time was a pain, and after all those signatures and initials and all that moving, you can settle in for a long winter’s rest...

Homebuyers: It pays to perform a detailed examination of kitchen features (or lack of them) Kitchens are the heart of the home, so the saying goes. But think about this: why buy a home whose kitchen has heart problems to begin with?

The real estate market: small changes are happening, but don’t stare too long at them The subject of buying and selling homes is not a pretty one right now unless...

Elephants are finally flying as rental rates soften When was the last time you heard about a trend for landlords to lower rents? Never? Okay. It’s probably more realistic to talk about how increases are abating instead