All Articles

107 articles on buying, selling, financing, insuring, and maintaining a home — newest first.

North Carolina Is an Attorney State: Why an Attorney Is Involved in Your Real Estate Closing

North Carolina requires an attorney, not just a title company, to close a home sale. Here's why, and what that means for buyers and sellers.

Buying a Fixer-Upper: How to Tell a Good Deal From a Money Pit

Buying a Fixer-Upper: How to Tell a Good Deal From a Money Pit

Buying an Investment Property on Oak Island, NC: What to Check Before You Buy

Buying an Investment Property on Oak Island, NC: What to Check Before You Buy

Selling a Vacation Home: What's Different From Selling Your Primary Residence

You’ll learnWhy a second home usually falls outside the primary-residence capital gains exclusion, and how past depreciation can be recaptured at sale

Home Maintenance

Septic System Maintenance for Coastal Homeowners: What Most People Get Wrong

You’ll learnHow a septic tank separates sludge, scum and effluent, and why solids left to accumulate eventually clog the drain field soil

Buying Sight Unseen: A Long-Distance Buyer's Guide to Purchasing a Home From Out of State

You’ll learnWhich conditions lower the risk of a sight-unseen purchase, and which ones — older homes, waived contingencies — raise it

Landlord Insurance for Rental Properties: How It's Different From a Homeowners Policy

You’ll learnWhy a homeowners policy is written around owner-occupancy, and how leaving a carrier uninformed of the change can be treated as misrepresentation

Selling As-Is: What It Really Means and When It Makes Sense

You’ll learnWhy an as-is sale is a position on repairs rather than a waiver of the seller's duty to disclose known material defects

Everything You Need to Know About HELOCs

You’ll learnHow a HELOC's draw period and repayment period differ, and why the monthly payment can jump when the line shifts into repayment

Days on Market: What It Really Signals to Buyers and Sellers

You’ll learnWhat days on market measures: the market's reaction to a specific price at a specific moment, not a grade on the home

Home Maintenance

Exterior Paint and Caulking: When It's Maintenance vs. When It's Cosmetic

You’ll learnWhy chalking and fading alone are largely cosmetic, while cracking, peeling or bubbling paint means the surface is no longer sealed

Home Insurance Deductibles: How Choosing the Right One Changes Your Premium

You’ll learnHow a flat-dollar deductible differs from a percentage deductible, which is calculated against dwelling coverage rather than the size of the claim