Madeline Bilis Real Estate Editor Madeline Bilis is a writer and editor with a soft spot for brutalist buildings. Her work has appeared in Travel + Leisure, Boston magazine, the Boston Globe, and other outlets. She has a degree in journalism from Emerson College and published her first book, 50 Hikes in Eastern Massachusetts, in … Read more
You frantically scurry off to open houses and showings as soon as your real estate agent emails you, eagerly crossing your fingers that this will finally be the home that doesn’t have 16 all-cash offers that are $20,000 above asking. If you’re tempted to throw up your hands, call an architect, and just build your … Read more
Homes can get a little less glamorous in the wintertime. Entryways become stomping grounds for bulky jackets, mismatched gloves, and soggy boots — and there’s no stopping stray road salt granules from taking up residence on your kitchen floor. More often than not, people can forgive this kind of season-specific clutter, but the rules are … Read more
Lauren Wellbank Contributor Lauren Wellbank is a freelance writer with more than a decade of experience in the mortgage industry. Her writing has also appeared on HuffPost, Washington Post, Martha Stewart Living, and more. When she’s not writing she can be found spending time with her growing family in the Lehigh Valley area of Pennsylvania. … Read more
One-way streets and two-way streets each have their advantages and disadvantages. So should you make your decision to buy a home based on which direction the traffic is heading? Studies have shown that it’s the amount of traffic, not the direction it’s going, that can raise or lower the value of a home. Heavy traffic … Read more
After years of calling your landlord when the shower drain clogs or the oven stops working, you may be surprised by just how much maintenance and upkeep your new home requires. Of course, you know instinctively that as a homeowner, now you’re the one responsible for fixing things when they break. But no one tells … Read more
Oh, how far homeowners have come since “Smart House” was merely the name of a Disney Channel original movie with what felt like a far-fetched premise. Technology has advanced far beyond “The Clapper” — people can talk to their thermostats through their phones (and every other appliance via the Internet of things). As cool as … Read more
When I was preparing to put an offer in on my first home, my mom, over the phone, was nudging me to come in under the list price. My real estate agent — who I knew was tenacious because she told me from the onset her favorite color was leopard — was blunt: That would … Read more
When you first start learning about the homebuying process, one thing is for certain: you’ll have a lot of questions. There’s plenty of new terminology to pick up, information to process, and even more questions to be answered. A good place to start your homebuying journey is by signing up for Apartment Therapy’s Home Economics … Read more
Historically, winter is a slow time for buying and selling houses. If they can help it, people really prefer to move over the summer, when their kids aren’t in school, they don’t have dozens of holiday obligations, and (in many parts of the country) the weather is better. For buyers, this means winter can be … Read more