If you’re in the market for a new home, you’re in luck; there’s never been a better time to buy. Rates are near historic lows. The only catch––if you already own a home, you’ll need to sell it in a rather soft market. That’s why you’ll need to be sure it’s looking its best for potential buyers.

There are a number of things you can do to help ensure your home is as attractive as possible to home shoppers, so roll up your sleeves and let’s get your home ready for the market:

Bills, bills, bills! And the biggest budget buzz saw usually involves keeping the roof over your head––the mortgage. Ever fantasize about what it would be like to not have a monthly mortgage payment? It could be like winning the lottery, having all that extra money at the end of the month to use for other purposes.

Some people take the fantasy a step further and devise a plan to pay down their mortgages early. While it sounds like a good idea, is it something you should really consider? As usual, there are a number of things to think about. Here are a few:

Get your receipts lined up. Rip open the W-2s. Sharpen those pencils and make sure you have plenty of erasers. It’s tax time, the season for crunching numbers and squeezing blood from a turnip. It’s a chore not many of us relish unless we expect a big return (and if you do, for shame, you’re giving the government an interest-free loan, but more about that at another time).

It’s not that we don’t receive breaks from Uncle Sam. Last year, nearly 46 million citizens itemized their taxes via the 1040 form and claimed nearly $1 trillion in deductions. Those using standard deductions claimed half a trillion dollars. Yet when you take us as individuals, who doesn’t want to pay as few taxes as possible, whether it involves getting a bigger return or owing less?

O.K., nobody likes to admit it, but we all age. It’s part of life. We can deny it all we like, but the truth is, time takes its toll on our ability to get around. We can’t bounce up those steps like we did in our younger days. We can’t grip or push or pull like we used to either. The problem is, many homes have features that don’t take these types of limitations into account.

Fortunately, there’s a new trend called, “aging in place.” Many seniors are now choosing to remain in their homes longer rather than move to retirement communities. This means homes occupied by older residents many times need updates to help offset the effects of aging.

Home, sweet home. A white picket fence … that you have to paint. A colorful garden … that you have to weed. A modern kitchen … for the 1960s, that you have to replace. You get the idea. Being a homeowner has its pluses and minuses. The big question always seems to be, should you rent (apartment, house) or should you own (house, condo).

We’ve all heard so much in recent years about “credit scores.”  But, what are they and how are they used?

A credit score is an empirically derived, statistical method of assessing risk. In other words, it’s a way for credit reporting agencies to assign a numerical number to your credit worthiness. This number is used to predict the relative likelihood that an individual will repay a credit obligation, such as a mortgage loan or automobile.