Our Memphis home has been badly treated by tenants.

Call me the reluctant landlord.

Our story starts simply enough: My husband got a new job in the Memphis area. It was a big pay bump from his current position, and we’d be closer to our families. So we jumped at the chance. We bought a great house, thinking we’d be there for years. We imagined our kids growing up there, big family dinners and a bright future …Full Story

Vacation homes are becoming a burden for some owners. (Photo: iStockphoto)

There was a time when it seemed that everyone owned a vacation home -- or at least dreamed of owning one, anyway. Vacation homes were seen as cash cows that would reap easy money in quick appreciation, plus the added bonus that rental money would bring in.

Oh, how times have changed. These days, you could probably pick up a vacation home for a relative bargain, but not so many people are buying them these days -- at least compared to the heyday of the housing boom …Full Story

Overly scary Halloween decor can come back to haunt home sellers. (Photo: iStockphoto)

This year, my 6-year-old daughters have been begging me to up the ante with our Halloween decorations. I have some Halloween décor, but most of it are fairly tasteful displays of the season, like a spray of purple, green and orange pumpkin lights around the door, two pumpkins that my daughters chose at a local pumpkin patch, and a brightly colored "Trick or Treat" sign on the front door …Full Story

Are you in the market to buy a home, looking to sell one, or are perhaps a real estate investor hoping to take advantage of today's low home prices and make an investment?

If so, Cyberhomes has a free service that may be of interest to you. At no cost to you, Cyberhomes has free property reports that you can download and print. If you are a house hunter, for example, you can download reports on homes you may be interested in purchasing. The 17-page reports contain information like the facts about a home (home size, lot size, number of bedrooms, etc.), listing information such as the listing price and the listing agent's contact info, and local market data such as the local market's median sales price, school stats like student enrollment and expenditures per student, and local employment indicators. These reports can make it easier to remember each home's facts and to compare each property against other homes on the market …Full Story

Rocking chairs on a front porch provide a welcoming touch. (Photo: iStockphoto)

More Americans are signing contracts to purchase homes, with first-time homebuyers leading the way. This may be due to the $8,000 homebuyers tax credit which is available through November. It's likely that more first-time homebuyers will aim to make a purchase soon, as they try to meet the homebuyer tax-credit deadline …Full Story

Oceanside, Calif., led the way with increased sales and median price gain last quarter.

It's time to start looking at the bright side of the housing market: Data from the second quarter Cyberhomes Real Estate Report shows that eight cities with healthy sales volume saw positive changes in volume and median prices over the past year. That’s not many, but in this market, any signs of positive change are welcome …Full Story

A look at how a room looks after it was virtually staged, and before.

Staging is a valuable way to help prospective buyers wrap their heads around how an empty space becomes a home, as Cyberhomes.com blogger Lauren Baier Kim shared earlier this week in her post on affordable ways to stage your home. As she mentioned, the new incarnation of this proven real estate marketing strategy is virtual staging. Gotta say I think this is an idea whose time has come …Full Story

No doubt this room would look much more appealing if it were virtually staged.

Stagers used to recommend that homesellers stage their vacant homes so buyers could picture themselves in the home, to give the place a more finished look and to make the space feel more warm and inviting. But these days, one main reason why people suggest that a seller stage a vacant home is the connotation that an empty home can give …Full Story

A surprising number of homes on the market have been meth labs.

I get a weekly e-mail update from the National Association of Realtors. It has little snippets of news from Capitol Hill, announcements of online courses,  the usual thing. Then, under the Sales and Marketing Tools section, there was this item: "5 Signs That Your Listing Might Have Once Been a Meth Lab." …Full Story

Actor Mel Gibson wants to leave his wife of nearly 30 years -- and this lavish Connecticut estate.

Which will be more trying for actor Mel Gibson -- divorcing Robyn, his wife of at least 28 years, to be with Russian girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva, 39 (who's expecting his eight child), or selling his stately manor in Greenwich, Conn.? …Full Story