Mike's Take

    Power outages can happen at any time. Aside from the discomfort of living without electricity, refrigerated or frozen food items may spoil if power is out for a number of days. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends taking the following precautions when an outage occurs. Use a...

      Are you listing your home this year? Better call a stager, says the National Association of REALTORS®. According to NAR’s 2015 Profile of Home Staging, REALTORS® believe that buyers offer between 1 and 5 percent more for a home that’s staged. That percentage, some Realtors® believe, can be ...



Toward the end of last year's tax filing deadline, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced that more than $760 million in unclaimed refunds would disappear after April 15 – so many dollar bills that, if stacked, they would reach higher than 187 Empire State Buildings! A larger portion of t...

    A while back, the legal department of the California Association of Realtors®(CAR) released a memorandum dealing with the portion of landlord-tenant law that relates to the subject of pets and animals. It provides useful information for both landlords and tenants, as well as for real estate a...

    Most conversations about storage, and about moving up, for that matter, make us think about George Carlin. If you haven't seen his "stuff" rant, you should definitely check it out (there may be a bad word or two). He has a point, and yet…we still need more room to put our stuff. And since we ...

      Almost 5 million refrigerators shipped in the early half of 2014, reports Statista, and with the advances in kitchen technology, sales of smart refrigerators are expected to reach almost $3 billion globally in 2015. This means, if you are looking for a refrigerator this year, you aren't the...

  Life events can have a profound effect on insurance needs. The Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I.) advises policy holders to conduct an annual review of their coverage to assess any changes that could affect their financial footing. Talk to your insurance provider about any or all of the f...

      Depending on your desired area of residence, budget and personal preferences, searching for a new place to call home can be tedious. Whether it be an apartment, condo, townhouse or single-residence you’re in the market for, including close family and friends in your search can alleviate som...

    One of the services that enables borrowers to buy homes without making large down-payments is mortgage insurance (MI.) While all loans by nature are risky, borrowers who put 20 percent down, or who refinance with 20% equity in their homes, are considered to be good risks. They have "skin in t...