Of course you want to sell your home for the most money possible! But how exactly do you make that happen? Here are our top 10 tricks to earn more money on the sale of your home.

1. Use A Realtor

“But if I sell my home using a realtor, I have to pay commission.” We hear you. But according to the National Association of Realtors, the average For Sale By Owner home sold for $185,000 last year while the average home sold with a realtor sold for $245,000! An agent will use their expertise to negotiate on your behalf, earning you so much more money in the long run. 

2. Stage Your Property

Buyers have a much easier time imagining themselves in a furnished home. If you’ve already moved out, it’s worth the money to look into a home staging company…

The idea of saving enough money to buy your own home can seem daunting. A downpayment for a home needs to be at least 3-5 percent of the purchase price, which even for a $100,000 home is $3,000 to $5,000 you’ll need up front. 

So, how do you save that kind of money? We have some money saving tips and tricks to help you be more frugal and save money fast.

1. Come up with a time frame

Decide when you want to buy a home. If your goal is to buy a home next year, that gives you 12 months to save up for your downpayment. If you want to put 5% down on a $150,000 home and start saving now, you know you need to put back $625 a month to make it happen! Now that you’ve broken it down like that, it doesn’t seem as scary right? 

2. Set up a separate…

Real estate investing can be a lucrative opportunity if you do it right! If you’re just dipping your toes into real estate investing, there is a lot to learn before you make the move to buy your first property. Here are some of our best real estate investing tips to help you in buying your first rental property: 

1. Make sure you’re up for the job

Being a landlord isn’t for everyone. Can you be available for home maintenance issues like clogged toilets or HVAC issues? If you can’t find the time to manage the property, this might not be for you. Although some investors hire someone to handle these issues, that eats into your profits. As a first time investor, you probably don’t have the budget to source that out to someone else, so it’s…

Buying your first house is a huge step into adulthood. And as most of us know, it’s an expensive one! In fact, a 2017 Zillow survey of 13,000 adults found that only 39 percent of millennials are able to make the standard down payment on a home, and just one in five can pay the minimum to secure a home loan. Ouch. 

The good news is, there are definitely ways to cut down on the cost of buying your first home. Here are 7 of our best tips:

1. Choose an experienced Realtor

This is first on our list because it’s the most important! And it’s not just because we’re biased. You might be amazing at searching sites like Trulia and Zillow for potential homes, but what you probably don’t know is sometimes that information is totally incorrect. So you can find…

Blog contributed by John Butler of Omni Realty  in Memphis.

 "Move-in ready" and "fixer-upper" are two terms you're likely to come across during your home search. The interpretation of these two terms can be different, depending upon the individual. 

A novice would interpret the home as a fixer-upper, while a buyer experienced in home improvement may consider the home move-in ready. 

Sure, home improvement reality TV shows stimulate creativity. But, they also create deceitful perceptions of what a typical house would look like on a showing. The vast majority of houses you view will have their shortcomings, so it’s vital to understand the difference between fixer uppers and move-in ready homes. 

Pros of Fixer-Uppers

Customization:…

Now that we’re halfway through 2018, we thought it was a great time for a mid-year review of Chattanooga’s booming real estate market. With low home inventory and plenty of people either relocating here or choosing to buy a home, there are great opportunities for both buyers and sellers in today's market. Here’s what we know looking back on 2018 so far:

1. Median sale price is at a three-year high in the Greater Chattanooga and North Georgia areas

The median sales price for 2018 is currently at $201,000, while in 2016 it sat at $172,000. Home prices are doing well in many areas of our market. For example, in St. Elmo homes sell 30 days faster than the area average and for almost $10,000 more than other areas! Many sellers are surprised by home…

Your twenties is the time when you’re still trying to figure it all out. You may or may not have found your dream job or even decided what that is. Even though some things may be up in the air, that doesn’t mean you can’t start investing in your future now! 

One mistake that a lot of twenty-somethings make is thinking that they can’t afford to buy a home. Surprise—oftentimes rent is more expensive than a mortgage payment!! Rather that throwing money away on rent, here are some tips to help you buy a home now! 

1. Start working on your credit 

Many twenty-somethings have low credit or no credit at all. If you have no credit, try opening up a credit card with a small limit and paying it off every month. If you already have credit, make sure to…

Story contributed by Lexi Carr

Time and time again, Chattanooga is rated one of the best places to live—and for good reason! Located comfortably between Nashville and Atlanta, Chattanooga is an excellent choice for those looking for the perfect balance between big city feel and small-town living. 

Although Chattanooga is known for its many outdoor opportunities, the city also has a reputation for being one of the country’s newest technology hubs. Dubbed “A Tornado of Innovation” by Barack Obama in 2015, Chattanooga continues to boom with more companies and talented individuals choosing to make the city their home.

If you are looking to move, consider the generous benefits—ranging from ideal scenery, fantastic neighborhoods, and tons of…

After months or even years of looking at listings in your chosen area, you've finally found the home of your dreams. Now, all you need to do is get everything you own into boxes and sent over to your new property.

Unfortunately, moving is often the most complicated, exhausting, and stressful part of buying a new home. All you want to do is enjoy the beauty of the house you've just bought, but instead, you're worrying about things like packing tape and whether you've left anything behind. While there are few things that can get rid of all the concerns that come with moving, there are some ways that you can reduce your anxiety and enjoy the moment at hand. The following tips will help you to successfully embrace the start of your new life.

1.    …

Looking back on 2017, we can see just how booming Chattanooga’s real estate market really is. With low home inventory and plenty of people either relocating here or choosing to buy a home, there are great opportunities for both buyers and sellers in todays market. Here’s what we know looking back on 2017: 

1. Over $2 billion sold in the Greater Chattanooga and North Georgia areas

Chattanooga and North Georgia’s real estate market was busy for 2017, with no signs of a slowdown as we make our way into the new year! It’s a great time to be either a buyer or a seller in our local market. 

2.  The Torgerson Team sold homes in an average of 25 days on market (compared to Chattanooga’s overall average 59 days on market)

Because home inventory is…