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Unless you’re one of the few lucky home buyers with cash to spare, you’re going to need a mortgage.

Out of the entire home buying process, getting a mortgage is perhaps the most intimidating and seemingly daunting step. You’re convincing a lender to hand you hundreds of thousands of dollars. How do you pull it off? And what strings are attached?

Here are the questions to ask yourself—and the answers you need—to help you ace this all-important step.

Should you work with a bank or a broker?

The majority of home buyers get their mortgage directly from a bank—often the institution where they have their primary savings. But that’s hardly your only, or best, option. Shopping around with different lenders may land you a better deal (typically in the form of a lower interest rate).

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An unexpected consequence of the recent bank failures is that mortgage interest rates have dropped—and could keep falling.

Homebuyers discovered the silver lining to collapses that ricocheted through the financial sector as mortgage rates briefly fell on Monday before ticking back up again, according to Mortgage News Daily‘s average rates for 30-year fixed-rate loans. Rates had dropped to 6.57% as news of the financial turmoil spread, down from just above 7% a few days earlier. But by Tuesday, they were up to 6.75% as the market absorbed the news.

As the spring housing market kicks off, normally rate drops are good news for homebuyers. Even a fraction of a percentage point decrease can equal significant savings. But buyers might be too spooked by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank and the possibility of more turbulence to make what could be the largest purchase of their lives.

“When there’s any kind of economic uncertainty, mortgage rates tend to go lower,” says Ali Wolf, chief economist of the building consultancy Zonda. “Going into the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, mortgage rates were getting pretty close to 7%. Mortgage rates were rising, and it was starting to look bad for home shoppers.

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To secure their next home, buyers are going to need some capital. To find the hottest metros in the U.S. right now, prospective homebuyers might want to look to the capital—their state capital, that is.

That’s a common theme among a surprising number of February’s hottest metropolitan areas, according to a recent Realtor.com® report. From the East Coast to the Midwest, 4 of the top 10 metro areas are home to one of the most stable employers out there: the government.

In February, the Manchester, NH, metro tied for the No. 1 spot on the Realtor.com monthly Hottest Markets ranking with Rochester, NY. This was the 20th time Manchester snagged the top spot and the seventh for Rochester.

(Metro areas in the report are ranked by how often Realtor.com users click on listings, as well as how quickly properties sell. Metros include the main city and surrounding towns, suburbs, and smaller urban areas.)

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You’ve done your research, saved up for a down payment, and found a Realtor® you adore. Now comes the next step: Find your dream house already!

This is the really fun part, although it does come with its own unique challenges. Even if you love the entire process of house hunting, the options can be overwhelming. Ranch or Colonial?  Suburb or city? Small apartment or palatial townhouse? Built-in 40-foot waterslide or stand-alone 40-foot waterslide? It’s hard not to feel like you’re drowning in the possibilities.

To help winnow the myriad options to find the perfect place for you, heed these tips—and happy searching!

Have a long chat with your agent

Here’s the simple truth: Only you will ultimately know which home is just right for you. However, a savvy agent will have a better handle on the market.

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Sorry, Miami residents—you might want to put pest control on speed dial.

The Magic City has earned the dubious honor of being the No. 1 urban area for termite infestations, according to Orkin’s Top 50 Termite Cities list. Miami, by the way, is reclaiming its long-running “prize,” which it temporarily ceded to Los Angeles last year. This year, L.A. ranks No. 2, with Tampa, FL, nibbling at its timbers at No. 3.

The ranking is based on metropolitan areas (cities and their surrounding towns) where Orkin performed the most first-time termite treatments between February 2022 and January 2023.

The cities sitting at the top of the termite heap share similar coastal climates, making them ideal places for subterranean and drywood species of termites to feast.

HGTV

Season 4 of “Rock the Block” is the perfect pupu platter for viewers who want a general glimpse of what home designers are doing these days—and the latest episode focuses on a truly make-or-break area of the house.

In the episode “Living Room Face Off,” host Ty Pennington declares the challenge is to “make a great first impression with the entry area and living room.”

The competition, based this time in Berthoud, CO, will be tight for the four teams of design stars, which include Bryan and Sarah Baeumler from “Renovation Island,” Michel Smith Boyd and Anthony Elle from “Luxe for Less,” Jonathan Knight and Kristina Crestin from “Farmhouse Fixer,” and Page Turner and Mitch Glew from “Fix My Flip.”

Knight and Crestin won last week’s kitchen challenge, so they’re the team to beat.

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Rockstar Energy Drink creator Russell Weiner has listed his Park City, UT, home for a whopping $50 million. It is the most expensive listing in the state.

Built last year, the mansion boasts many luxury amenities designed for a billionaire, including a wellness wing and a ski room tricked out with vintage skis on the ceiling.

The 17,567-square-foot home has never been slept in, according to the Wall Street Journal. It last came on the market in December 2021 for $42 million, and Weiner purchased it in May 2022 for $39.6 million.

Weiner reportedly upgraded the interiors of the six-bedroom, eight-bath home, including adding an air filtration system, according to the listing.

Photo courtesy of Debi Treloar / Ryland Peters & Small | CICO Books via Houzz

Your parents and grandparents collected whole suites of brown furniture and gilded framed art for their living and dining rooms—and now a lot of it seems to be coming your way.

Sure, you’d like to acknowledge their thoughtful gifts. But clinging to a family heirloom in your decor just because your grandmother wanted a rustic blanket chest can sink a look you’re trying to create.

So take a breath, and realize it’s perfectly OK to donate items you don’t actually like. But if you want to update your pieces, check out these six innovative ways to integrate fusty, old decor into your space without looking like you’re living in the past.

Paint it bright

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Sellers are sitting in the driver’s seat of today’s idling housing market. So why are they stalled behind the wheel?

Typically, as winter turns to spring, the housing market thaws. Sellers prepare their homes for showings and scrutiny, and buyers review their wish lists and budgets. But with home prices falling from their peaks in many areas, mortgage interest rates around 7%, and tons of economic uncertainty, many prospective sellers are still sitting on the sidelines. New home listings, the lifeblood of the real estate market, are down by double-digit percentages over last year.

For some home sellers, apprehension is leading to paralysis. They have plenty of questions: Will buyers show up ready to bid high despite the financial challenges they’re facing? How much should owners be spending on repairs and cosmetic touches to make their homes more appealing? And has the best moment to sell already passed?

While it’s still a seller’s market, the days when a homeowner could list a property that needs renovations, hasn’t been staged (or even cleaned), and receives 25 offers well over the asking price within a weekend are mostly over. Many buyers can’t afford the high prices and rates, so bidding wars have died down, as have offers coming in well over list prices. These days, many sellers are accepting lower offers as their homes languish on the market for months.

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Calling all Disney princess fans! A regal setting featured in one of your favorite film franchises has begun its reign on the market in San Francisco, CA.

The neoclassical Mediterranean mansion featured in “The Princess Diaries,” starring Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews, is now available for $8.9 million.

The home’s Beaux Arts exterior served as the setting of the fictional school that Princess Mia (Hathaway) attended before her true identity was revealed.

In addition to the grand double-curved staircase out front, the century-old home has an array of other camera-friendly highlights.

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Constructed from steel, concrete, and glass to withstand the elements, a new Malibu, CA, listing clocks in as the fourth-highest-priced home for sale in this tony beach community.

Perched on the Pacific Coast Highway, it’s on the market for the first time. It’s co-listed by Madison Hildebrand and Jennifer Chrisman of Compass for $68,800,000.

The seller bought the property for $2.1 million in 2003 and tapped Malibu architect Edward Niles, known as “the master of glass,” to build the modern masterpiece.

Totaling 8,206 square feet, the main house (with four bedrooms and 5.5 baths) and the detached guesthouse (one bedroom and one bath) were completed in 2010. The bedrooms are all en suite and feature ocean views.

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Mobile homes have come a long way. Despite their reputation as a last resort for desperate homebuyers who can’t afford a “traditional” home, these prefabricated structures are not all depressing metal boxes. They can be stylish, well designed, and extremely affordable options for a buyer looking to either downsize or get a foot in the housing market.

Today, mobile homes have interiors that are sometimes truly extraordinary. If you don’t believe us, check out this mobile home in the Hamptons that was recently sold for a record price of $3.75 million.

Spurred by that big buy, we perused listings nationwide to find seven stylish mobile homes on the market that might just completely upend your expectations.

138 Pali Dr, Palm Springs, CA

Price: $275,000
Mobile magic: This affordable and adorable home offers million-dollar mountain views within a cozy 630 square feet of living space.

HGTV

On HGTV’s “Home Town,” Erin and Ben Napier have renovated some small spaces, but the latest episode shows just how small they can go.

In the Season 7 episode “Second Chances,” the Napiers help Mike and Cornise renovate their guesthouse. However, the residence is only 250 square feet, so there’s not much to work with.

“This wins the award for the smallest house we have ever worked on,” Erin says. “I can’t imagine we’ll ever work on anything smaller.”

Still, Ben knows that the key to this project is making smart choices.

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Low inventory continues to plague local housing markets. Even with mortgage rates above 6%, an underlying supply imbalance is impacting residential real estate in cities and towns across America, a MarketWatch analysis shows.

While the overall housing market has cooled nationally, the housing supply gap from slow construction that followed the Great Recession continues to influence a potential homeowner’s ability to buy a home.

The nation’s total housing listings in February reached 945,612, according to Realtor.com, up 13% from February 2022, when listings hit historic lows for the month. But those recent national inventory numbers still remain under the magical 1 million mark going into the spring house-buying season and housing inventory for the entire nation is still down 30% from five years ago.

Because housing markets are best defined at the local level, MarketWatch analyzed data by county to examine which locations have suffered the most significant drops in inventory for February.

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Sold! He had to slash the asking price to make it happen, but Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (aka Lil Wayne) finally unloaded his tropical spread in Miami Beach, FL, for $22.58 million.

The palatial property was initially listed last September for $29.5 million. The ask dropped to $28 million in December 2022.

Even with the price reduction, the Grammy-winning rapper turned an impressive profit on the deal. He scooped up the swanky spot in 2018 for $16.75 million.

Perched along 110 feet of waterfront on Allison Island, the 10,278-square-foot home was designed by Choeff Levy Fischman, the architecture firm that also designed a house for baseball icon Alex Rodriguez.

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Many homebuyers are drawn to the idea of purchasing new construction over an existing home. There’s something undeniably appealing about owning a pristine, never-been-lived-in dwelling where you can bank on being the first one to use the shower.

But new construction is known for costing more than existing homes, especially if you’re opting for a custom build. In January, the National Association of Realtors® reported the median sales price of existing homes was $359,000, while new homes averaged $427,500, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

So what’s a buyer to do if they dream of owning a newly built yet comparatively affordable house? Enter: the tract home.

Tract housing is a type of residential development, featuring similar homes built on single parcels of land. Also known as planned communities, these developments typically crop up in the suburbs and can feature anywhere from a few dozen houses to thousands of homes in the community.

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Open house etiquette is all about common sense.

Here are a few no-brainers that every potential buyer should know: Don’t park on the lawn, take off your shoes when you go inside (or put on booties, if they’re offered), and never peek inside the medicine cabinet.

Easy rules to follow, right? Not for some would-be homebuyers.

You won’t believe some of the cringe behavior real estate agents have witnessed at open houses in today’s high-stress market. Here’s the stuff that made their eyes roll—and the critical reason why you should be on your best behavior.

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Buyers can now leap at the chance to own a horse farm in Portsmouth, RI, with ties to the storied Vanderbilt family. This historic property is available for $5.83 million.

When construction commenced in 1860, Sandy Point Farm was a part of the original 280-acre, waterfront Vanderbilt estate. The property was designed by architect A.S. Walker. A multidecade project, the stables were completed in 1902. At its peak, it was considered one of the most prestigious horse farms in America.

“The property has been such an iconic part of Portsmouth and American equestrian history for over a century now,” says listing agent Kylie McCollough, of Mott & Chace Sotheby’s International Realty.

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With wintry weather still howling in some parts of the country, it can be tough to visualize what your yard will look like when it isn’t buried under snow in a few weeks.

But despite the chill in the air, spring and summer really are just around the corner.

To help you prepare for another season of outdoor gatherings and all-day relaxation, we’re here with some ideas for easy backyard upgrades. Here are seven expert tips for maximizing your outdoor space, so you can start enjoying it when spring finally makes her debut.

1. Spruce up the flower beds

Spring is all about new life, so what better way to transition your outdoor space this season than with fresh, green growth?

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Those of us who like our sunlight hours to extend into the evening will appreciate the upcoming transition to daylight saving time—as well as houses that take full advantage of it.

We’ve found five gorgeous glass houses that look out on some of the most glorious landscapes in the country: the mountains around Sundance, scenic Lake Placid, and the Mojave Desert’s Joshua Tree, just to name a few highlights.

Now you won’t want to be throwing stones if you live in any of these glass houses, because they’re all multimillion-dollar investments. Great views rarely come cheap, after all.

But if you’re looking for a home that lets sunlight in and gives you almost unlimited opportunities to gaze out, one of these places could be just the ticket.