Home improvements can give a fresh lease of life to your ragged property and add great value but figuring out what improvement to do, and how to pay for them is very important.

Now that winter finally appears to be exiting stage left, many homeowners are looking at their yards and thinking, “I’d rather do anything than clean up this mess.”

I try not to obsess over the housing market. Yet, it’s a hard thing to avoid when my plan is to buy a house this year in Los Angeles county. Housing here in sunny California has been on an upswing these past 18-months that has had me freaked out.

I have been terrible at posting lately. Between work (teaching), school (finishing up my second credential), and life in general, I’ve hardly had time to do much of anything else, let alone post an article! However, finances are still my top priority around here:

If you’re in a position to have your first home built from the ground up, you’re no doubt captivated by the nearly limitless possibilities of designing your own castle. However, bringing your vision of a dream home to life starts with a heavy dose of reality in the form of obtaining a building permit.