6 Beautiful Natural Built Homes

from offgridworld.com

Natural built houses are gaining popularity all over the world, and the come in many shapes and sizes. Some small, some large, some quaint and still more and on the verge of fantasy cottages in a fantasy land. Practical, inexpensive, and structurally sound, natural homes are one of the most aesthetically pleasing, and versatile homes in the world. Building with natural materials is pleasing, and there’s something to be said for the intrinsic contentment that comes from building a house with your bare hands. Here are some of the most spectacular natural homes in the world!

10 Things to Do the Week Before Listing a Home for Sale

helpful info from moving.com

If your home is about to go live on the market, you’re probably feeling a mix of nervousness and excitement—and possibly a bit of stress about whether you will sell quickly. Selling your home is as much as a mental exercise as it is a real estate transaction, and it’s totally normal to be facing a bit of jitters. On the bright side, there is plenty that you can do in the week before listing a home for sale that can help ease your mind, and that may even help your home get under contract faster. As with most aspects of selling a house, taking active steps is usually going to get you better results than just sitting back and waiting for everything to fall in line on its own. So here are 10 things to do now, before your home goes live.

1. Start spreading the word

Just because your home isn’t technically ready for showings yet doesn’t mean that you can’t start the process of letting people know it will be available. Some realtors will provide you with a “coming soon” sign that you can post up in your front yard, but even if yours doesn’t, you can take the initiative and start letting people know on your social channels. Listed houses are often at their most desirable right when they hit the market, so the more interest you can generate right in the beginning, the better.

2. Toss out, recycle, or donate what you don’t need anymore

You may not be ready to pack up and move yet, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be getting rid of stuff. Buyers want to be able to see themselves in homes when they go for a showing, and having a bunch of the previous owner’s things lying around can really mess with that vision. In addition to helping buyers imagine themselves living in your home, editing down your things now will be a big help when you need to clear out for last-minute showings.Go through each room (yes, even closets—buyers will want to look in there) and organize unwanted items into three piles—trash, recycle, and donate. Try to donate or recycle as much as possible instead of sending things to the landfill.

3. Start staging

Staging is the art of designing your home to highlight its best features. And even if decorating isn’t your strong suit, it’s a part of the home selling process you can’t really ignore—49% of buyers’ agents state that home staging has a positive effect on how buyers view a home, according to the National Association of Realtors’ 2017 Staging Stats report, and 21% of buyers’ agents say it increases the value of a home and decreases the time it sits on the market. The week before listing a home for sale is a great time to start staging, since you’ll have some time to really make sure it’s done right. And don’t feel like you have to spend a ton of money to do a good job; it is definitely possible to stage your home on a budget.

4. Figure out a plan for kids and/or pets

If you have little ones at home—two-legged or four—make sure that you have a plan in place for when showings happen. The house should be completely empty when prospective buyers come through, which is an inconvenience on your end but something that has to be managed. If you don’t have a lot of flexibility, talk to a trusted friend, neighbor, or family member and see if they can arrange to help you out in the event that your kids or pets need a place to go during a showing.

5. Set expectations with your realtor

The first couple of weeks that a home is listed for sale tend to be pretty busy in terms of market activity. Talk to your realtor now, in the week before you go live, about expectations you have about how things should go so that you know exactly what to anticipate. This includes the lead time you would like to have between showing requests and the showings themselves (two hours is usually a good way to go), any rules you have for when buyers and their agents are in your house (let your realtor know if you’re a no-shoe household so they can provide booties), and anything else that will be harder to control once the listing is active.

6. Boost your curb appeal

In addition to staging inside your home, you also want to put some effort into making the exterior of your home look as inviting as possible. After all, while the saying may be not to judge a book by its cover, people often do. Trim your lawn, remove any weeds, and tidy up as necessary. If your siding or driveway could use a refresh, use a power washer to clean them off and have them looking good as new. For other easy ways to improve your home’s curb appeal, check out these tips.

7. Find another place for personal items

A fundamental part of selling your home quickly and in as stress-free a manner as possible is depersonalizing it. Because again, buyers are trying to picture what their life would be like in your home, and that can be hard to do when they’re surrounded by somebody else’s family pictures. The week before listing a home for sale, go through and remove as much personal items as you can. This includes pictures, papers, and pretty much anything with your name on it (and definitely anything hanging up on the fridge). Don’t throw these things out, obviously, but do store them somewhere safe and out of view. It will feel a little bit weird to live in your home without all these personal things around, but it’s worth it if it means your home gets scooped up faster.

8. Stow away valuables

A large majority of the people who go to home showings are doing it with the best of intentions, but there are certainly horror stories of people who go in looking for valuables to take. It’s always better to be safe than sorry, so find a safe storage spot for things like jewelry, checkbooks, medications, and anything else that may be of strong interest to somebody else. If you don’t have one already, purchase a fireproof safe that you can store these items in, and then move it to your car when you’re going to be out and know that showings will be taking place. It’s a small step to take, and one that you’ll definitely be upset you didn’t take if something goes missing.

9. Do some repair work

The week before you list is a great time to make sure all small repairs are taken care of. Fixing up chips or cracks in paint, scuff marks, and loose cabinets will go a long way toward ensuring that your home looks its very best. If there are any major repairs that you plan to take care of, start looking into your options now so that your agent can let buyers know that fixes are in the works.

10. Deep clean

Part of the stress that comes with living in a for sale house is having to keep it museum-levels of clean all of the time. There’s no such thing as just leaving the dishes out for another day when there’s a chance that a buyer might come through. Start the process early and get going with a blank slate by setting aside a day for giving your home a top-to-bottom deep clean. Follow the same tips you’d use to clean a home upon move-in, making sure to get in all of the nooks and crannies. It won’t be fun, but at least it will be easier to ensure your home is as clean as possible for showings when they do start happening.

Selling a home is a major transition long before the moving truck arrives. Using the week before listing a home for sale to get your bearings and optimize your property for a quick sale is a smart idea for all sellers, and will definitely make the entire process easier on you and your family. If you ever have any questions about additional things that you should or should not be doing, ask your realtor about it. They’re there to make your own role easier as much as they are to facilitate the sale itself. So take a deep breath and then dive in—the more you get done now, the more simple the whole thing should go.

There Goes the Neighborhood: Watch Out for These 7 Red Flags When Buying a Home

good considerations on the buying side from realtor.com

Finally, you've done it: You've scoured the market for available homes—and then some—and found one you can't stop thinking about. It's time to make an offer!

But before you put your money on the line, take a peek around the neighborhood. We won't use a certain cliché, but there is a reason the pros emphasize location when buying real estate. You can change your house—but you can't change the neighborhood. And if your hood is on the decline, you just might have a helluva time offloading your home when you decide to sell.

A bad neighborhood isn't always obvious, though; sometimes you need to do a little digging to know if a community is worth buying in. Luckily, we've identified seven red flags that should give you pause before you sign on the dotted line.

Red flag No.1: Too many houses are on the market

There's nothing wrong with two or three listed houses on the same street. But if you see an army of "For Sale" signs, consider looking elsewhere.

"This points to illiquidity in the market and pricing pressure, which is a risk for buyers," says Alison Bernstein, the founder of Suburban Jungle, which helps families find their ideal suburb.

Of course, the hue of this particular red flag depends on the reason for those "For Sale" signs. Perhaps the neighborhood is rapidly gentrifying and longtime residents have decided to cash in. Maybe there are many older residents who are downsizing. Or maybe there's a more sinister explanation, like increasing crime rates. Do your homework to assess the situation before making any big moves.

Red flag No.2: The schools are enrolling fewer students

Schools in healthy communities should be steadily increasing their enrollment—or at least keeping the population steady, if there's no physical room to grow.

"Shrinking class sizes are a red flag," Bernstein says.

There are a number of reasons enrollment might decrease. Your local school might have a reputation for poor management, sending parents fleeing to charter or private options. Or perhaps residents are staying put as their kids grow up, leading to older neighbors and fewer close-by pals for your kids. That may or may not be a deal breaker, but it's certainly something to consider.

Red flag No.3: The area leans industrial

A nearby strip of cute boutique stores might be a nice selling point, but reconsider the purchase if the closest commercial influences lean toward the industrial.

"Be mindful of any kind of commercial influence on the block, such as close gas stations or anything that could be undesirable health-wise," says Ralph DiBugnara, the vice president at Residential Home Funding.

Any nearby industrial plants should automatically nix a neighborhood, and think long and hard before buying across from a car dealership or auto body shop, which attract a lot of car traffic.

Red flag No.4: There are lots of empty storefronts

Don't just stop at counting boutiques versus gas stations. Are the stores actually thriving, or are there lots of retail spaces for rent?

"Empty storefronts can tell you a lot," Bernstein says. "They point to less disposable income of residents than clearly there once was."

Why does that matter? Decreased disposable income indicates a neighborhood on the decline. If homeowners don't have money for dinner out, they probably don't have cash for upkeep. Shabby homes drag down property values. Meager cash flow can also lead to future foreclosures—and a foreclosed-upon home is a neighbor that no one wants.

Red flag No. 5: The Stepford style is in full force

You might love the homogenous, well-groomed suburban look (and there's nothing wrong with that!). But take a moment to examine it more closely. Are there any unique decorative doodads dotting each garden, like aluminum chickens or wind chimes? Or is the front porch furniture identical?

If all the neighborhood's homes (and landscaping) look suspiciously similar, "explore how restrictive the homeowners association is," says Susanna Haynie, a Realtor in Colorado Springs, Co. "It could be an issue."

Red flag No.6: There's no parking

Sure, the property may have a one-car garage—but where will your friends park, and where can you keep your spouse's car? If the streets have bumper-to-bumper traffic, think twice about buying in the

neighborhood—especially if the home lacks a garage or carport.

"I'm always on the lookout for a lack of parking," DiBugnara say. "It's best to visit at night or on weekends to really, truly tell what will be available to you once you live there."

Unless you commute primarily by foot or bike—or you're OK spending your weekends circling the block—the neighborhood may not be a good fit for you.

Red flag No.7: Surrounding homes aren't well-maintained

A street in shambles might seem like an obvious red flag. But you also might have heard that buying the best house in the worst neighborhood is a prime opportunity for profit.

Tread lightly here: A street full of run-down homes with overgrown yards and broken fences should set off warning signals. And this has nothing to do with wealth; lower-income neighborhoods can be just as well-kept

as more expensive ones. It's about pride. Neighbors with no pride in their home's appearance and upkeep decrease property values for everyone.

Plus, problems with the homes next door can indicate that the house you want might have bigger issues than meet the eye. Look at every house on the block for issues such as water pooling in the yards, or flickering porch lights.

"If there are problems such as water pipes or electrical issues, you will tend to see more than one home showing damage," DiBugnara says. Fixing these major problems "could be a major expense, hassle, or detriment to your value later on."

7 must-do’s before buying a home

good considerations from bankrate.com

7 must-do’s before buying a home

“Wanting” to buy a home and “being ready” to buy a home are two completely different things.

A Bank of the West study found that 56 percent of Millennials believe owning a home is more important than paying off debt or retiring comfortably. They may want to buy a home but they might not be ready for it.

Even as many are still hoping to achieve their American dream of buying a home, that doesn’t mean everyone is financially prepared.

Here are seven things you need to do before you buy your home.

Pull your credit report and check your score
Review your budget
Get preapproved
Beef up your down payment
Get an agent
Don’t skimp on an inspection
Make a plan B (and C)

1. Pull your credit report and check your score
Your credit report and corresponding score are your golden tickets to buying a home. They showcase your credit responsibility and worthiness. Your credit score can seriously impact your mortgage rate. The higher your credit score, the lower your interest rate will be. This means you’ll end up owing a lot less money over the life of the loan.

our credit score is broken down by:

Payment history: 35 percent
Credit utilization: 30 percent
Length of history: 15 percent
Types of credit: 10 percent
New credit: 10 percent
You can pull your credit report for free from Bankrate to go over your credit history. Cleaning up your credit report is one of your first steps to pre-buying a home. If there are errors, call one of the three major credit bureaus — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — to have them removed.

If you’re noticing a high credit utilization, start chunking away at your debt. See if you can consolidate your debt, refinance for lower interest payments, or transfer a big credit card balance to another card with friendlier repayment terms. Keep your utilization below 30 percent of your total limit.

Avoid getting new credit within a year of buying a home since it can cause a temporary dip in your score. The length of your credit history matters, too. The longer your credit history, the more credit-responsible you look.

2. Review your budget
If you’re working on a clean bill of credit health, give your budget a hard assessment. Use the 28-36 rule to see where your money is going. This is when your maximum household expenses shouldn’t exceed 28 percent of your gross monthly income. Your debt, like credit cards and loans, shouldn’t exceed 36 percent.

Your debt-to-income ratio, or DTI, is important to lenders for determining how much home you can afford and if you’re a good candidate to receive a mortgage. You might discover you need to make some adjustments, like spending less on travel and clothing, for example, to make room for a mortgage payment.

Fine-tuning your budget pre-homebuying will allow you to put extra cash towards a down payment, closing costs, or potentially higher home costs than you’re paying right now.

3. Get preapproved
With a stellar credit score and a solid down payment built up, you might feel confident in buying the house of your dreams. But until you get preapproved, that house will stay in your dreams.

Getting prequalified is nice, but it’s not the same thing. A prequalification is only based off information you give a lender. A preapproval is completing a mortgage application that pulls all your financial records.

Lenders base how much money they’re willing to give you based on your entire financial existence: your income, debt, and credit history all pay a crucial role. But it’s also there to show you how much home you can afford. If you know you can only get a $200,000 loan, you won’t waste your time looking at half a million-dollar homes.

It’s important to remember that you don’t need to settle on the first lender you find. Browse through different banks, online lenders, and credit unions to see which ones offer the best terms. Compare interest rates, fees, and the terms for paying back your loan. Consider working with a mortgage broker to help you weed through your options.

4. Beef up your down payment
Down payments for homes and cars are very similar: the higher the down payment, the less each monthly payment will be. But homes are much more expensive, which means the more you can put towards your down payment, the better off you’ll be every month.

It can be difficult to keep stashing money away for a down payment when you’re trying to afford basic necessities right now. Try cutting back on things you can manage, like dining out, grocery spending, unnecessary purchases, and travel.

Your debt might be holding you back as well. Try making larger debt payments every month until it’s completely paid off. Then the money you were putting towards your debt can now go to your down payment fund.

5. Get an agent
Whether you’re looking for a home 300 miles away or three, it’s a good idea to find someone who knows the neighborhoods better than you.

A real estate agent is on the hunt for your best interest because they want you to find the right home and buy it. Agents get their commission after a home is sold, so you don’t have to worry about costs up front.

Not all realtors do the same great job. So if you’re on the hunt for a great one, do your research. Look for one with top-notch credentials that has a proven track record. It’s similar to interviewing someone for a job, so talking to a potential agent’s former clients through may help you determine if they’re the right fit for you.

6. Don’t skimp on an inspection
You might think getting a home inspection is unnecessary. After all, you toured the home yourself and you would’ve seen major issues. True, maybe you can spot the big problems, but what about the small ones?

Home inspections go over every single detail of your home, from walls and appliances to the roof and drainage. Getting an inspection is a major part of buying a home because if there is, say, a water leak, you can take this issue back to the seller for negotiation. Either they fix the problem before you buy it or they lower their asking price of the home to accommodate the new cost of fixing the leak.

7. Make a plan B (and C)
As you’ve diligently prepared for your future home, you might not have considered what might happen if it doesn’t work out. What if your down payment is a little low? What if you don’t get the lender with the best terms? What if your dream home has an old roof?

Regardless of the setback, build the “just in case” options into your plan. If your down payment is too low, maybe you get an FHA loan instead of a conventional one. If you don’t get the lender with the best terms, maybe you get the second-best terms. That old roof may save you a lot if you talk the seller down, but you’ll need to make sure you can afford to replace after you close on the home.

Throughout the entire home-buying process, you will face different options for every single step you make. It’s important to remember how your choices are impacted along the way.

Buyers in Denver follow trend of wanting hidden doors, secret rooms in custom homes

fun article excerpts from Denver Post.com on houses with hidden doors and rooms...

Buyers in Denver follow trend of wanting hidden doors, secret rooms in custom homes

Custom builders say that it’s common for wealthy clients to want secret rooms in addition to giant kitchens, indoor pools, media rooms, home gyms and 11 bathrooms.

"The woman stepped out from the shower in her Denver home — built between 1930 and 1933 — and started to slip on the wet tile. She grabbed a towel rack for support but instead got a surprise: The rack swiveled down and clicked, activating a segment of the wall. It swung open and revealed a small, dark room. Inside was a bar, fully stocked, dusty.

She surmised that it was likely untouched since Prohibition.

The woman — not named for obvious reasons — lives near the Denver Country Club in an iconic mansion. She had discovered by accident what more people are designing by intent.

Secret rooms are only slightly newer than rooms themselves. The builders of the pyramids famously created hidden rooms and passageways and ensured their secrecy for centuries by killing the workers who built them. (Today’s contractors usually just have to sign non-disclosure agreements.) Hidden rooms and passages have long been used to protect valuables and hide crimes, such as El Chapo’s secret escape tunnel or the mansion of H.H. Holmes in Chicago."

"Today, secret rooms are enjoying a new-found appeal. Custom builders say that it’s common for wealthy clients to want secret rooms in addition to giant kitchens, indoor pools, media rooms, home gyms and 11 bathrooms. The motivations vary between fun and fear, and perhaps mask an even deeper motivation: an innate need for privacy.

“In the late 16th century, English hiding places protected Roman Catholics (Recusants) and those to be sequestered in cabinets and cupboards,” according to Elizabeth Goodenough, a professor at the University of Michigan, editor of “Secret Spaces of Childhood,” and an advocate of getting away from it all. (The spaces are called “priest holes,” and were common.) “Today, we hear the expression ‘to recuse oneself.’

“In our own country, we recall the dark places where Abolitionists hid runaway slaves on the Underground Railroad,” Goodenough wrote in an email. “Global surveillance threatens privacy even further today. Secret spaces allow adults to grow inwardly in a noisy, fragmented and chaotic environment of cellphone and computer distraction.”

Steve Humble, whose Gilbert, Ariz.-based company, Creative Home Engineering (CHE), specializes in installing hidden doors and secret passageways, said that the impetus for hidden rooms is changing. “Ten years ago, 70 percent of our customers wanted hidden rooms for fun. They wanted smoking rooms, bars, that sort of thing. Thirty percent wanted them as protection from home invasion or to store their valuables. But over the years, the motivation has shifted more to storage for valuables.”

“What people want is security and invisibility,” Humble said. “Hidden rooms protect your valuables and they’re fun. They make people feel like James Bond. But they protect your valuables in a way that a safe can’t. A big house – and a big safe or a vault door – attracts a thief. And people in these homes don’t necessarily want a big metal box on their wall. Besides, safes aren’t that secure. You can go onto You Tube and see how easy it is to crack one.”

Denver realtor Dan Polimino said that many of his clients who are looking for houses in the $2 million-plus range are attracted to ones with hidden rooms, which are a selling point. He’s sold houses with hidden rooms that owners have used as panic rooms and as places to conceal computers and servers. Some professional athletes like hidden rooms to store athletic memorabilia, he said.

Adding a hidden room to a house starts at about $10,000, Humble said (although his company is developing more affordable, do-it-yourself kits). Humble seems especially qualified to design and build secret spaces. A mechanical engineer by education, he has worked in aerospace, on medical devices and in robotics. He started CHE after he couldn’t find anyone to build a hidden passageway in a house, so he decided to build one himself.

And designing and building hidden rooms is a specialty. Humble has designed and patented a special hinge system that makes many of his company’s doors possible, allowing tiny adjustments to the door to make all the reveals absolutely perfect and that even compensate for a house settling or sagging.

Humble also has designed “really cool secret switches like wine bottles that contain a secret transmitter that causes a door to open when the bottle is twisted, or a kit for piano that will open a secret door when a certain melody is played.”

Humble said his most elaborate job involved designing a number of secret rooms for a bomb shelter. One of the 10 secret doors was big enough to drive a car through. Some doors look like bookcases, some like full-length mirrors. One included a false floor that dropped away to allow a hidden door built to withstand a nuclear blast to close. Hiding Christmas presents from the kids would be a breeze.

For secret rooms to stay secret, homeowners can’t tell anyone about them. One contractor said he had a client who waited for his adult children to go on vacation before he had a hidden room built.

But as secret as they’re supposed to be, a lot of people have stories about secret rooms. Denverite Juliet Hindahl said her grandfather lived in a house near Alameda and Downing where he discovered a secret room. Juliet herself grew up in a house with a hidden room that the family used to store canned goods. She has friends who now use 1950s-era bomb shelters as hiding places.

And while most people with secret rooms tell someone about them, not all do, as the woman in the Country Club home has attested.

It makes you want to jiggle the towel racks."

What to Do When Your Property Tax Bill Increases

it's about that time of the year again where you start getting property tax assessments in the mail, here's a helpful article from usnew.com below...of course, feel free to let me know if I can help you appeal any of your property tax assessments by providing comparable home sales....

What to Do When Your Property Tax Bill Increases

If you have a higher bill than expected, consider following these expert-backed strategies.

Property tax bills can increase for a variety of reasons. Your local, state or federal government laws may change, causing property taxes to spike. The value of your neighborhood could rise, a sign of the real estate market starting to recover. Or, once your county reassesses the value of the land in your area, you could see an uptick in your property taxes.

The average tax bill in 2017 was $3,400, 3 percent higher than 2016, according to a recent report from Attom Data Solutions, a property data company. What's more, the recent tax cuts from Congress are expected to cause property tax bills to climb in many metropolitan areas.

Fortunately, homeowners have a few options to trim costs – or file an appeal – if their property tax bill increases. Read on to learn how to deal with higher property taxes.

Don't procrastinate. Depending on where you live, you may not have much time (think: two weeks to a few months) to contest a higher property tax bill. To file an appeal, you'll need to fill out legal paperwork from your county and evaluate the value of comparable homes in your neighborhood.

"Every state has a different procedure and timeline for appealing property tax assessments. It's important to be aware of the procedure and follow the timeline, or your appeal will be barred," says Bruce Ailion, an attorney and realtor with Re/Max Town and Country in Atlanta.

In Georgia, a homeowner typically has 120 days to appeal an assessment of your property, Ailion says.

"The county can accept, reject or propose a different value. Typically, the county rejects your value and schedules a hearing before a board of adjustment," he says. A board of adjustment has the power to make important zoning decisions. If you do not have a board of adjustment in your district, your county seat will have some sort of assessor's office, where property values are determined.

"In Georgia, you will present your case, and the assessor will present their case to an impartial panel of citizens. They will determine the value of the property. If you are still unhappy with the value, you can file suit and have a judge decide," Ailion explains.

Do your homework. While you may contend that your property values have been improperly raised, you need to offer up some reasoning behind your appeal.

"You can also go about researching your neighbors and your town by looking at similar homes. Many times, info regarding other assessments is public knowledge, so it's important to compare other residences with yours," says David Hryck, a New York City-based tax lawyer and partner at Reed Smith, a global law firm.

There is a chance you could find a discrepancy, which could help lower your property tax rate. If you do [find a discrepancy], bring this info to your assessor's attention and you may qualify for a reassessment," Hryck says.

Ralph DiBugnara, president of HomeQualified.com, an online guide for homebuyers, and vice president of Residential Home Funding, a mortgage lender, who's based in New York City, echoes similar advice.

"All tax assessments are of public record and are easily available on sites such as Zillow.com," DiBugnara says.

Make sure to be accurate, Ailion stresses. "The assessor will be prepared," he says. "They will have photos of your home showing it in its best condition." He quips, "I almost think they are photoshopped."

Seek help from a property tax abatement or exemption program. Levar Haffoney, a financial planner and principal at Fayohne Advisors in New York City, suggests giving either a shot.

"Your city, town or county may offer tax abatement and exemption programs to help you reduce your property taxes. Abatements help property owners reduce or eliminate property tax increases on new construction, rehabilitation or other improvements. Exemptions help property owners reduce the taxable portion of your property assessment," he says. For instance, some cities offer exemptions for disabled homeowners and others for veterans.

You might also get what's often called a homestead exemption, where your property taxes won't go up if your spouse has died and was the main breadwinner.

Get an appraisal. "The home appraisal will also show values of neighboring homes and their current property taxes," DiBugnara says.

A typical home appraisal, according to Angie's List and HomeAdvisor.com, is about $300, but expect to pay hundreds more, particularly if your house is in a major metropolitan area or if your home is especially spacious.

Consider hiring a third party to represent you. You could find a property tax services company to make your appeal for you or hire someone such as a realtor or an attorney who specializes in property tax appeals. As for pricing, it's hard to predict how much a third party will cost you. While some companies will charge a flat fee of $300 or $500, others will take a percentage of what you save in property taxes.

For example, Ailion will sometimes file an appeal for clients for a $75 fee and receive 30 percent of the savings on a residential home. "That's a little lower than the firms that only do tax appeals," he says. "I'll review anyone's property and tell them if they stand a good chance or not of winning."

When your house is being assessed, work directly with the assessor, Hryck says. This isn't the time to tell him or her to check out your house while you're at work. "Don't let them inspect your property without you being present," he says. "This will ensure that they don't overlook anything such as outdated appliances, which could lower your rate. It's on you to point out the good as well as the bad parts of your property."

And if you're going to go through the trouble of appealing your property taxes, follow through. "Over 50 percent of the appeals filed by owners result in no-shows by the owner," Ailion says.

How Tax Reform Impacts Homeowners

some homeowner considerations from US News and World Report....

How Tax Reform Impacts Homeowners

Current and aspiring homeowners should know the impacts tax reform will have on their 2018 tax returns.

For many, homeownership represents one of the biggest milestones in life. Few are thinking about the tax implications of exciting moments like buying their first home or even remodeling it, but with the historic tax reform that passed in late 2017 and Tax Day right around the corner, it's important to understand your tax situation and how it will impact your current and future home-buying decisions.

One important thing to remember: For the majority of taxpayers, the new tax reform law does not impact your tax year 2017 taxes (the ones you're filing now). The majority of the changes will be reflected on your 2018 taxes, which you file in 2019.

Whether you're just beginning to tour homes or you've already signed the deal, here are the major tax reform provisions that potential and new homeowners should be aware of for their 2018 taxes.

Mortgage interest deduction cap. For those home shopping in areas with high housing costs, be aware that starting in 2018, you can deduct home mortgage interest secured by your principal residence on acquisition indebtedness – the outstanding amount incurred in acquiring or improving your property – of up to $750,000. If you purchased your home before 2018, you will still be able to deduct home mortgage interest based on $1,000,000 in home acquisition indebtedness. If you find yourself drawn to areas with high housing costs, consider paying a bigger down payment if you can to keep your loan under the new tax reform law's $750,000 loan threshold, so you can still deduct all of your mortgage interest at tax time.

State and local property tax deduction limits. If you are searching for a home in a high property tax area, keep in mind that the new law limits the amount of state and local property, income and sales taxes that can be deducted to $10,000. In the past, these taxes have generally been fully tax deductible.

Moving expenses. Did you move for a new job in the last year? Take advantage of claiming your unreimbursed moving expenses this year before the new tax reform law eliminates this deduction on your 2018 taxes. You qualify if you started your new job and have worked full time for at least 39 weeks within the first 12 months after your move. Your new place of employment must also be at least 50 miles or farther away from your old home and place of employment.

Beginning on tax year 2018 taxes, which you'll file in 2019, only members of armed forces on active duty are allowed to take advantage of these tax breaks.

While it may seem like several things will be changing for homeowners this year, there are techniques to increase your tax refund or reduce your tax bill. Here are several tax tips that you should be taking advantage of when filing 2018 taxes.

Adjusting your withholding. If your new home will increase the size of your mortgage interest deduction or make you an itemizer for the first time, you don't have to wait until you file your tax return to see the savings. You can start collecting the savings right away by adjusting your federal income tax withholding at work, which will boost your take-home pay.

Penalty-free IRA payouts for first-time buyers. Did you know that at any age, you can withdraw up to $10,000 penalty free from your individual retirement account to help buy or build a first home for yourself, your spouse, your kids, your grandchildren or even your parents? To qualify, the money must be used to buy or build a first home within 120 days of the time it's withdrawn. Although the 10 percent penalty is waived, you will be taxed on the distribution based on your tax bracket.

Using Roth IRA distributions for your first home purchase. If you use Roth IRA distributions to buy your first home, you may be able to withdraw up to $10,000 from your Roth IRA tax free and penalty free. That's if you had your Roth IRA for at least five years before taking the distribution.