Planning to sell your home this spring? While this winter is expected to bring a record-breaking number of buyers to the market, spring will bring more inventory and more competition.
Why wait until just before your home goes on the market to prepare it? There are plenty of things you can do right now that will cut down on the time and effort you’ll need to spend in the spring.
Have your Home Inspected
One of the most common reasons a home sale falls apart or is delayed is because of problems that the buyer learns about after the home inspection. Typically, price negotiations will reopen, but if the problems are beyond the buyer’s budget, they may just walk away from the deal.
If you have your home inspected now, you will not only avoid unpleasant surprises in the middle of the transaction, but you'll have the rest of winter to get any repair projects out of the way. Chip away at these projects steadily and by spring your home could be in good shape.
The pre-listin2 ...

Ok, who's the genius who thought that turning our clocks back an hour, prolonging winter’s darkness even more, was such a swell idea?
Turns out, it was Benjamin Franklin, in 1784, when he proposed it in a satirical essay. According to scholars at The Franklin Institute "He merely suggested Parisians change their sleep schedules to save money on candles and lamp oil."
Regardless of the tongue-in-cheek nature of the suggestion, the idea of "daylight-saving" was kicked around for more than a century until New Zealander George Hudson took it and ran with it.

Fitting more daylight into our days is typically welcome, but the sudden switch to darkness when we "fall back" in autumn causes trouble for some folks. Fortunately, there are some simple tricks to help us get through it.
Let Lighting Do the Heavy Lifting
Seasonal affective disorder, or SAD for short, "...is a type of depression that's related to changes in seasons," according to the professionals at MayoClinic.o2 ...

As is the case with most household appliances, modern technological advancements can result in massive improvements. Here are the top benefits of installing a tankless water heater in your home:
Save Money on Your Energy Bill
With a conventional water heater, hot water is stored inside the tank. In theory, this keeps a ready supply of hot water on hand for immediate use, but the fact is that the hot water just sits around when not being used. This is not only a complete waste of energy; it also costs you extra money at the end of the month on your energy bill.
Tankless Is Better Than Conventional
A tankless water heater does not store hot water for later use. Instead, a tankless water heater only produces as much hot water as a person needs. In other words, when the hot water faucet is turned on, the tankless unit provides the exact amount of hot water dispensed until the faucet is turned off. With the installation of a tankless unit in your home, you never need to worry abou1 ...

Now that winter weather has descended on much of the country, there are still loads of things a homeowner can grow to keep the freshest of ingredients available for winter culinary adventures. 

Basil, chives, mints and parsley are just a few herbs that do very nicely in pots with bright indirect light. It might surprise you to know you don’t need direct sunlight for growing most herbs; the indirect light most of us get will work fine.   

East-, south- and west-facing windows should all give your herbs enough light, especially if you set up a small table or use a counter that keeps plants about a foot away from window glass. 

Start with a few basics, such as oregano, thyme, parsley, basil and rosemary. Then add a few others that your family particularly enjoys in their favorite meals. Cilantro? Dill? Chives? 

Check your garden center for high-quality seeds or for healthy and vigorous-looking starter plants. It’s also worth checking t1 ...

When you get a copy of your credit report, you'll see more than just your current and historical credit accounts. You'll see your payment history, including any payments made more than 30, 60 and 90 days past the due date, along with your account balances and credit limits. You'll also see credit inquiries. 
A credit inquiry is simply an instance where you or a third party has looked at your credit report. Some credit inquiries can have an impact on your overall credit scores, but not all inquiries are so consequential. There are two types of credit inquiries – a hard and a soft inquiry. 
Soft inquiries are common and somewhat frequent. The most common type of soft inquiry is one where a creditor is curious about offering you a new credit account, so they check your score to make sure you qualify. If you've ever received an offer for a credit card that's preapproved, that company has done a soft inquiry on your report. 
Other types of soft inquiries include pote1 ...