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o make it easy to compare homes, the real estate industry supplies lots of data for each listing, including number of stories, type of home (condo, single-family, etc.), building materials (brick or siding), size of lot, number of bedrooms and baths, and so on. Nearly all homes listed for sale provide square footage to indicate overall size, but there are several reasons why square footage can be misleading, causing you to either overpay for a larger home or pass up a smaller home that’s actually more comfortable and livable.

First, there’s no single universal means of measuring square footage. Differing state rules and customs make calculating square footage somewhat subjective. Insurers, tax authorities, lenders, and real estate professionals typically use square footage numbers as determined by licensed property appraisers, but this data can conflict with tax roll figures if improvements to the home were made without permits.

Some states exclude attics, basements, garages and detached structures, while others allow them to be included if they’ve been finished out as living space. In high-rise buildings, square footage often includes balconies, even though they’re open air and not enclosed.

As a homebuyer, use square footage as a guide, but pay more attention to the home’s living spaces. Does foot traffic flow easily from room to room? Does the floorplan make sense? Are the rooms the right proportions for their purposes? Do you have the right spaces for your family’s needs? These questions will help you prioritize factors like flow, layout, and functionality over square footage alone.

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You may think you don’t need a first-time homebuyer’s certificate, but it’s a good idea to take a few hours to obtain one. A certificate shows you’ve completed educational requirements to prepare you mentally and financially to buy a home. Plus, completion of a course may make you eligible for some first-time homebuyer assistance or income qualified programs such as grants, down payment assistance, and zero interest loans.

Getting certified is easy as long as you make certain that the course you’re taking or the counseling you’re receiving meets the National Industry Standards for Homeownership Education and Counseling. Coursework will typically include:

• How to budget for a home you can afford.
• Learning all about mortgage loans and interest rates.
• How to navigate the homebuying process.
• Property maintenance, taxes, and other ongoing costs.
• Local, state and federal housing laws.
• How to avoid foreclosure.

Supported by major banks, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the National Association of REALTORS®, and numerous community service groups, the recommended curriculum is standardized to provide high-quality, trustworthy advice. You can take first-time homebuyer or income qualified courses online through:

• Mortgage lenders and insurers
• State, local or national housing authorities
• Community development financial institutions
• HUD-approved counseling agencies
• Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Grants are offered by The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Down payment assistance requirements may or may not include completing a homebuyer course, meeting income limits, purchasing a home in an approved location, staying below a price limit, and contributing some of your own money.

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Refinancing your mortgage is expensive, especially if you just want to lower your monthly payments. Closing costs can be in the thousands of dollars because you’re essentially applying for a new loan. Is there another way to lower your monthly payment? Yes: You can recast your mortgage.

In simple terms, a mortgage recast involves making a lump-sum payment toward the principal balance of your loan which the lender uses to create a new amortization schedule which will lower your monthly payments.

Every mortgage has an amortization schedule that directs part of your payment to reducing principal or toward paying interest. These amounts change slightly every month, until your payments go from paying mostly interest to paying down your principal. With a recast, your interest rate and term remain the same, but your monthly payments are lower because you paid a lump sum toward the principal.

To qualify for a recast, you’ll need a minimum of $10,000 and you’ll pay a service fee of approximately $250. Though the recast isn’t a new loan, you must qualify to get one:

1. Lenders may have differing requirements and fees, from the amount of the lump-sum payment, to how many on-time payments you’ve made, to how much equity you have in your home.
2. Recasts are not available on government-guaranteed loans such as FHA, VA, or USDA.

When you receive a bonus at work or decide to close out your savings, it’s a great idea to build equity in your home.

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Fabrics in your home are important to both your comfort and budget, so knowing the grams per square meter(GSM) is helpful when choosing textiles for bedding, furniture, and fabric accessories. GSM only measures the weight of any fabric. The higher the GSM, the denser and more durable the fabric.

A fabric’s GSM rating helps you better evaluate the performance you should expect, but it’s also important to consider fiber composition, weave and finishing. You want to choose the right type of fabric that will last, remain attractive, and feels good to the touch, so you won’t have to replace it sooner than you’d like. Towels need to be absorbent, so they range from 300 to 900 GSM, with 600 to 900 GSM in the premium luxury range.

Fabric weight is measured by both the thickness of the threads and the density of the weaving and helps determine its suitability for a given purpose. You’ve heard of thread count for sheets which is the number of threads per one square inch. Fiber composition is more important. For sheets, flax linen at 170 GSM is best for temperature regulation and moisture wicking. Cotton may be less expensive but improves in softness with repeated washings and use. Microfiber is soft and durable, but it’s also less breathable and absorbent than linen or cotton.

Bolt fabrics will state the GSM number, or you can figure it yourself with this free online calculator.

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A rain garden isn’t as complex an idea as it sounds. You can just use a small depression in your yard—the one where a puddle always forms when it rains. According to LifeHacker.com, the goal of a rain garden is to “temporarily hold and absorb rain water runoff coming from roofs, driveways, patios or lawns.”

Instead of putting up with a puddle that turns into a muddy mosquito haven, you can plant shrubs, perennials, flowers, and native grasses into the slope and make it look intentional and attractive. BirdsandBlooms.com maintains that rain gardens can soak up as much as 30% more water than a conventional lawn. They can also provide a natural habitat for birds, butterflies, and other helpful insects, says the site.

If you really want to get scientific about it, rain gardens serve an environmentally sound purpose. The technical phrase for rain gardens is bioretention facilities, which refers to a number of practices that helps soil reabsorb rain runoff, slows the flow rate of runoff, and filters pollutants from roofs, driveways, and walkways. Rain gardens help reduce the “heat island effect” which makes cities much hotter than rural areas.

Plant your rain garden on a slope, at least 10 ft. from the house. The garden should be twice as long as it is wide. Use plants that absorb nutrients and water and release water vapor back into the atmosphere, such as small trees, shrubs, rushes, wildflowers, and sedges, explains FamilyHandyman.com. Click here to find suitable plants.

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When you take out a conventional mortgage loan (not insured by the U.S. government), with a down payment of less than 20%, your lender will require that you pay monthly private mortgage insurance (PMI) which protects the lender in case you default.

PMI costs can vary between 0.58% and 1.86% of the mortgage amount. According to Nerdwallet’s PMI calculator, if you buy a home for $350,000, put down $35,000 or 10% with a 6% interest rate on a 30-year note, and with a credit score of 620 to 639, you’ll pay 1.50% PMI, or $394 per month. It’ll take 7.40 years for your loan balance to get to 80% loan to value (LTV). The earliest you can get a PMI cancellation is two years of ownership and an LTV of 75%.

You can ask your lender to remove PMI when your loan balance reaches 80% LTV. At 78%, PMI should be canceled automatically, but there are steps you can take to get it canceled more quickly.

1. Make extra payments to reduce the principal.
2. Make payments on time—no late payments in the previous 12 months, no 60-day late payments in the previous 24 months.
3. Don’t have any other liens on the property, including a second mortgage.
4. Show proof of value with a professional appraisal or broker price opinion.
5. Make improvements to the home that add value.
6. Refinance the mortgage and get a home equity line of credit to pay off the PMI.

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Condominiums and co-ops are great choices for first-time homebuyers, singles, couples and roommates, and down-sizing families, but they are very different types of property ownership.

Condominiums are usually located in the most in-demand areas, near plentiful jobs and entertainment districts. You’ll own your unit and share amenities with other owners such as garage parking, fitness rooms, and swimming pools. You’ll pay a monthly, quarterly, or annual homeowners association (HOA) fee which is levied to take care of common areas. HOA fees vary widely, depending on amenities and the market.

As an investment, a condo owner is free to rent out their unit, but some HOAs impose limits on the number of units within the community that can be rented out or restrictions that prevent short-term rentals or the use of some amenities, because a high number of renters raises the HOA’s exposure to risk.

Co-op owners have a percentage ownership of their building and property, based on the size of their units, but they don’t own their individual units. You’re more likely to run into co-ops for sale in the Northeast, particularly New York City, where co-ops are operated like a corporation in which homeowners are shareholders. They have the right to approve new owner-occupants based on financial requirements and they can reject applicants they don’t like or trust. They can’t discriminate against protected classes, such as race, creed, age or gender. Most co-ops don’t allow renters; if they do, they impose restrictions such as rental terms and credit worthiness.

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Your return on investment (ROI) is how much money you make or lose on a property investment. It should be enough to cover expenses and have positive cash flow. ROI can vary greatly, depending on the formulas you use.

The 2% rule. This rule states that the monthly rent for a rental property should be at least 2% of its purchase price. If you paid $300,000 for your home, you should be able to rent it for $6,000, as $300,000 X 0.02 = $6,000. This figure may be unrealistic in most markets.

The 1% rule. Let’s say that monthly rents for single family homes like yours are closer to $3,000. That’s only a 1% return on your $300,000 home. Is it worth it? Yes. If you combine the costs of your first mortgage and equity loan at $240,000, and the projected monthly rent of $3,000, you’ll net $600 a month in addition to the renter paying your mortgages. $240,000 X 0.01 = $2,400. $3,000 – $2,400 = $600. $600 X 12 = $7,200.

ROI for rental properties is determined by subtracting the total operating costs from the total rental income for the year and dividing this number by the mortgage amount. Operating expenses don’t include mortgage costs, but it does include repairs, maintenance, taxes, utilities, vacancy losses, management fees, etc. $3,000 X 12 = $36,000. Monthly operating costs are $800 X 12 = $9,600. $36,000 – $9,600 = $26,400. $26,400 / $240,000 = 0.11 ROI.

ROI should increase the longer you own the property.

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When you choose to remodel your home, it’s crucial that you hire the right contractor for the job. You can get referrals from friends, family, or your Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices network professional. But there are other ways to get information so you can make the right choice.

It’s a good idea to interview at least three contractors, including your referrals. Depending on your state’s licensing rules, you should know the rules and regulations for licensing professionals. The purpose of licensing is to ensure that “the contractor meets the city’s, town’s, or state’s requirements for working on residential and commercial construction projects.” Not all states require contractors to be licensed, and some focus only on specialties such as plumbing, electrical and HVAC, which makes it harder to ascertain a contractor’s expertise.

Angi.com offers a convenient state-by-state list of contractor license requirements and a license check tool with “links to the regulatory agencies’ real-time license verification websites” so you can confirm the contractor’s status before you hire. Some states also provide certifications that show the contractor has completed educational and work requirements for their specialties. Some regulators require contractors to carry general contractor insurance, provide references, financial statements, and proof of registration.

Ask for references and to see a portfolio of completed jobs. The contractor should agree to provide a written, detailed contract outlining the work to be done, the costs for each step, quality of materials to be used, completion dates, payment and inspection schedules, warranties, and means of communicating.

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One truism about the housing market is that it changes constantly to favor sellers or homebuyers. Seldom does a balanced market exist where buyers and sellers are more evenly matched except for summertime, when schools are out. That’s why it’s the busiest of homebuying seasons.

To be a better prepared buyer, you should get prequalified for a mortgage loan, and if costs are too high, you should lower your debts and pump up your savings for a down payment until you’re ready to buy.

If you’re looking to sell, you should get your homes in top condition so you can command the highest price possible. But the most important step is to build a strong relationship with your Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices network professional.

Your broker or agent can help you, whether you’re a buyer or seller. With a vast amount of data at their fingertips, they can keep you abreast of any changes in your local market. This spring, for example, the share of homes with price reductions was the highest since January 2017 and mortgage interest rates dropped slightly, which enticed sidelined buyers back into the market.

Freddie Mac predicts that interest rates won’t drop by much before June 2024, so homebuyers and sellers should be aware of the importance of having good credit. As banks tighten lending standards for unsecured loans like credit cards, they’ll favor purchase mortgages for borrowers and home improvement loans for sellers who’ve protected their credit without high balances, late payments or defaults. Mortgages are also secured by the borrower’s home.

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