Amy Shair's Blogs

I saw two intriguing statistics in this recent MSN article about city growth. Raleigh now has a population of 403,892 according to the 2010 US Census Raleigh's population increased more than 62% since 2000 I can completely understand the draw to the Raleigh area, (Raleigh, Durham, Cary, Chapel Hi...

During the winter months is a great time to think ahead for your spring and summer plants! Inventory • Inventory the landscape plantings around your house during January. See if any plants have grown too large for the spot where they were planted and need to be moved. Also, determine if other pla...

Planning to go back to graduate school is big step to further your career. For people who have been working and currently own a home, townhome or condo, the possibility of moving needs to be considered before you go back to school. Top Reasons The top 2 reasons graduate school students consider s...

In an effort to help encourage the declutter of your home, your families' homes and your co-workers' homes, I came across two meaningful holiday gift ideas that won't take up space in anyone's home: DonorsChoose.org is an online charity that benefits public school classes around the country. Here...

  It has been my experience that once clients are pre-qualified for a loan, they are often surprised by the amount of additional information required of them for the lender. There are 6 pieces of information that are required to constitute a loan application for a mortgage lender, bank or mortga...

(As originally seen on Amy Shair Durham Real Estate's blog). I read an interesting article about real estate trends. They mentioned WINKs - Women with Income and No Kids. Do you know any WINKs? The article predicts that by 2015 40% of Gen Y households will be WINKs. Gen Y are people born between ...

(Blog originally shared on Amy Shair Durham Real Estate's blog) No doubt about it - the Triangle area in central North Carolina is one of the best places to live in the US. Numerous surveys and studies have proven it for many years. I was reading a local Durham blog called Bull City Rising which...

3 hours a week does not seem like much considering there are 168 hours in each week. But 3 hours over a year is over 6 days - now you're talking! I was asked what I would do with 3 hours of extra time each week based on using a service called Docusign which allows myself and my clients to sign do...

Risks of Buying a Foreclosure If you ask homebuyers why they are looking at foreclosures, the answer often is, “Because they’re such a good deal.” The word “deal” for me is on par with other four letter words which I won’t mention (but you can guess). Deal is a selfish word. Deal is one of those ...

I noticed that Walmart has a tv commercial on that shows the return of layaway for the holidays. Then I started thinking about way back when people made their holiday wish list after dog-earring the Sears catalogue. (I know some readers will think that was back in the Flintstone days)! Layaway me...