Cheryl Bourland's blog

21.3 Million Americans Struggle with Rent

As home prices continue to rise throughout most of the country, increasing numbers of Americans are choosing to rent, rather than buy, their dwelling. At the same time, rising rents and a lack of low-income rental units have created a perfect storm whereby more and more people are finding themselves devoting larger and larger portions of their paycheck to housing costs. As a result, a record-setting 21.3 million Americans spent more than 30% of their income on rent in 2014, while a staggering 11 million spent more than half. Financial experts generally consider a healthy budget as having up to 30% of income dedicated to housing, meaning that those spending more than 30% are labeled "cost-burdened".

Home Improvement Checklist for Summer

Summer is here, which means it's time for sun, the great outdoors, and... home improvement! While we each have our own projects that we put off all winter (never did fix that leaky shower...), warm weather brings with it a separate list of items that you need to take care of sooner rather than later. Realtor.com has selected nine relatively simple tasks to complete in order to get the most out of your property this season!

Real Estate Widens Lead as Best Investment

After the Great Recession severely diminished the housing and stock markets between 2007 and 2009, Americans were unsurprisingly hesitant to look at these institutions as reliable long-term investment options. However, fast forward to 2016 and people's faith in real estate has seen a remarkable resurgence! A new survey released by Gallup shows that real estate has widened its lead as the best choice for long-term investment, while other choices have shown either little change or, in the case of one shiny option, a large decline.