One of the biggest questions buyers and sellers have is who pays for closing costs in a real estate transaction. This article provides a detailed answer.

I've had a lot of homeowners asked to use their own photos on the listing and this is worked out great if they are a professional photographer. If you really want to sell the home, those photos can be the first impression that will make or break the sale. If you want buyers to step one total into your home, those photos really better be amazing. When it comes to listing a property, photos are really the first impression that property gives a potential buyer.

The real estate industry is a wild tale of crazy sellers, picky buyers, and stories so outlandish they have to be true. But in this tumultuous profession, there are a few things agents and brokers wish buyers and/or sellers knew. It would probably make life a lot easier for everyone involved.

IF you're selling, you want to make sure you're giving the buyers exactly what they want. Staging, design and a few upgrades are always appropriate when it comes to selling. Here are a few things buyers really want.

See some of the best tips for first-time home buyers in the article at Active Rain. Avoid making mistakes as a first timer by following the solid advice outlined in the article.

With veteran Denver luxury real estate agent Matt Metcalf, looking for Denver luxury homes for you or your whole family is easy!

Selling your home can be one of the most exciting times in your life. An opportunity to move to a new location and hopefully make a profit from the sale of your home is important. Before you get too excited about seeing the “Sold” sign out on your lawn there are several common mistakes that many home sellers make.

There are certain things everyone is looking for when house hunting. They make a home more valuable and, as a result, they also increase the price. Some prefer these things to already be present in the space they’re considering to buy while other would rather do them themselves.

For the first time, the Chinese have become the biggest foreign buyers of apartments in Manhattan, real estate brokers estimate, taking the mantle from the Russians.

China’s great real-estate bust has begun, says Nomura. A combination of a huge oversupply of housing and a shortage of developer financing is producing a housing market downturn that could drive China’s GDP to less than 6% this year.

Billy Gasparino and Jenna Dillon-Gasparino were savvy enough to wait out the housing boom of a decade ago as renters. Not until 2010, well into the bust, did they buy a house in the Venice neighborhood of Los Angeles, less than a mile from the beach, for $810,000. Only four years later, the couple see new signs of excess in the housing market and have decided to go back to renting. They are close to a deal to sell their house – for $1.35 million, a cool 67 percent gain.

After excavating your mega-basement in Holland Park, it’s cheaper and easier to leave the JCB entombed down there with the pool, personal cinema and staff quarters.

This 420-square-foot studio in Manhattan can transform into five different rooms and is on the market for just under $1 million.

The buyer, an Italian, was in town for a week, with a million or so dollars to spend. We met one Sunday morning at 20 Pine, a Financial District condo building. She wore a red scarf, jangly jewelry, and a pair of lime-green sunglasses perched atop her curly hair, and she told me she would prefer to remain anonymous. Working through a shell company, she was looking to anchor some of her wealth in an advantageous port: New York City.

Would you like to own an entire town? If you have $400,000, you could be the new owner of Swett, South Dakota.

If you ever wanted a little slice of Italy, here's your chance. An entire alpine village is up for sale on eBay. The auction for the town of Borgata Calsazio, just a few ski runs away from Turin, is real, with a "Buy it Now" price of a mere $333,057.

New York City moved just a little closer to all-out class warfare over the weekend, when the Department of Housing Preservation and Development approved a plan for an Upper West Side condo building with a separate door for the poorer people who are being allowed to live there

If the old saw about houseguests being like fish is true - after a few days they begin to stink - imagine what it must smell like in poor Cory Tschogl's 600-square-foot condo in Palm Springs, California. Tschogl entered into an agreement through the popular Internet site Airbnb to host a man and his brother for a 44-day period from May 25 through July 8. (Airbnb connects travelers looking for low-cost accommodations with locals who in turn rent them rooms in their homes.)

Maksym Pashanin and Denys Pashanin. The man refusing to leave a Palm Springs, California, condo rented through Airbnb has been involved in a number of other questionable activities, including a Kickstarter campaign that raised nearly $40,000 but hasn't delivered the product. He appears to regret nothing, telling Kickstarter backers that he would "squat again."

How to Make Your Home Stand Out to Buyers. How can you sell your home fast? Here are several ideas that you probably never thought of.