Get into the fall spirit with our top home, food, and cleaning picks of the month. We're in full-on fall mode here at BHG, and our October favorite products clearly reflect our love for the season. This month's favorite finds include coffee alternatives for your at-home PSL, pumpkin-shape candles, and apple-scented soaps.Get into the fall spirit with us by making a steaming cup of joe with our favorite...

It’s ultra-soft and machine-washable. Better Homes & Gardens / Reese Herrington My favorite nightly ritual is cozying up on the couch after dinner to watch a few episodes of my current TV obsession before bed. Regardless of the time of year, I’m unable to get truly comfortable without a blanket or throw to drape over my legs while I relax, but this holds especially true during the fall and...

Protect your precious belongings (and stay more organized) by avoiding cardboard storage options. Getty Images / Oscar Wong Packing items away in cardboard boxes is one of the worst storage mistakes you can make. Whether you're repurposing Amazon boxes for attic storage or left boxed unpacked after a move, you could be inadvertently putting your items at risk. Even if boxes are sealed (seemingly)...

California-based Provident Funding Associates LLC is getting out of the Florida condo lending business, it told broker partners on Friday. In an email sent Friday morning, Provident said that it would “no longer be accepting new applications for condominiums” effective that day. Provident told broker partners that all loans in the pipeline must be locked by 11:59 p.m. PST on Oct. 31 or they’ll be...

When older homeowners wish to access a portion of their equity, there are multiple options. Of course, selling the home is generally not desirable. A cash-out refinance is also not a prudent pathway for retirees. A refinance not only saddles the homeowner with a required monthly payment but will also typically result in a higher interest rate for those that refinanced in the last decade. The Home...

With a little more than two weeks remaining until Election Day, the policy positions of the major political parties’ nominees for president — Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump — have been under the microscope. Each of their potential policies toward the Federal Housing Administration (FHA)’s Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) program have already been documented by...

Since mortgage rates have headed higher again, I was anticipating that today’s housing starts report would be the last decent print before the effects of higher mortgage rates hit the builders, but even this report was disappointing. We had a good few months of positive builder confidence data for the new home sector and positive purchase application data for existing home sales. However, mortgage...

Important Note* Check your local forms for options around discussing buyer agency with visiting prospects. Follow your local MLS and broker rules and regulations and master how to speak to the prospects about their options. Open houses are still a fundamental pillar of the business. NAR reports that 53% of home buyers visit open houses. So more than half of the buyers out there shopping, at some point...

Tesla’s ‘We, Robot’ event was the talk of the town — for reasons both good and bad — but one thing caught our eye during Elon Musk’s presentation. And it wasn’t Tesla’s self-driving taxi. As the company unveiled its revolutionary Tesla Optimus robots, which walked among the crowds at the event, Elon Musk revealed some of the robots’ impressive capabilities. In a video, Optimus was...

A new design comes out every day for the rest of this month, and we still can't get enough. Mackenzie-Childs There’s no tea kettle like a Mackenzie-Childs tea kettle. We’ve been obsessed with the classic hand-painted checkered tea kettle for as long as it’s been around—and the brand’s creations have graced many a stylish kitchen.Now, Mackenzie-Childs is breaking ground with its latest...