To the uninitiated, the home-buying process may feel like a never-ending cycle of hoops to jump through. But those hoops are there for a reason—there’s a lot of money at stake and so many moving parts between buyer, seller, and lender. The more firewalls prior to closing, the less likely someone’s getting stuck with a bad deal. One of these tedious, but necessary final steps is the home appraisal.

When you purchase a home, it’s smart to invest in homeowners insurance. In fact, you probably don’t have a choice: Your mortgage lender will more often than not mandate it. As a first-time buyer, you might wonder exactly what is and what isn’t covered by your new homeowners insurance policy. It turns out, your standard homeowners insurance isn’t exactly a one-stop shop that covers every and any disaster. Sure, it covers a lot of them, but not all.

If you’re in the market for purchasing a home, looking into foreclosures and short sales might seem like a more affordable way into homeownership. The properties can be quite inexpensive in comparison to the traditional housing market, and if you’re a seasoned buyer, the idea of a fixer-upper might sound appealing.

As a homeowner (or renter), you might have heard of radon: an invisible, odorless, and dangerous gas that’s formed when uranium is broken down over time (this, by the way, is called radioactive decay). The rocks and soil underneath all of our homes have traces of uranium—but what does that mean for our homes? I asked a couple of experts and here’s what they say everyone should know about radon gas. Technically, we’re already exposed to radon. According to the U.S.

I’ve got big dreams to own a Craftsman home one day, with a backyard big enough for a barbecue grill, an inflatable pool, and a big dog. But the median asking price for houses in Los Angeles is a hefty $694,200 and there are no signs of an impending cool down. So is that backyard looking more like a balcony and a shared courtyard with neighbors? Is that house realistically… a condo? A condo (short for condominium) is basically an apartment that you own.

It’s my third time moving in Los Angeles, and I haven’t even lived here for four years. That means I’ve spent more time on Craigslist, Zillow, Trulia, Rent.com, and Rental Girl than I want to know. I even have rental alerts that ping me once they’ve found a “match” that meets all of my dream home criteria (I haven’t disabled it because apartment hunting is one of my favorite hobbies #noshame).

My husband and I can’t buy a home in L.A. because we’re spending too much money on avocado toast. Just kidding—fancy brunch isn’t the problem. The problem is that houses, even “starter” homes in decent neighborhoods, are too expensive. If we wanted to purchase a home in Highland Park, it would likely cost around $737,700 (the median home value for that neighborhood, according to Zillow). That would mean forking up close to $150,000 as a downpayment.

With all the Brooklynites flocking to Silver Lake, Echo Park, or Los Feliz, you might be feeling the itch to get out of Central Los Angeles once and for all. Whether you’re looking for lower rents (the average rent across all of Los Angeles’s 272 neighborhoods is $2,251 a month, according to Rentcafé), homeownership opportunities (18 percent of homes in L.A. sell for over a million, according to Curbed), or just more space, there are a glut of nearby options.