Robert Sciarrino/The Star-LedgerOpen house flags wavein the wind in front of a townhouse for sale in Basking Ridge last spring, which is typically a busy month for home sales. Real estate agents are starting to get a head start this winter, hoping they can beat the rush. It used to be real estate agents spent the slow winter months sending out calendars and working on their business goals for the new year. But in a down market like this one, Realtors see the weeks between now and the Super Bowl Read more [...]

COOKEVILLE -- Many people buy pre-made kits to put together their traditional holiday gingerbread houses each year. However, fifth grader Carley Cantrell and her brother, third grader Carter Cantrell, of Cookeville, spent about seven weeks building a scene from the Smurfs completely out of homemade gingerbread and other edible materials. They teamed up to win second place recently in The National Gingerbread House Competition Read more [...]

A family from Suriname was the first of a string of guests to arrive at Steve Chase's million-dollar South Florida home expecting a vacation only, Chase didn't invite any of them. All had paid thousands of dollars and had rental contracts for the Fort Lauderdale house. They were the victims of a growing number of scams that post occupied homes as available on vacation rental websites. "I said, 'I hate to say it to you, but this house is not for rent. You've been scammed,"' Chase recalled telling Read more [...]