Is your home currently on the market? Are you hoping for a quick sale and want to stack the odds in your favour? One powerful option to consider is to maximize the potential of the open house showings of your home. It is no longer enough to pop a sign on your lawn, leave a plate of cookies on the counter, and hope buyers will fall in love with your home. Today's sellers need to approach a showing like a reconnaissance mission. By analyzing the competition, taking advantage of technology, and understanding buyer patterns, you can significantly increase the potential of open house showings. Will one of the following tips help you sell your home faster?

- Use a mobile app to offer potential buyers extra details. Add the app link to feature sheets and email footers. If you're fortunate enough to have numerous visitors to your open house, you may not be able to attend to them all at once. A mobile app helps visitors discover tempting tidbits until you have a moment to attend to your next set of potential buyers.

- Consider holding your open house later in the afternoon. Instead of competing with other open houses for time slots early in the day, treat guests to viewings just slightly before the dinner hour. Your home's showing can leave a lasting impression and provide an intriguing topic for dinner conversation.

- Don't wait until the day of an open house to start promoting. Start marketing well in advance by updating your email signature, posting previews to your Facebook page, and tweeting out tempting tidbits on Twitter. Make sure lawn signage is in place ahead of time and neighbourhood bulletin boards have a current promotional flyer for your home.

- Consider creating a virtual tour for visitors that might not be able to attend your showing. Thanks to the abundance of helpful photography apps, you can create panoramic shots or videos of each room without having to hire a professional photographer.

- Another option that is growing in popularity is to use a drone to photograph the exterior of a home. Check with local hobby shops to see if they offer drone photography as one of their services. Be sure to check with city officials first to ensure that there are no air space restrictions in your area regarding aerial photography. Use the video to garner attention ahead of time for your open house.

These are just a few options you can consider to boost the potential of your open house. With numerous homes for buyers to consider, making your open house stand out is crucial if you want to increase your chances of a sale. Do you think you will be integrating any of these real estate tips into your next showing?

Building an emergency fund is something most people know they should do but few actually get around to doing. A recent study found that nearly two-thirds of Americans did not have an emergency fund, and more than half would have trouble coming up with $1,000 on short notice. That lack of savings puts them at risk and makes achieving long-term financial goals much more difficult.

Building an emergency fund is a critical first step on the road to financial security. Many people think that they do not make enough money to build an emergency fund, but even low-income workers can set money aside if they take the right steps.

Take Note of Daily Expenses

You may think you have no extra money to build an emergency fund, but those extra dollars could be hiding in plain sight. Take a few minutes to review your normal daily expenses, from that morning cup of coffee and lunch with coworkers to daily parking charges and the take-out pizza you grab on the way home.

Look for ways to economize and swap high costs for lower ones.

Bagging up your leftovers from last night's dinner could save you $10 or more a day -- that's several hundred dollars a month. Making your coffee at home could save you $20 to $50 more, while skipping the take-out once or twice a week could save you $100 or more. If your town offers public transportation, swapping your car for a bus or trolley could slash your parking charges and save you even more.

Start a Piggy Bank

Now that you have identified the leaks in your daily budget, you can use that knowledge to start building an emergency fund. Take that $10 you would have spent on lunch and place it in a special spot in your wallet. When you get home, transfer that cash to your new piggy bank and watch the money accumulate. When your bank is full, you can use the money to start the savings account that will become your emergency fund.

You do not have to confine your savings to folding money. Change works just as well, and it is much easier to accumulate. Every time you get change, keep it in your pocket until you get home, then transfer it to your piggy bank. You may be surprised at how quickly that spare change adds up.

Making money in any real estate venture is a difficult task, and many people don't have the skills (or the stomach) for flipping houses. An alternative to this intrinsically risky activity is to purchase a property for the long term and rent it out. These types of income properties are becoming more and more common and the following article will touch on why income properties make so much sense.

Low Interest Rates

Interest rates are currently at historic lows, and the central bank does not appear to be interested in increasing the rate any time soon. These rates allow investors to finance their properties more easily and allow them to offset a great deal of their reduced housing expenses via the income generated by renting the property. It is important to consider other costs associated with the property such as utilities, insurance, maintenance, and property taxes, but by renting out your property you are effectively having someone else pay down your mortgage for you.

Using Equity for Future Redevelopment

Holding an income property as a long-term investment means that over time you will be paying down a significant amount of your mortgage while, potentially, seeing appreciation in your property value. This long-term strategy could leave you in a position for future redevelopment of your property using mostly income (or equity) generated from your property.

Tax Implications

Depending on your local taxing jurisdiction there are likely some tax implications to consider before renting out a property. It's important to understand the details related to property taxes, income taxes, and capital gains taxation. It is also crucial to understand what expense items are income-tax deductible. In many cases you will be able to deduct mortgage interest, utilities, property taxes, property management fees, and many other items. Some areas also permit investors to incorporate, allowing them to be taxed at the corporate tax rate while they pay themselves dividends. Each situation is different but incorporating can result in a corporate income-tax rate significantly lower than a person income-tax rate.

Grants from Municipalities

The need for higher density is a major priority for many local jurisdictions, and grant programs are becoming a popular way for municipalities to encourage investors and homeowners to add suites to their properties. These grants will not typically cover the entire cost of constructing a suite at your property, but some municipalities offer incentives of up to 25% of the construction expense.

Gaining Equity by Adding a Suite

Adding a rental unit, or multiple rental units, will typically add substantial equity to your property. This means that on top of having an investment that is generating income on a monthly basis, you will also have extra equity available if you do decide to sell your property in the short term.

It is important to remember that as a rental investment, your property doesn't need to be renovated to a brand new level. Sweat equity is great, but try to keep costs reasonable, and maintain building quality at a level comparable to the local market, and expect to see some depreciation over the life of your investment.

Long-Term Returns

The biggest benefit of holding a long-term income property is the return you will see over your investment horizon. Your property will produce income regularly, and hopefully appreciate in value, and this could all be happening while you're paying down some form of housing debt. For these reasons, the returns an investor can expect to see from their purchase or development of an income property have the potential to far outperform most other investments of a similar size.

Enjoying your backyard in the summer months is a treat if you have been cooped up indoors during the cold and wet months. Here are four ways you can spruce up your yard and make it a summer haven.

1. Clean your outdoor furniture
After months of not being used and sitting around collecting dust and dirt, your outdoor furniture probably looks less than inviting. It's time to break out a bucket of water and soap, and clean them up. If they still look shabby, you can can paint them. This is a good way to change the look of your backyard furniture for the cost of a can of paint.

2. Create shaded places to relax
During the summer months it's nice to spend time outdoors, but there should be shaded areas so that no one has to be directly in the sun. If you're lucky enough to have a large tree in your backyard, you can arrange seating underneath. If you have a table on which you have meals outdoors, use an umbrella to create shade.

3. Add colorful flowers
One of the joys of summer is the abundance of bright colors. You can purchase or grow flowers to add to the patio or perimeter of your yard. Bright colors put people in a good mood and make them want to spend time in the area. If you're a creative person, you might also want to paint your flowerpots to add extra color.

4. Add lighting for evenings
Enjoying your backyard doesn't have to stop when the sun goes down. You can string lights around your yard and enjoy it in the evening as well. You can go as simply as white lights around your patio, or get more creative if you're the crafty and adventurous type. You can find dozens of lighting ideas online.

It doesn't take a lot of money to improve the look of your yard, just a little time and creativity.