DEAR HELAINE AND JOE: My grandmother purchased this painting by Manuel Leal when she was in Mexico. She attached a note to the back of the picture telling a little about the artist. She also stated that, since written permission had to be given to remove the painting from Mexico, she had to …

You switched to your trench coat a month ago. Your striped T-shirt is back in regular rotation. And yet, spring still refuses to maintain its sunny face. It’s time to get out the big guns — you’re going to need to jump on this wicker trend.

Trump Tower, once the crown jewel in Donald Trump’s property empire, now ranks as one of the least desirable luxury properties in Manhattan.

Most homeowners remodel their homes to improve their quality of life. Nearly all hope the renovation adds equity to their home so that when it comes time to sell, they will recoup a portion of the expense.

Breezy Point is beautiful in the summertime, a quaint Queens neighborhood sitting on a slim peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic just south of New York City.

DEAR HELAINE AND JOE: This jardiniere has been in my family for many years. 

MIAMI — Why let sea rise sink your Miami lifestyle when you can go with the flow aboard the Arkup houseboat?

Let’s be real: Shopping around for a mortgage is about as enjoyable as applying for multiple jobs. Both involve a lot of paperwork, time and back-and-forth communication. You may never hear back from all (or any) of those job prospects, but you’re likely to reap rewards by shopping for mortg…

Most sellers dread open houses. It’s not just that they’ve had to spend time making their home immaculate or that they’ve had to find a place to keep their dog. It’s also the idea of a bunch of strangers trooping through their home, judging it, leaves them cold.

Sometimes you look around your apartment or new house and groan. Most people don’t have the luxury of making over a space all at once, much less hiring an interior designer to do so. When money is tight, you might have to upgrade your place bit by bit. Luckily, slowly adding pieces helps to …

The phrase “laminate countertop” usually elicits a look of distaste. A wrinkled nose, maybe a brief sigh and then the phrase, “Too bad it’s not real stone.” For people in their mid-30s to 50s, it brings back memories of speckled off-white or squiggly “Saved by the Bell”-style counters from c…

LOS ANGELES — Rock icon Lindsey Buckingham and his wife, Kristen, have listed their longtime Brentwood compound at $29.5 million as they near completion on a new home in the area.

Q: A neighbor on our quiet street decided to make a motel out of his four-bedroom home. Now we have large groups staying there making noise at all hours and parking in front of other people’s houses. Is our neighbor allowed to do this?

Selling a home can be complicated. The process is like no other financial transaction most people will make. Too often, sellers sabotage the sale of their home by making easily avoidable mistakes.

Tara Thomas thought her daughter was just having nightmares. “There’s a monster in my room,” the almost-3-year-old would say, sometimes pointing to the green light on the Nest Cam installed on the wall above her bed.

Sales of new U.S. homes unexpectedly rose in March to a 16-month high, with a third straight increase that reflects a boost from lower borrowing costs.

The Palm Springs, Calif., home where Elvis and Priscilla Presley secretly stayed during their 1967 honeymoon is on the market for $3.2 million.

BERLIN — Northway Bank was selected to participate in the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston’s Equity Builder Program, which assists local homebuyers with down-payment and closing costs as well as homebuyer counseling and rehabilitation assistance.

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Want to own a piece of movie history? “The old Clickner place” is for sale. That’s what Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon called the 1918 brick house in the 1993 comedy “Grumpy Old Men,” which was filmed in the Twin Cities.

As Aby Rosen was dog-sledding in Norway, skiing in Japan and snorkeling in St. Barts last month, one thought was constantly on the mind of the real estate tycoon and art collector: The building.

Buying your first home comes with many big decisions and can be as scary as it is exciting. It’s easy to get swept up in the whirlwind of home shopping and make mistakes that could leave you with buyer’s remorse later.

CHICAGO — The red brick two-flat in the South Side Park Manor neighborhood that legendary mobster Al Capone once lived in sold April 5 for $226,000.

Q: We closed on our new home last month. We were notified by the association that we need to pay a special assessment that was passed last fall in addition to our monthly dues. We think this should have been paid by our seller. Are we being wrongfully charged?

MANCHESTER — One of the most prominent eyesores in the center city — the fire-damaged apartment structure at Maple and Hanover streets — will soon be coming down. What’s uncertain is what will replace it.

Designers love scenic wallpaper for its ability to transform a room. Unlike regular wallpaper, which often has a repeating pattern, scenic wallpaper fills an entire wall with a single, mural-like image. Usually depicting an outdoor tableau, the wallpaper brings nature inside and lends old-wo…

Retirement is on the horizon, and you’re thinking about relocating to another city. But before you sell your current house, you might want to consider remodeling parts of your home to increase its value.

Aspen and Jackson Hole might be the first ski spots that come to mind when considering a vacation at a luxurious mountain resort. But if you’re actually looking to buy a home and care about convenience as well as luxury, then Utah’s Summit Park region may be the best option.

I’ve been using it for so long I don’t recall when I first heard about parchment paper, but I do have a vague recollection of thinking the name conveyed some sort of official, fancy, tied-up-with-a-ribbon kind of purpose.