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Interest rates remain low, though that’s no reason to stow your money under your mattress.

Hiding your money at home won’t earn you any interest, and that’s one of the benefits—no matter how small—that banks and credit unions can offer customers. But banks and credit unions have different benefits and drawbacks, and knowing how each works can make it easier to decide where to put your cash.

Here are some differences between credit unions and banks:

Profit vs. no profit: The first thing to note when comparing banks to credit unions is that banks are in business to make money and credit unions are not for profit. This can allow credit unions to offer better interest rates, which we’ll get to shortly.

Credit unions are cooperatively owned and run by volunteer board members, who decide interest rates and other factors. To join a credit union, you may have to be a member of an employee group, association or some other specific affiliation, and may have to live in a specific geographic area.

Interest Rates: Credit unions have slightly better interest rates than banks on CDs, money market accounts, regular savings accounts and interest checking accounts, according to the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA).

Better Loans: Credit unions also have either the same or better rates on home loans, and their car loans can be half the rate of what a bank charges, according to the NCUA data.

Deposit Insurance: Both credit unions and banks have the same protection from the federal government through the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., or FDIC. It insures up to $250,000 per account for checking, savings, money market and CD accounts.

Lower Fees: Credit unions generally charge less in fees than banks, according to the NCUA, though its website didn’t offer specific examples. When looking into banking fees, ask about minimum balance requirements to avoid a monthly fee, whether you’re limited to withdrawals from a savings account each month, what debit card fees it charges and if you’re reimbursed for fees at an ATM not affiliated with your account.

More Options at Banks: From a retirement plan to business loans and investing services, and everything in between, most banks will often offer more services than credit unions do. Banks also have more brick-and-mortar locations and ATMs that are spread around the country and are free to customers, making them a more convenient option.

Wherever you decide to put your money, check online with the FDIC to ensure that the bank or credit union you want to do business with is insured by the FDIC and is a legitimate financial institution.

Now that your home is on the market, you’ll probably need to leave every once in a while so your house can be shown to a prospective buyer. There’s also a good chance that you’ll also have to deal with an open house or two during the course of the sale.

Some sellers don’t really see the point in an open house. After all, pretty much everyone who buys a home today starts their search online and does a lot of preliminary research about the properties and neighborhoods. However, someone looking in a particular neighborhood might feel more comfortable going from open house to open house during the course of a weekend afternoon. Seeing your home in person might be enough to get them interested.

Open houses serve as an announcement to the market, real estate professionals and your neighbors that you’re selling. Many times, neighbors will visit the house just to compare it to their home, but they may also have a friend or relative looking to move, and this gives them the motivation to recommend the house. Word of mouth is never a bad thing in the real estate game.

An open house has some nice benefits for your listing agent, as well. They have the chance to meet with possible future clients, but it also allows them to talk to those neighbors and get some perspective on the area that maybe you left out.

Historically, the sales probability from an open house is relatively low, so you shouldn’t expect to get an offer that night, but it does set some things in motion and gets people buzzing about what they’ve seen.

Open houses can also provide some valuable feedback on the home about the price, condition and other important things that you may not have thought of. This insight can help with the sale going forward.

That’s why it’s up to you to make the house as perfect as possible before an open house. That means cleaning to the nines, decluttering and repairing anything that needs fixing. This is a good kick-in-the-butt way of getting your house in market ready shape.

Real Estate Market trends for 90277
Curtesy of Digs / M3Media and Jack McSweeney – REMAX Estate Properties / DRE#01027223
The market has been cooling off a bit in recent weeks, as more homes are available and demand is less. However, the market is still notably in the Seller’s zone so we haven’t yet seen prices move lower as a result. It may take a few more weeks of slack demand for prices to reflect and begin to fall. Expect this condition if the index falls to the Buyer’s zone.