It's a national holiday, but lots of us are probably using the day to fix up the house or prepare the garden for fall. Whatever you're doing today, remember the historical resonance of Labor Day. We're supposed to relax, kick back, and thank ourselves for all our hard work-- maybe even take some time to enjoy the fruits of our labor. Celebrate!

Image via Atomic Balloon

Whether you have our mobile app on your smartphone or your tablet, the ZipRealty mobile app is a great tool to have when you’re out in the evenings or on the weekends seeing homes. Here are five ways you can use the app to search smarter:

Price-per-square foot: the amount a certain area’s homes fetch-- per square-- tells you a lot about the market in that area, about how much the location means to the buyer. If people are willing to pay more for less space, that generally indicates a popular place in high demand with homebuyers.

When the first time homebuyer begins pouring over the mathematical formulas that make up a mortgage, she may feel like her head it exploding. At least, I did. The number of acronyms scattered aout a typical loan document is cofounding—often so much so that fledgling loan applicants miss very important points. That’s what this series is about: teaching first-time buyers the lingo of lending.  Today I attempt to illuminate the difference between APR and APY.

APR