Stress Free Move

The Iowa farm and cornfield that was the setting for Kevin Costner’s Field of Dreams is up for sale.

Don and Becky Lansing, the owners of the site near Dyersville where the field was built by Universal Studios, said Thursday they’re selling the property. The asking price is $5.4 million.

The couple said they love the land, which has been in Don Lansing’s family for more than a century, but they’re ready to retire and give up the property.

“It’s really time for us to head to the locker room. Maybe that sounds corny. I don’t care,” Becky Lansing told The Associated Press. “We really would just love to become spectators. We want to sit in the bleachers. We want to look forward to all that the ‘Field of Dreams’ will become in the future.”

The baseball diamond is in the middle of a cornfield in eastern Iowa. The movie, released in 1989 with Costner as its star, was based on the book “Shoeless Joe” by W.P. Kinsella.

The site has been a popular tourist destination, with the family maintaining the baseball diamond built by Universal. The Lansings purchased the left field and center portions from neighbor Rita Ameskamp in 2007, ending a long-standing split over the commercialization of the site.

Up for sale is the diamond, a two-bedroom house, six outbuildings that include a concession stand, and a 193-acre parcel. The land includes the mystical cornfield where the ghosts of “Shoeless” Joe Jackson, “Moonlight” Graham and others emerge to play ball.

It can be hard to find a place to rent if you have pets. Not everyone wants to run the risk of having dogs chew the baseboards or cats pee in the basement. But many landlords understand that pets are a part of the family. Here is a pet-friendly house for rent in Coconut Grove, Florida.

If you are apartment hunting, moving to an unfamiliar area, you’ll want to know the crime rates. This interactive mapping tool can help you decide the areas you are willing to move to.

Lots of violent crime? You know not to move there if you are a single woman or someone who comes home late at night. Car theft and break-ins? You’ll be able to budget for higher insurance rates.

CrimeReports.com allows you to key in a zip code and see the crimes committed in a specific area over a period of time.

Foreclosure auctions are a great place to find cheap real estate, but you have to do your research. Chances are that the owner who was unfortunate enough to let the house go in the first place ran out of money/inclination to do upkeep. That means everything from lawn care to roof and furnace repair. You may be investing in a dump that needs thousands - or tens of thousands - of dollars worth of repair.

Despite that, if you do some research, you can still get a great bargain.

1. Know the area you’re seeking to invest in. Is it up and coming, or on its way out?

2. Do as much as you can to find out about the state of the property you’re bidding on. A foreclosed property isn’t always the same as a regular sale; you can’t always go tromping through with your agent and an inspector. The lender just wants to unload the property, as is.

3. Be realistic. Don’t blow your entire budget thinking you’re getting a great deal on a great house, only to find you have $25,000 worth of repairs to do, and it’s going to take a year before anyone can move in. This is especially important for those who are new to the real estate game. Though you can generally pick up a house for 50-60% of its market value, there will be factors like repair costs and time to be considered.

You’ve been slogging around for over a week, trying to find the perfect apartment or house in the perfect neighborhood. You’ve seen dozens, and a few really caught your eye. Now it’s down to making a choice based on your deciding criteria. Maybe it’s a backyard you want most. Maybe a fireplace or a den or even a built-in gas range. Thing is, you can’t remember who had the best what, because you’ve seen too many places.

Bring a camera.

Any place you visit that is vacant, you can photograph to your heart’s content. If there’s someone still in residence, just ask their permission first. Most times they won’t mind. When you get home for your various house or apartment viewings, organize the pictures by address. Then when it’s time to make a decision based on who had the swing-set or who was closest to the dog park, you can pull the photos up to help you along.