FRIDAY - AFTER THE STORM
- Buying a home? Here's some good news
- 13 Tips to Make Moving Slightly Less Hellish
- 13 Tips to Make Moving Slightly Less Hellish
- Housing flipping: It's riskier but more lucrative
- 400 Years of American Houses, Visualized
- 400 Years of American Houses, Visualized
- Why Millennials Are Dominating the Housing Market
- 7 Reasons to Include a Little Gloss in Your Decor
Enjoy!
Buying a home? Here's some good news - While home prices continue to rise across the nation, potential buyers can find relief in closing costs dropping. In fact, closing fees associated with borrowing for a home have fallen seven percent over the past year, now averaging around $1,850 on a $200,000 loan, according to Bankrate.com. Notably, home buyers have more say over closing costs than they might expect, as it’s advised to compare closing prices, as costs vary among lenders.
13 Tips to Make Moving Slightly Less Hellish - Buying a new home is an opportunity to celebrate, but the thought of moving boxes and packing up one’s belongings can put a damper on the experience. After all, moving is never fun. But the Atlantic consulted some experts for their advice on how to make the process more bearable. For instance, it’s recommended that you designate a “first night” box so you have the essentials you need readily available when you finally get your possessions to their new home. Tips are categorized by pre-moving, packing, and unpacking.
Housing flipping: It's riskier but more lucrative - House flipping comprised just 4.5 percent of sales in the second quarter of this year, according to RealtyTrac, down from 4.9 percent a year ago. However, the returns on flipping, the gross return on investment, increased to nearly 36 percent, which is up from 24 percent one year ago. Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac, points out that “While average flipping returns are up substantially from a year ago at the national level and in moderately priced markets such as Miami, Atlanta, Phoenix and Minneapolis, flipping returns are softening in some of the higher-priced markets such as San Francisco, Seattle, Denver and Los Angeles.”
400 Years of American Houses, Visualized - The styles of American homes have changed a lot in the last 400 years, and a new graphic visually represents those changes from the 1600s to the present. From post-Medieval English to McMansions, domestic architecture in the United States is as diverse as its denizens. The graphic provides an overview of hundreds of years of design history. The creators looked at how the rooflines morphed through the decades, how architects mined the past for new styles, and how the houses we come to know today evolved from a complex lineage.
Why Millennials Are Dominating the Housing Market - Despite millennials’ reputation as a transient generation that’s not ready to settle down, the National Association of REALTORS® 2015 report on generational trends found that millennials, who are currently between ages 25 and 34, make up the largest share of home buyers at 32 percent. Even more striking, millennials now constitute 68 percent of first-time home buyers. Millennials also appear more willing to purchase properties that need work and to invest their time and money into making improvements.
7 Reasons to Include a Little Gloss in Your Decor - High-shine finishes look good, are practical and can infuse your home with an air of glamour. Some of my favorites:
