FRIDAY - get off the couch
- California homeowners receive $6 billion a year in subsidies — 15 times more than renters, report finds
- Hardest state to find empty housing? California!
- Calif. Fire Victims Turn to Quick Prefabs
- Confidence Among Homeowners, Homebuyers on Diverging Paths
- Foreign Buyers Coming to U.S. Are Changing
- How to Choose the Right Color Temperature of LED Lightbulb
- How to Refresh Your Dining Room on a Budget
Enjoy!
California homeowners receive $6 billion a year in subsidies — 15 times more than renters, report finds - The report from the California Housing Partnership, a nonprofit low-income housing advocate, found that homeowners in the state received billions in subsidies through being able to deduct interest on their mortgages and their property taxes from their state tax bills. The report determined that the single largest housing subsidy in 2017 was $3.9 billion for the mortgage interest deduction, which is the state’s version of a benefit that also applies to homeowners’ federal taxes.
Hardest state to find empty housing? California! - A curious stat from the U.S. Census Bureau tracks empty residences, whether those units are rentals or ownership properties. Basically, “gross vacancy rate” is a proportional measure of how many places are available in a geographic area. When I put this housing-supply data into my trusty spreadsheet, I found California has had nation’s lowest vacancy rate in five out of the last seven years. And in the two years, California did not have the slimmest housing supply (2011 and 2013), the state ranked No. 2.
Calif. Fire Victims Turn to Quick Prefabs - Wildfires that ripped through Northern California last year left neighborhoods in destruction. Displaced homeowners are now learning that rebuilding can take years. As such, some are being drawn to prefab housing to try to speed wait times. Prefab homes are mass-produced in a factory and then assembled on location. The building style is usually touted for its quick construction times than traditional, stick-built homes that are built completely onsite.
Confidence Among Homeowners, Homebuyers on Diverging Paths - Consumer sentiment is following an unusual trend for a seller’s market: Home buyers are upbeat, but homeowners are less so, according to ValueInsured’s latest quarterly Modern Homebuyer Survey. Why the divergence between buyers and owners? Some homeowners may be feeling stuck, while buyers are anxious to jump into real estate before home prices and mortgage rates rise further. Fifty-eight percent of homeowners surveyed say they want to sell but are holding off because they don’t want to purchase again at today’s higher prices. Fifty-nine percent of owners say they believe buyers in their area are overpaying for a home, according to the survey. Buyers still have plenty of concerns, such as saving for a down payment and eroding housing affordability, particularly in the nation’s hottest housing markets.
Foreign Buyers Coming to U.S. Are Changing - Chinese buyers have been the biggest portion, spending the most of any foreign group on U.S. real estate. They spent $31.7 billion on residential real estate in the U.S. between April 2016 and March 2017, according to the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®. But mainland China has since tightened restrictions on how much capital residents can spend outside the country. That has caused some markets to see a drastic decrease of Chinese buyers. Buyers from other countries have been coming in to fill the gap. For example, REALTORS® are reporting that more buyers are coming in from Taiwan, Vietnam, and Thailand and more investors from Dubai, Kuwait, Georgia, and Turkey.
How to Choose the Right Color Temperature of LED Lightbulb - Should you get warm or cool bulbs? To find out, answer these 5 simple questions about how you live and work at home
How to Refresh Your Dining Room on a Budget - See ideas for updating this sometimes-neglected space, whether you have $100 or $10,000
