States With the Highest, Lowest Energy Bills

States With the Highest, Lowest Energy Bills

The month of July tends to produce the highest monthly energy bills for consumers, according to the personal finance website WalletHub.

But where you live has a lot to do with how much energy bills will bite you’re your paycheck. WalletHub’s analytics team recently compared the average monthly energy bills in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia, accounting for residential energy types (like electricity, natural gas, etc.).

WalletHub found the following states have the highest residential energy costs:

1. Connecticut: $404 (the average monthly energy bill in the state)
2. Massachusetts: $346
3. Rhode Island: $338
4. Vermont: $332
5. Georgia: $328
6. North Dakota: $328
7. Maine: $327
8. New Hampshire: $325
9. Indiana: $325
10. Mississippi: $323

On the other hand, the following states have the least expensive energy costs:

1. Iowa: $270
2. Montana: $265
3. Idaho: $262
4. California: $251
5. New Mexico: $249
6. Arizona: $247
7. Oregon: $238
8. Colorado: $235
9. District of Columbia: $219
10. Washington: $218

Source: “2016’s Most & Least Energy-Expensive States,” WalletHub (July 2016)

Most Popular Exteriors on New Homes

Most Popular Exteriors on New Homes

Vinyl is the most widely used exterior on new single-family homes, according to the latest Census Bureau data. Vinyl (which includes vinyl-covered aluminum) was used for siding material on 27 percent of new homes nationwide in 2015, followed by stucco at 25 percent, brick or brick veneer at 22 percent, and fiber cement siding at 19 percent. Wood or wood products accounted for 5 percent of new homes.

The materials used can vary drastically from region to region. For example, stucco was the most popular siding material in the Pacific and Mountain regions, at 57 percent and 55 percent, respectively. In the East and West South Central regions, at least 55 percent of new single-family homes last year used brick or brick veneer.

Take a look at this map from the National Association of Home Builders to see the most popular siding materials by region.

Source: “Vinyl Is the Most Widely Used Exterior on New Homes,” National Association of Home Builders’ Eye on Housing blog (July 7, 2016)

Customers Need a Confidence Boost?

Customers Need a Confidence Boost?

More consumers are reporting mixed views toward housing and income growth, according to Fannie Mae’s latest Home Purchase Sentiment Index.

While the percentage of consumers who believe now is a good time to sell or buy is rising, fewer consumers are upbeat about the trajectory of home prices and stagnant wages are weighing on housing’s outlook, the index shows.

Here are some important figures from the survey:

• The percentage of consumers who say now is a good time to sell a home rose 5 percentage points to a survey high of 18 percent in June.
• The percentage of consumers who think now is a good time to buy increased 3 percentage points to 32 percent.
• The share of consumers who say home prices will rise over the next 12 months plummeted 9 percentage points.
• The number of consumers who say their household income is significantly higher than it was a year ago dropped 10 percentage points.

Fewer consumers also reported a positive outlook on the state of the economy.

“The HPSI’s pullback in June from last month’s survey-high reading suggests a slight weakening in the 12-month outlook for housing activity,” says Doug Duncan, Fannie Mae’s chief economist. “Pending home sales have pulled back in the face of continued home price growth, and we’re seeing some softening in the higher priced components of the market. Growing pessimism about the overall direction of the economy gives us further pause as it now stands at the highest level we’ve seen in our National Housing Survey in the last two years.

“Meaningful improvement in the housing market going forward will likely require consistent upward movement in consumers’ income growth perceptions, which have thus far been stagnant,” Duncan continues. “Also helpful would be an acceleration of supply accumulation of entry-level homes, which would moderate the growth of real home prices and increase affordability.”

Source: Fannie Mae

How to Take Better Videos From Your Phone

How to Take Better Videos From Your Phone

When you need to capture a quick video of a listing or area for a client, your phone may be all you have. You can still take some quality videos to share on the go and from your phone.

USA Today recently featured some tips on capturing better videos from your smartphone, such as:

Turn your phone sideways. The horizontal orientation for shooting video will allow you to get more in the shot. You’ll also avoid the black bars along the side when the video is played back.

Use the “rule of thirds.” To make your videos look more professional, watch your framing. Break up a scene into two vertical lines and two horizontal lines. Place your subject then wherever the four lines intersect. Some smartphones actually let you place this grid on your screen.

Watch your light. Try different angles to make sure you get the right amount of light in your focus area. Try to avoid shooting into a bright window. Some phones allow you to tap on an area in the screen that you want to focus on and the phone will then do an auto-adjust for exposure and focus.

Move the phone slowly. To prevent blur while recording, move the phone slowly as you show off a space. Try to get closer to the object you want to focus on rather than just zooming in, which can look blurry when the video is played back.

Edit. You can still edit a video from a smartphone by cutting, cropping, adjusting the color and brightness, adding transitions, music, narration, captions, and more. Don’t just take the raw footage from a smartphone and send it on. Enhance your smartphone videos to make them look more professional either with desktop video editing software or even an editing app from your phone.

Source: “Tips to Shooting Great Video on Your Smartphone,” USA Today (July 10, 2016)

5-Step Checklist to Spruce Up a Backyard

5-Step Checklist to Spruce Up a Backyard

Amber Freda, a landscape designer in New York, recently shared with The New York Times a checklist that can make it easier for your clients to decorate their home’s outdoor space. Some of her tips include:

1. Choose the right furniture. Don’t leave a blank slate. “Furniture is probably the most important thing, so you can start using the outdoor space even before you get the plantings figured out,” Freda told The New York Times. Create a space for lounging, for example, with just simple chairs and small drink tables.
2. Get some planters. Use planters arranged around the perimeter. “Machine-made terra cottas are prone to cracking in the winter,” Freda says. “Handmade terra cotta is better, and the thicker it is, the longer lasting it will be. Fiberglass will last forever, and you can get it in any color imaginable.”
3. Add lighting. “If there’s not enough ambient lighting already, look at doing uplighting — low-voltage landscape lighting in the planters,” Freda says. An entire system can plug into an existing outlet so no electrician is needed.
4. Define with a rug. An outdoor rug can be “a nice way to break up a space, and make it feel like an outdoor living or dining room,” Freda says.
5. Add some shade. An umbrella can make an outdoor space more inviting by offering some shade from the bright sun overhead. “Some [outdoor umbrellas] are rated for wind resistance, with vents in the canopies,” Freda says. “And the bases can be a few hundred pounds” to avoid them blowing away. Shade sails and pergolas can also add some “elegance” to an outdoor space.

Source: “Outdoor Décor: A Checklist,” The New York Times (July 1, 2016)