The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage barely budged this week, remaining low at a 3.75% average, Freddie Mac reports.

“Mortgage rates have essentially stabilized over the last two months, which reflects the recovery and improvement in the economy from the malaise earlier in the year,” says Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “Going forward, the combination of low mortgage rates, tight labor market, and high consumer confidence should set up the housing market for continued improvement in home sales heading into late summer and early fall.”

Freddie Mac reports the following national averages with mortgage rates for the week ending Aug. 1, 2019:

• 30-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 3.75%, with an average 0.6 point, unchanged from last week’s average. Last year at this time, 30-year rates averaged 4.60%.
• 15-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 3.20%, with an average 0.5 point, rising from last week’s 3.18% average. A year ago, 15-year rates averaged 4.08%.
• 5-year hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages: averaged 3.46%, with an average 0.4 point, falling from last week’s 3.47% average. A year ago, 5-year ARMs averaged 3.93%.

After a slight uptick last week, mortgage rates fell back to what’s become a more regular pattern this summer of hovering near three-year lows. Home buyers are responding to the lower rates, and mortgage applications for home purchases have continued to rise steadily the last two months to the highest year-over-year change since the fall of 2017, says Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist.

“While the improvement has yet to impact home sales, there’s a clear firming of purchase demand that should translate into higher home sales in the second half of this year,” Khater says.

Freddie Mac reported the following national averages with mortgage rates for the week ending July 25:

• 30-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 3.75%, with an average 0.5 point, falling from last week’s 3.81% average. Last year at this time, 30-year rates averaged 4.54%.
• 15-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 3.18%, with an average 0.5 point, falling from last week’s 3.23% average. A year ago, 15-year rates averaged 4.02%.
• 5-year hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages: averaged 3.47%, with an average 0.4 point, falling from last week’s 3.48% average. A year ago, 5-year ARMs averaged 3.87%.

In a bathroom remodel, homeowners have a lot of choices, from tubs, sinks, tile, and more. But it’s the small details that could have some big impact. Realtor.com® recently featured an article on the smaller details that can help elevate a bathroom’s look, including:

A lux shower head

“These days, many people opt for massaging shower heads and models that can remember your temperature preferences,” Rob McDowell, a master plumber with All Star Plumbing in Columbia, Mo., told realtor.com®. Low-flow shower head systems and models that detach from the wall are trending. Designers also suggest raising the shower head a foot or so higher. “When people ask us for the secret to the perfect bathroom, we always recommend raising your shower head,” McDowell says. “Older homes typically have shower heads, so raising yours will bring your bathroom into the present at very little cost.”

Clean tile grout

Grout has the potential to make a bathroom look cleaner. “This is my personal design preference, but I love the white grout in the bathroom,” says Lynn Schrage, a bathroom design manager at Kohler. “But I also see a lot of public places choosing black grout with a lighter tile.” Make sure the grout blends with your tile.

Towel racks

A place to hang the towels can actually become a focal point in a bathroom. Schrage recommends choosing a towel bar that’s wide enough for at least two towels—about 24 inches. She also says the towel bar doesn’t need to be the same finish as the plumbing. Consider the placement, too. Towels should be accessible as you exit a shower.

Sink faucets

“Sink faucets are basically statement earrings for your bathroom,” Schrage says. “I love the look of a widespread—at least 8-inch—faucet.” They can appear more contemporary and faucets with some room around them are easier to clean, she notes.

More homeowners are leaning towards maintenance-free faux turfs for their yards, according to landscapers.

Architect Christopher Brandon of Brandon Architects in Costa Mesa, Calif., told The Wall Street Journal that about 75% of the projects he does for modern-style homes now ask for artificial grass. Since faux turf does not require water and the green stays vibrant all year long, there is virtually zero maintenance. Brandon says he likes to do a mix of the artificial grass with real plants surrounding it to blur the lines between fake and real.

Homeowners in Napa Valley told WSJ they spent $60,000 on a synthetic lawn for their 3,600-square-foot parcel of land. “[Real] grass is messy,” homeowner Hillary Ryan, also a real estate professional, told WSJ. “We paid six times more to have the faux grass installed.” The turf can thrive in drought-prone places like California, and the lawn can withstand sports activities from their school-age children, Ryan says. They paired their faux turf with native, drought-tolerant real plants.

Natural grass is priced at less than $2 a square foot for initial landscaping, but it requires mowing and maintenance, Tommy Beadel, co-founder at Thomas James Homes in Aliso Viejo, Calif., told WSJ. Beadel is a custom home builder that installs synthetic and natural turf. High-end synthetic grass, on the other hand, can cost $11 to $19 a square foot. Troy Scott, owner of Heavenly Greens in San Jose, Calif., says the synethic grass can save homeowners in the long run.

Synthetic lawns can last up to 20 years, and the only maintenance required is attending to the occasional pop-up weed.

Luxury owners and landscape designers used to think very negatively about faux lawns, but more high-end homeowners are  warming up to the trend. Most of the negative perception about fake yards is because the faux products offered to homeowners were the same ones used on sports fields. Synthetic lawns nowadays are a combination of nylon, polyethylene and polypropylene, and tend to have better drainage, stay cooler in the sun, and feel softer. New fake lawns look more like regular grass from pigment variation that mimics the color of natural grass, WSJ reports.

“Even the mention of the word fake sends peoples toes curling,” Grahame Hubbard, a New York-based landscape designer specializing in terraces and rooftops, told WSJ. Sometimes faux grass takes some convincing, so Hubbard shares photos of his work via Instagram using hashtags like #syntheticlawn to sell potential clients on their low-maintenance options, which include turf.