Mortgage Rates Rise

Mortgage Rates Rise

Home Exteriors to be on the look out for

Architectural styles are getting mixed up in home exteriors, but a few trends are emerging. A recent article on Houzz, a home remodeling site, highlights some of the biggest trends in home exteriors, based on the most popular exterior photos uploaded to the site so far this year.

Out of the five trends and most popular home pictures posted on Houzz, here are three worth highlighting:

1. Front porches

An inviting front porch can offer some nostalgia of sitting outside in a rocking chair or a porch swing, gazing upon the neighborhood. Every one of the most popular front-exterior photos uploaded to Houzz has shown off a front porch, the article notes

Home Exteriors to be on the look out for

2. Modern farmhouses

This style blends traditional farmhouse architectural features—such as gabled roof lines, board-and-batten siding, and metal porch roofs—with a modern flair, such as contrasting colors and open floor plans.

3. Glass garage doors

Garage doors are gaining more prominence in dressing up exteriors. Opaque glass garage doors are enhancing homes, including modern farmhouse styles. When double garage doors take up most of the front of the home, a glass garage door can lighten the clunky look and offer a shiny touch.

Home Improvement Mistakes

Home Improvement Mistakes

DIY home improvement jobs can end in disaster. And even when they don’t, projects can become time-consuming and costly. Botched DIY home improvement jobs can also lead to quarreling among loved ones, shows a new survey from Porch.com, a home improvement website. Porch.com surveyed more than 1,000 homeowners to discover the biggest sources of tension and mistakes during home improvement projects.

A third of homeowners say they tackle house projects themselves in order to save money; they also do it because they enjoy it or because the job seemed easy. Millennials spend more on DIY projects than older homeowners, devoting, on average, $405 per job.

But errors are frequent, the report found. Consumers who made errors in their DIY efforts took five-and-a-half hours longer to complete the job. For example, DIYers who erred on floor installation projects said it took them, on average, 27 hours to finish the job, more than twice as long as those who made no mistakes, according to the survey. Flooring errors were typically the most time-consuming of the DIY projects that Porch.com tracked. Flooring like hardwood, laminate, and vinyl are all installed differently, and early errors in the installation can cause major issues down the road, the report notes.

Household projects that involved electrical work also proved difficult to fix if errors were made. For example, consumers who made errors wiring or installing a ceiling fan needed more than twice as much time to complete the job than those who did it with no problems. Furthermore, basic errors when handling electrical or wiring work can lead to electrical fires and other dangers, the report warns.

DIY mistakes can be costly as well. Consumers who made mistakes on installing floors ended up costing themselves $829 more. “Hardwood can cost homeowners thousands, and poorly laid boards may need to be replaced,” the report notes. “Conversely, tiles can be laid out before any grout goes down, preventing the need to rip them out later. Accordingly, individuals who made mistakes when installing tile paid just $58 more on average.”

What is External Obsolescence?

External  obsolescence is a factor that reduces the value of an improvement because of something external to the property itself.  It refers to something outside the home that is causing a lower property value.

Five examples of external obsolescence:

• Busy Road: This is a very common example of external obsolescence because we can see it in virtually every community to some extent.
• Commercial buildings: Residential and commercial uses tend not to mix well in suburban areas.  It’s usually a negative factor when houses are located next to restaurants, retail or gas stations.
• Construction of a land fill next to a neighborhood.
• Railroad Tracks: Properties located near a railroad will suffer a hit when it comes to home values due to the noise factor.
• High voltage Towers: A view of nearby power towers usually results in a hit to property value.

External Obsolescence

What is External Obsolescence? For homeowners looking to do improvements in the hopes of getting a better sale price, this may be something to consider. With the help of myself and John of Freedom Mortgage, we can help you determine the best ways to increase the value of your property before listing. #RealEstate #Realtor #HomePurchase #BuyersMarket #FreedomFast #ExternalObsolescence #HomeValue

Cost of Common Home Repairs

Cost of Common Home Repairs

Homeowners are sprucing up their homes more this year, tackling several home improvement projects. Eighty-eight percent of homeowners recently surveyed say they performed a major home repair in the last year, and more than half said they managed multiple major repairs or home improvement projects, according to a new analysis by Porch.com, a home improvement website.

Homeowners spent an average of $4,958 on home repairs and improvements in the past year, according to the study. But about a quarter of more than 1,000 homeowners surveyed said they spent more, averaging $2,501 to $5,000, and 15 percent of homeowners spent $5,000 to $10,000 on their house repairs. Which projects were the most expensive?

Repairing a floor structure topped the list, averaging more than $15,000, the study shows.

“Even the most resilient, high-quality floors will need to be replaced eventually, and you may want to start saving now,” Porch.com’s study notes. “While both the square footage and materials will play a factor in the total cost, the overall average made repairing floor structures the most expensive renovations according to the homeowners surveyed.”

Installing a fence (more than $8,000), aluminum decking ($5,600), and air conditioning ($4,400) also ranked among the most costly home improvement projects, according to the analysis.

Emergency home repairs are common. Eighty-eight percent of homeowners dealt with a major repair last year, costing on average nearly $5,000, according to the study.

But homeowners believe their improvements pay off. Homeowners, on average, believed their homes are worth nearly $15,000 more today than a year ago—a 6 percent increase, according to the study.