Gray is the new Hottest Color in Home Decor

Gray is the new Hottest Color in Home Decor

White still remains the top seller when it comes to color for most home furnishings but gray may soon edge it out. Home owners are reaching for shades of gray to decorate their spaces, with grays serving as a new neutral in all tones, from soft silvers to dark charcoals.

“Gray plays well with other colors,” Dee Schlotter, a color brand manager for Glidden Paints, told The Washington Post.

Kate Watson-Smyth, a London-based interior blogger, told The Washington Post that “gray gives life to everything in a room. Gray makes everything look more modern and fresh. Gray makes all your possessions pop out. It gives them presence. A good picture on a gray wall — it’s amazing!”

Gray is edging out the beige era. As Jackie Jordan, director of color marketing at Sherwin-Williams, notes “we were beiged out.”

Home furnishing stores – like Ethan Allen, West Elm, and Restoration Hardware – are showing gray throughout their furnishings. Also, gray kitchen cabinets are becoming more common as well as gray flooring.

Jackie Dettmar of the carpeting manufacturer Mohawk Group, says shades of gray have become some of their top sellers for the last five years. Also, Kohler now offers five shades of gray in its plumbing fixtures for bathrooms and kitchens.

Source: “The Gloomiest Color on the Spectrum Is Now the Hottest for Your Home,” The Washington Post (Feb. 25, 2016)

The Oscar for Best Home Feature Goes To…

The Oscar for Best Home Feature Goes To…

Which home features are considered the “best” when it comes to helping a home sell the fastest?

To sort out which features are winners for buyers, realtor.com® researchers analyzed millions of listing records over the past three months to pinpoint the number of days each home stayed on the market and the number of page views each listing received on realtor.com®. From there, researchers narrowed their list to the homes that generated the most interest and sold the fastest and looked at their architectural style and amenities.

Based on some of the patterns that emerged, here are the home styles, views, specifications, and amenities that buyers crave right now.

Best housing style: Spanish-style  

Spanish-style homes spent a median of 47 days on the market, half the national average of 93 days. This home style is found mostly in California coastal cities, and comprises just 1 percent of for-sale listings, yet it proves popular with buyers. Here’s a breakdown of the housing styles and median days on the market and list price:

• Spanish: 47 days; $550,000
• Traditional: 84 days; $233,000
• Ranch: 95 days; $179,000
• Craftsman: 103 days; $350,000
• Victorian: 122 days; $259,000

Best view: City skylines

A home with a view often attracts buyers, but homes with an urban view may offer the best view of all. Homes with urban views spent 83 days on the market — less than other views studied. Ocean views, however, have a much heftier median list price at $749,000 but they spend about 98 days on the market. Here’s a breakdown on views, along with median days on the market and list price:

• City views: 83 days; $420,000
• Golf course views: 90 days; $412,000
• Lake view: 95 days; $359,000
• Mountain view: 96 days; $365,000
• Ocean view: 98 days; $749,000

Best home amenity: Stainless steel 

Certain interior features help speed up home sales. Homes with stainless steel appliances tend to sell 15 percent faster than other homes. The popularity of fireplaces, on the other hand, may show some signs of waning. Here’s a breakdown of the hottest amenities, along with median days on the market and list price:

• Stainless steel: 79 days: $300,000
• Granite counter: 82 days; $320,000
• Open kitchen: 83 days; $269,000
• Finished basement: 89 days; $260,000
• Fireplace: 94 days; $290,000

Best location: Next to a good school

Location is a big part in real estate, and homes near good schools tended to sell the fastest than homes that promoted they were near other things, like shopping or the hospital. Here’s the breakdown of the hottest location, along with median days on the market and list price:

• Good school: 76 days; $330,000
• Stadium: 77 days; $250,000
• Shopping: 79 days; $217,000
• Transportation: 88 days; $280,000
• Hospital: 95 days; $192,000

Best price range: $200,000-$250,000

Lower-priced homes have the most fans. Homes listed in the $200,000 to $250,000 price range sold in a median of 83 days — much faster than other price points. Here’s the breakdown of hottest price range, along with median number of days on the market and list price:

• $200,000-$250,000: 83 days
• $150,000-$200,000: 86 days
• $250,000-$300,000: 89 days
• $1 million-$2 million: 118 days
• $2 million-$5 million: 133 days

Best size: 1,500 to 2,000 square feet

Move over McMansion, smaller homes are showing more market popularity right now. While 8,000-square-foot mansions capture about 30 percent more page views on realtor.com® than 1,000-square-foot homes, the smaller home trumps when it comes to selling faster. Here’s the breakdown:

• 1,500-2,000 square feet: 86 days; $194,000
• 2,000-2,500 square feet: 90 days; $260,000
• 3,000-3,500 square feet: 101 days; $400,000
• 5,000-5,500 square feet: 127 days; $2 million
• >100,000 square feet: 173 days; $3.45 million

Source: “The Features That Help a Home Sell Fastest — and the Ones That Don’t,” realtor.com® (Feb. 29, 2016)

Strong Wi-Fi Boosts Building Values

Strong Wi-Fi Boosts Building Values

Only about 2 percent of commercial buildings have dedicated technology in place that offers a strong, reliable mobile coverage and capacity indoors, a new study finds. The buildings that do offer strong mobile coverage are seeing property values increase because of it, a new study by CommScope, a global network infrastructure company, suggests.

“People are obsessed with their mobile phones and see indoor wireless coverage as important as having access to water and electricity,” says Ispran Kandasamy with Building Solutions and CommScope. “The time has come for building professionals to step forward and take ownership for connecting their tenants to mobile networks.”

Indoor wireless coverage in commercial buildings stands to increase a property’s value by 28 percent, on average. That means a $2.5 million office building could be worth $700,000 more with a dedicated indoor cellular system, according to the survey of professionals building managers, facilities managers, real estate managers, and architects.

What’s more, survey respondents even linked a strong signal to an increase in workforce productivity (77%), helping in the recruitment of more talented individuals (46%), and attracting more visitors (39%). Also, two-thirds of survey respondents rated indoor wireless connectivity as “essential” for employees, the survey found.

However, delivering mobile coverage in large, complex buildings could prove to be a financial hurdle for many buildings. Thirty-five percent of respondents cited the costs as the main roadblock.

“While there are clearly concerns around the cost and complexity of the technology, building owners must acknowledge that ignoring this issue could result in more costly work in the future,” Kandasamy says. “Engaging with architects, facilities managers and enterprises at an early stage will ultimately save money – as well as providing an enhanced user experience. Only by taking the lead will building owners be able to provide much needed connectivity in their properties.”

Source: CommScope

Design Mistakes to Avoid With New Homes

Design Mistakes to Avoid With New Homes

When building new, home buyers may be overwhelmed at the abundant choices and then suddenly find themselves in a designer role for their new home. Denver interior designers Lita Dirks and Tony Crasi, Akron, Ohio–based custom builders, offer up some of the biggest mistakes new buyers make as they design their new home.

Granite: Granite counter tops may not be the “wow” factor with all buyers as they once were, the article notes. After all, even some apartments now come with granite. To up the “wow” factor, Dirks and Crasi recommend more uniform surfaces like quartz or quartzite.

Over-the-top ceilings: Ceiling details can be a nice touch but can also quickly become “overkill” if there’s too much, the designers say.

Cramped laundry and mud rooms: These spaces are often found right off the garage and are becoming a priority for buyers. But they can be too small. The larger they are, the more comfortable they’ll seem, and buyers will appreciate the storage.

Oversized islands: The island doesn’t need to take up the entire kitchen, dwarfing all else. If it does, the kitchen may need its layout tweaked or have the extra square footage go to somewhere else in the house.

Pantry doors: The doors often look like any other standard door in the house. “Don’t let it look like a bathroom; let it be part of the kitchen,” Crasi suggests. Try coordinating them with the cabinetry and using a different door for the pantry from the rest of the home.

Source: “Avoid These Seven Design Don’ts,” BUILDER (Jan. 26, 2016)

Bank of America Rolls Out 3% Loans

Bank of America Rolls Out 3% Loans

Bank of America announced a new loan program to help low- and moderate- income borrowers qualify for a mortgage with down payments as low as 3 percent of the purchase price. The loans have financing available up to $417,000.

Eligible borrowers must not earn more than the median income for the area and are required to have a credit score of at least 660. The home the borrower is looking to purchase must also be their primary residence. Applicants must also have a debt-to-income ratio of no more than 43 percent.

Bank of America announced it will also consider non-traditional forms of credit, such as daycare expenses, health club memberships, and rental history in determining credit history.

“There are creditworthy borrowers — people who have shown good experience paying off debts who fit income restrictions — and except for the fact that they don’t have the money for a down payment, they would be good home owners,” says Terry Francisco, a spokesman for the bank.

Low down-payment mortgages are becoming more common. Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae announced last year that they would start backing loans with down payments as little as 3 percent. The Federal Housing Administration also offers low-down payment loans, but FHA also requires borrowers to pay monthly insurance premiums with the mortgage payments.

Bank of America officials say its 3 percent loans will have a less expensive mortgage rate than FHA loans. Rates, however, will be set by a borrower’s creditworthiness and credit score.

The average down payment for home buyers with a conventional 30-year mortgage in the fourth quarter of 2015 was 17.5 percent, reports LendingTree.

Source: “Bank of America Will Offer Mortgages for 3% Down,” CNNMoney (Feb. 22, 2016)