Unique Doorways That Would Give Any Guest A Memorable First Impression

fun article from thelightersideofrealestate.com

Having an appropriate home entryway can create quite the impression for yourself and your guests. Be it the material, the paint used, or the sculpting of the surroundings, your doorway can make an unforgettable first impression. Here are a few examples of some rather extreme and beautiful entrances found around the world.

Prepare Your Home for Fall and Winter

From Reader's Digest.com (rd.com, good advice...

With summer a fading memory, now’s the time to ready your home for fall and winter’s cooler temps and unpredictable weather conditions.

1. Clear out the gutters.
Remove leaves and other debris from your drainpipe and gutters to prevent clogging. In areas with cold winters, outdoor faucets should be drained in the fall.

2. Clean the fireplace and chimney.
You can clear out ash and charred wood from the fireplace yourself, but leave the chimney cleaning to a professional. Have the chimney cleaner check the damper to ensure it can be tightly closed to prevent drafts.

3. Check the heating system.
Do a survey of your home’s heating vents to make sure they’re not blocked or covered by furniture, carpeting, or curtains. Dust vents and clean all filters. Make an appointment for an annual heating system check-up.

4. Store air conditioners.
If you have removable window air conditioners, be sure to unplug them before taking them down. Dust and clean before covering or storing.

5. Check for drafts.
Stay warm, save energy, and reduce your heating bills this fall by examining windows and doors for cracks and sealing them to prevent drafts.

6. Put up storm windows.
If you have removable screens, now’s the time to clean, store, and replace them with storm windows.

7. Ready the water heater.
Prepare for cooler weather by draining the water heater and clearing out any debris that has settled in the tank.

Buying a Home in the Fall

interesting article from realtor.com

The real estate market is open 365 days a year – yes, even on holidays – but there are cyclical trends to the marketplace. Some of those ups and downs are based on mortgage interest rates and housing availability, but some are based on season.

Next to spring, fall is the busiest season for home buying and selling. Autumn offers certain benefits to home buyers, including year-end tax breaks, pleasant weather conditions for moving and a wide selection of homes for sale. Read on to learn the advantages of buying in the fall.

Year-End Tax Breaks

Come September and October, people start to think about what year-end tax breaks they might be eligible for. Fortunately for home buyers, owning a home can yield great dividends in tax returns. For example, both mortgage interest and property taxes are deductible from gross income. Furthermore, if you have prepaid some interest before the due date of your first payment, and if you close your loan before the year’s end, that interest can also be deducted.

Getting Ahead of Mother Nature

Buying a house before the deep freeze of winter sets in is very appealing to most home buyers. No one wants to worry about icy roads, snowstorms or blackout conditions on moving day, nor is it fun to move in sweltering summer heat.

School Year and Holidays

By wintertime, kids have settled into school, established friendships and become involved in extracurricular activities. Moving in summer would be least disruptive to your children’s schooling or social calendar, but autumn is next best. Also, by moving in fall, you’ll be settled snugly into your new home before Thanksgiving and the winter holidays.

More Home Choices

While home demand is not as keen in fall as it is in spring, it’s still high, so competition can be high, too. Fall buyers and sellers tend to be motivated to move, unlike the window-shoppers who sometimes come out in spring.

You may experience pressure to buy, due to the quick turnaround of houses on the market, but you’ll also benefit from the broad selection of homes available. In fact, between September and December, you may be able to visit several open houses in a single day, and listings will be updated frequently. Therefore, to make sure you don’t miss out on your dream house, it’s a good idea to regularly check listings and check in with your Realtor.

Fall Home-Buying Tips

Given the home-buying competition and the short, pre-holiday timetable in autumn, you may be tempted to place a bid that is out of your price range, for fear of losing the home. Before you make an offer, know what kind of house you need and what you can realistically afford, and stick to your budget. You may want to explore prequalifying for a loan so that you’ll be ready to act when you find the home you want. And as always, whatever season you buy in, buy at the best time for you and your family, and hold out for the right house – there are always more homes to see and to choose among.

Zillow: Average First-Time Homebuyer 33 Years of Age

interesting article from National MortgageProfessional.com

Today's first-time homebuyer is older and more likely to be single than first-time homebuyers in the 1970s and 1980s, according to a new Zillow analysis. Zillow's study found that Americans are renting for an average of six years before buying their first homes. In the 1970s, they rented for an average of 2.6 years. They're also spending a bigger chunk of their incomes to buy: In the 1970s, first-time homebuyers bought homes that cost about 1.7 times their annual income. Now they're buying homes that cost 2.6 times their annual income.

Part of that can be attributed to the housing markets where Millennials are moving: More expensive cities on the coasts, where there are growing job markets.

The average first-time homebuyer is about 33, at the front end of the Millennial generation. Their median income is $54,340, which is about the same as what first-time homebuyers made in the 1970s, when adjusted for inflation.

In the late 1980s, 52 percent of first-time homebuyers were married. Today, only 40 percent were married.

"Millennials are delaying all kinds of major life decisions, like getting married and having kids, so it makes sense that they would also delay buying a home," said Zillow Chief Economist Dr. Svenja Gudell. "We know Millennials value homeownership and want to buy. The next challenge will be figuring out how they can save for a downpayment and qualify for a mortgage, especially while the rental market is so unaffordable all over the country. The last hurdle will be finding a home they like amidst very tight inventory, especially among starter homes."

Home Values Slide after Nearly Four Years of Growth

interesting article from RISMedia.com

The housing market is slowing down, with home values seeing the first negative monthly change since the market began its recovery nearly four years ago, according to the Zillow July Real Estate Market Reports.

Nationally, home value appreciation is leveling off after its rapid pace in the early years of the recovery. Homes lost 0.1 percent of their value in July, falling to a Zillow Home Value Index of $179,900. Homes appreciated three percent on an annual basis, down from 3.4 percent in June.

Of the 517 metros covered by Zillow, 204 saw a slowdown, including major metros like Washington, D.C. and Cincinnati, where home values declined month-over-month in July. The slowing appreciation is a sign that the market is returning to normal; economists have expected to see growth flattening out as the recovery continues.

Even hot markets like Denver, Dallas, San Jose and San Francisco, which had double-digit annual home value growth in July, saw their monthly appreciation rates ease from June.

"This slight dip in home values is a sign of the times. Many people didn't think it was happening, but it is: we're going negative," says Zillow Chief Economist Svenja Gudell. "We've been expecting to see a monthly decline as markets return to normal. However, this is not like the bubble bust. We're not going to see 10 percent declines. The market is leveling off, and it's good news, particularly for buyers, because it will ease some of the competitive pressure."

Slowing home values could provide more opportunities for hopeful buyers who have been waiting on the sidelines for the market to cool off. More homes may be coming online as homeowners who have been watching strong home value growth decide to list their houses as appreciation slows and smaller gains are expected. This could help ease the constrained inventory the market has been facing for the past several months.

Meanwhile, rents continue to grow at a rapid pace, up 4.2 percent from last July to a Zillow Rent Indexof $1,376. With no sign of rents slowing down and the potential for more homes for sale, conditions may be right for buyers to enter the market.

10 Cheap And Easy Ways To Make Your Home Look More Expensive

lightersideofrealestate.com

Planning to sell your home? Want to enhance its overall appeal quickly and inexpensively? Check out the DIYs below that will help you do just that — for just pennies on the dollar vs. hiring the work out.

1. You can frame that “builders” mirror without having to remove it from the wall.



2. Hide piping like a champ with some fake rafters that also bring a rustic appeal to the room.



3. Is your ceiling lackluster to the eye? Create beautiful joinings for crown molding.



4. How would you like impeccable window trim for $50 and a weekend’s worth of work?



5. Wainscotting is easy to create using wooden frames, a chair rail, some caulk and paint.



6. Another impressive use for wainscotting is to transform a bland entryway. It’s probably easier than you think.



7. Jenna Sue does it again with these expert paneled walls. All it took was some hard wood sheeting, half-inch thick MDF panels, and some elbow grease.



8. This window valance was created for less than $30 with some MDF wood and leftover crown molding.



9. Some people just don’t like empty space above their cabinets. This may not be a $30 fix, but it’s still worth mentioning. Instead of cluttering them up with stuff you should probably be throwing away, you can do what Remodelando la Casa did and make that spacing look like something fabulous.



10. Teara Backens Rhode decided her chandelier just wasn’t quite enough. With a cheese plate and some paint, she created this expensive looking ceiling plating to add more style.