If you’re longing to give your home a fresh look, upcycling is the way to go. Turning something old into something new and useful can save you money and give you a beautiful look for less. Let these ideas transform your eyesore into a stunner.
Category Archives: Home Owners
31 Small Space Decorating Don’ts
Sometimes it’s just a matter of turning a decorating “don’t” into a “do” to make close quarters feel a whole lot bigger. Here, top designers and HGTV stars share their favorite insider tricks.
Baby Boomers to Face Big Housing Problem
As the baby boomers age, the population aged 65 and older is projected to climb to 73 million by 2030 – a rise of 33 million in just 20 years.
That surge is also expected to bring about an alarming number of lower-income older adults who may face several housing challenges in the years ahead, according to the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies. Within a decade, JCHS researchers predict that households aged 65 and over earning less than $15,000 will rise by 37 percent to 6.5 million.
Americans Again Say Real Estate Is Best Long-Term Investment
For the second straight year, more Americans name real estate than stocks, gold, savings accounts/CDs or bonds as the best long-term investment. Real estate leads with 31% of Americans choosing it, followed by stocks/mutual funds, at 25%. Meanwhile, gold dropped to third this year, a significant change from 2011 and 2012, when it was the runaway leader.
The percentages of Americans choosing real estate and stocks are steady this year compared with 2014. This follows three years, from 2011 to 2014, of increasing partiality toward both investments as the housing and stock markets recovered and gold’s appeal waned. The public’s preference for gold fell five percentage points in the past year, bringing its overall decline since 2011 to 15 points, the largest shift seen among the five investments tracked.
Property Tax Rates Highest for Homeowners Who Have Owned Between 5 – 15 Years
RealtyTrac®, the nation’s leading source for comprehensive housing data, recently released its first-ever U.S. Property Tax Rates Report for 2014, which provides average property taxes and effective property tax rates for single family homes in more than 1,000 counties nationwide as well as by state and metropolitan statistical area.
The report also provides a breakdown of average property taxes in 2014 and effective property tax rates — which is the average property taxes for single family homes in 2014 divided by the average estimated value of single family homes as of the end of 2014 — by number of years owned and by property value range.
Seniors May Face Increasing Foreclosure Risk
Debt levels among Americans age 55 and older continues to rise, which could put millions of baby boomers’ homes at risk, according to a new report, “Debt of the Elderly and Near Elderly, 1992-2013,” from the Employee Benefit Research Institute in Washington, D.C.
The average debt among this age group is $73,211. The percentage of Americans age 55 and older with debt payments greater than 40 percent of their income rose to 9.2 percent in 2013, from 8.5 percent in 2010. What’s more, the percentages of families whose debt payments are excessive relative to their incomes is at — or near – the highest levels since 1992, according to the report.
2015 Remodeling Cost vs. Value: Less Is More
Smaller replacement projects, particularly those that enhance curb appeal, remain the most cost effective way for sellers to improve value.
With home price gains slowing in most parts of the country, sellers will be looking for ways to get top dollar for their listing. Cleaning and staging make a big difference. But for some sellers—such as investors seeking to bring a property up to neighborhood standards before the sale—remodeling work may be the ticket.
As the 2015 Remodeling Cost vs. Value Report makes clear, large-scale jobs aren’t likely to return sellers their full cost. But there are improvements worth doing in anticipation of an upcoming sale. Some will return almost 100 percent of their cost. Others may not have as great a payback, but they can improve the market position of the property in relation to the competition. (Think about the impact of beautiful kitchen photos on online home shoppers.) In addition, several pricier projects can provide owners with a few years of enjoyment while still offering a decent payback down the road.
More Home Owners Are Remodeling Again
A housing index that measures activity in the remodeling market reached a record-high in the final quarter of 2014, showing that home owners are once again sprucing up their homes following a large slowdown in remodeling activity in the years following the Great Recession.
The National Association of Home Builders’ Remodeling Market Index rose to 60 in the fourth quarter of 2014. Any reading above 50 indicates more remodelers are reporting higher market activity than those who say they are experiencing less activity.
In Seattle, Zillow says more than 16% of homeowners still underwater on mortgage
In the Seattle metro area, more than 16 percent of all homeowners — or 106,900 — remain underwater on their mortgages and owe more money than their house is worth.
That’s according to Seattle online real estate company Zillow Inc., which said that’s down from an underwater equity rate of 21.9 percent a year ago and down from the peak of 39.6 percent in the first quarter of 2012.
For 2015, Zillow estimates the negative equity rate in Seattle will drop to 13.3 percent, compared with the predicted national average next year of 15.2 percent.
Real Estate’s Most Loyal Age Group
Americans age 65 and over are holding onto home ownership instead of downsizing into rentals or moving to senior centers, Bloomberg Businessweek reports.
Indeed, the largest jump in buyers this year was among people between the ages of 65 and 74. This age segment increased to 13 percent of all buyers from 10 percent a year earlier, according to National Association of REALTORS® data.
Managing The Real Estate Details 