A master bedroom is meant to be a peaceful place to relax and recharge. That’s why designers say a lot of attention needs to go into its look: to make sure it fulfills that purpose. Design experts also say an uninviting master retreat could negatively affect resale value, so there’s more at stake in the bedroom design than a night of restful sleep.“One thing to keep in mind is that form follows function, meaning the visual appearance of you
Fewer new homes are being built with a fireplace, a sign the cold-weather amenity is falling out of favor with home buyers. A record low percentage of newly constructed single-family homes—41%—last year included a fireplace, according to an analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data from the National Association of Home Builders. The share of single-family homes with fireplaces has been declining since 2015, the NAHB reports.“An obvious explanatio
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage reversed course this week, rising to an average of 3.56%. Despite the uptick, this is the first time that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has been under 3.6% for more than four consecutive weeks since the fourth quarter of 2016, Freddie Mac reports.“Pipeline purchase demand continues to improve heading into the late fall with purchase mortgage applications up 9 percent from a year ago,” says Sam Khater, Freddie
Buyers are doing everything from tapping into their retirement savings accounts to taking financial gifts from family and friends in order to bring more money to the closing table. Bankrate.com recently surveyed more than 2,500 adults about their home purchase to find the top ways they’re saving.About 47% of first-time home buyers said they saved on their own to purchase a house. But others also sought help elsewhere, such as through a fir
Fort Wayne, Ind., and Pueblo, Colo., were the top-performing housing markets in August—another sign that small towns are turning on the charm in drawing more buyers away from the big cities. The two cities topped realtor.com®’s newly released list of hottest housing markets.“Smaller markets with smaller price tags continue to heat up feverishly,” says Javier Vivas, realtor.com®’s director of economic research. “Buyers have more succ
Housing inventories grew tighter in August following what had been a year of improvement, and median listing prices saw their largest July-to-August drop since 2012, realtor.com® reports in its latest housing report. Consumers are growing cautious over the economy, realtor.com®’s August 2019 housing trend report explains.Inventories of homes for sale fell 1.8% year over year in August, the first time in a year that inventories have dropped."T
A strong housing market over the last few years has put the foreclosure crisis in the rearview mirror, but many Americans are still haunted by their past housing challenges. New data shows that they should be able to comfortably leave their past behind them.In 2018, there were more than 600,000 homes in foreclosure in the U.S., the lowest number since the days of the 2008 financial crisis. Foreclosures peaked at 2.9 million in 2010.Homeowners who
More homeowners are using reclaimed wood from barns, factories, and log cabins to decorate their modern homes, The Wall Street Journal reports. They’re using the reclaimed wood to decorate everything from ceilings and flooring to window accents. “They want it to look as primitive as possible,” Klaas Armster, co-author of the upcoming book Reclaimed Wood: A Field Guide, told the Journal.Old-growth timber is no longer avai
Most Americans have no regrets about buying a home. In fact, it’s made them happier, a new survey shows.Ninety-three percent of Americans say they are happier after buying a home, and 83% would never go back to renting, according to Bank of America’s latest Homebuyer Insights Report, based on a survey of nearly 2,000 consumers. Most owners say they have an emotional attachment to their home, and ownership also has improved their lifestyle and
Mortgage rates, which remain near three-year lows, stand to help not only homebuyers but current homeowners who want to unlock potential savings through mortgage refinancing. In fact, homeowners who purchased property as recently as a year ago could reap significant financial benefits by refinancing today.Eighty percent of mortgages originated in 2018 have an interest rate at least 0.75 percentage points higher than today’s 3.4% average. But t
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