U.S. home price growth picked up steam in June as strong demand continued to buoy the market. The S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city index rose a seasonally adjusted 5.7% in the three-month period ending in June, compared with a year ago, the same rate of change as in May. The national index rose 5.8%, compared with a year ago, up from a 5.7% annual increase in May. Nine cities had stronger annual price growth in June than in May, and western metros remained on top, with annual price gains ranging from 13.4% in Seattle to 7.7% in Dallas. Seattle prices are rising so rapidly that they have left No. 2 Portland in the dust, S&P Dow Jones Indices noted in a release.
The national price index reclaimed its 2006 peak last fall, but the closely watched 20-city index is still about 2.9% shy of that bubble-era peak. Earlier in August, data provider CoreLogic released its own home price index, which showed prices rose 6.7% for the year in June. In contrast, the Case-Shiller index is a three-month rolling average of prices. The post Home Price Gains Were Hot in June as Seattle Sizzled, Case-Shiller Says appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®. via http://www.realtor.com/news/real-estate-news/home-price-gains-hot-june-seattle-sizzled-case-shiller-says/
0 Comments
The Victorian-era mansion where filmmakers shot the forgettable 1981 teen romance “Endless Love” is on the market, with an asking price of $1.7 million. The 36-year-old film is famous today for its cast, which featured then-teenagers Brooke Shields, James Spader, and Tom Cruise, as well as the title song, which earned Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for legendary musician Lionel Richie. While the early 1980s slice of cinematic cheese may not have aged well, the house used as its backdrop certainly has. The six-bedroom, 3.5 bath home was built in 1903 and sits on a nearly half-acre lot in Sea Cliff, NY, a wealthy seaside hamlet on Long Island. At the turn of the last century, wealthy New Yorkers built summer homes in Sea Cliff, creating one of the most impressive collections of Queen Anne Victorians in Nassau County. Today, many of those homes have been fully restored and sit on the National Register of Historic Places. This three-story home retains its period charm, with a wide, wraparound porch. Its classic Victorian entrance has an ornate, curving transom window and matching sidelights. Inside, a wide, curved entryway leads to the sitting room and fireplace. There’s a second fireplace in the formal dining room, which is surrounded by rich wainscoting and a bay window. The kitchen is utilitarian, with a simple kitchen butcher block island, industrial gas range, and functional range hood. There’s a separate breakfast room, butler’s pantry, and family room, and fireplaces in several of the bedrooms.
The home was last sold in 2006 for $1.22 million. In the 1981 film, an obsessed teenage lover sets fire to the porch of his girlfriend’s home in a scheme to win over her skeptical parents. Rather than shooting that scene on a movie lot, the filmmakers decided to spark (and extinguish) a real fire at the home, The New York Times reported. There are absolutely no signs of damage, just the remnants of this tragic tale of forbidden cinematic love.
The post Long Island Mansion Where 1981’s ‘Endless Love’ Was Shot on the Market for $1.7M appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®. via http://www.realtor.com/news/unique-homes/endless-love-long-island-mansion/ If you want to practice your backhand from your own backyard, prepare to shell out serious scratch. By definition, properties featuring tennis courts must be large, thanks to their need for a wide expanse of flat, level land. A regulation court takes up 2,800 square feet—and that’s just the court itself. Figure in the surrounding area plus a place to lounge après play and the amount of space needed adds up quickly. And despite the sport’s sometimes fusty rep, tennis is a hot amenity for home buyers today—at least for buyers who love the idea of serving up aces before breakfast. “Tennis is big in South Florida,” Privé at Island Estates sales director Michael Neumann says. “Everyone is [focused] outdoors.” The eight-acre private island in Aventura, FL, with 180 condos is under construction and with roughly 70 percent of units sold. Unlike many new builds that don’t have the space to add a tennis court, Privé offers a landscaped, lighted $200,000 court right on the water. “People have bought here because of the tennis court,” he says. With stiff sales competition in Florida, that’s no idle boast. Not every tennis court offers quite as stunning a setting, but we did our best to come up with six additional homes for sale worth courting… Privé at Island Estates, Aventura, FLPrice: $2.1 million to $8.5 million ——-- 5011 Pine Tree Dr, Miami Beach, FLPrice: $24,950,000 ——-- 2298 E. Glendora Rd, Buchanan, MIPrice: $3,200,000 ——-- 580 Hands Creek Rd, East Hampton, NYPrice: $2,799,000 ——-- 9800 SW 60th Ct, Pinecrest, FLPrice: $2,679,000 ——-- 45 Meadowbrook Rd, Weston, MAPrice: $2,395,000 ——-- 282 Carabela Ct. Coral Gables, FLPrice: $6,999,000 ——-- The post We Serve Up 7 Homes With Tennis Courts That Are Easy to Love appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®. via http://www.realtor.com/news/trends/seven-homes-with-tennis-courts/ Just up the street from Hollywood Boulevard, there’s a Los Angeles home that’s a true throwback to a different era. Built in 1957 and retaining many of its original elements, the home’s facade stands defiant in the face of its contemporary neighbors and the modern steel skyscrapers off in the distance. Listed for $3.5 million and known as the Schustack Residence, the home has retained its classic Mid-Century feel, despite the ever-encroaching sprawl of the city. It was designed in the late 1950s by architect Howard Lane. Lane moved to Los Angeles in 1948, where he worked as a draftsman. While living in Los Angeles, he established his own business in 1953, the Lane Architectural Firm. He was a student of the famed architect Mies van der Rohe. Lane was focused on designing commercial buildings including the Neo-Streamline Moderne Travelers Insurance Building in Los Angeles, but in 1957, he tried his hand at this private residence. The result features four bedrooms and two bathrooms across 3,007 square feet, on a half-acre lot. Modern amenities include a pool, stainless steel appliances and contemporary furnishings. But even with these nods to modern convenience, the home’s post and beam interior and sumptuous wood-paneled walls let buyers know this is a quintessential Mid-Century marvel. The bathroom The home’s architectural significance hasn’t been lost on the current owner. A designer, he’s kept the original design features intact, while adding a bit of his own flair. The house displays some exemplary period wood furnishings, and the bathroom walls sport bright Toulouse-Lautrec wallpaper. Lane originally designed the home to be a true family home, with ample open space both inside and out. It’s only been on the market once before, so it’s a rare chance to pocket a well-preserved Modern classic near the heart of Hollywood. The post Well-Preserved in L.A., the Schustack Residence Is a Mid-Century Marvel appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®. via http://www.realtor.com/news/unique-homes/schustack-residence-los-angeles/ Hurricane Harvey, the worst storm to hit the nation in a decade, pummeled the Gulf Coast over the weekend, claiming at least five lives and injuring more than a dozen. News channels and websites were filled with images of city streets turned into waterways; hundreds of thousands of homes could be left devastated as a result of the storm. And with torrential rains and record floodwaters battering southeastern Texas, the suffering is expected to continue long after the waters have receded. Nearly 233,000 Texas homes are at risk of storm damage from Hurricane Harvey, according to a CoreLogic analysis. That could bring the total cost of devastation to almost $40 billion, according to the real estate information and analytics company. “Hundreds of thousands of people are going to be displaced for weeks,” says Tom Larsen, CoreLogic’s director of content strategy. “There’s going to be a significant disruption.” Making it even worse is that typically, about 9 out of 10 of those whose homes are damaged in big storms don’t have flood insurance, he says. Much of the damage is expected to occur in the Houston metropolitan area, where about two-thirds of all residential and commercial properties suffer from moderate to extreme risk of flooding, according to a separate CoreLogic analysis. That could cost homeowners about $20.8 billion to rebuild. The property information company predicts that nearly 11.5% of those Houston-area properties are at very high or extreme risk. Another 52% of properties that are not in a special flood hazard area, which means their owners aren’t required to carry flood insurance if they received a federally issued mortgage, are at moderate or high risk. For other metro areas in Texas, CoreLogic expects that 57% of properties in Bay City, 55% in Beaumont, 35% in both Corpus Christi and Victoria, 22% in College State, and 18% in Austin are at moderate to high risk of flooding. If the aftermath of Harvey is anything like the aftermath of Katrina, many homeowners may walk away from their properties at a loss, says real estate appraiser Randall Bell, CEO of Landmark Research Group, a firm based in Laguna Beach, CA, that specializes in disasters. Others will sell at a loss. Those determined to stay may be forced to fight with their insurance companies over whether their home damage was caused by wind or water—which determines whether the homeowner insurance company or the flood insurance company is on the hook for the damages. And once a home is damaged in a storm, that could depress its value in future. “There’s the perception that if it can happen once, it can happen again,” Larsen says. The timing of Hurricane Harvey is particularly problematic because the National Flood Insurance Program, which is expected to receive an onslaught of new claims as a result of Harvey, is set to expire on Sept. 30. Plus, the program can only borrow up to $5.8 billion from the U.S. Department of the Treasury for new claims, according to The Wall Street Journal. “This uncertainty of paying for your repairs adds a lot of stress and delays,” says CoreLogic’s Larsen. “It slows down the recovery.” The post Hurricane Harvey Could Cost Homeowners Big-Time—and for a Long Time appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®. via http://www.realtor.com/news/trends/hurricane-harvey/ Celebrity chef Eric Ripert has stuck a fork in his cool condo in Miami Beach, and it’s done, selling for $412,500, according to The Real Deal. Ripert and his wife, Sandra, paid $335,000 for the condo in 2013. It’s located in the Maison Grande building on Collins Avenue just north of the oh-so-chic North Beach. The 18-story building offers a pool, gym, and 500-plus units. The chef’s 1,271-square-foot apartment includes two bedrooms, a white kitchen with stainless steel appliances, and a balcony with some ocean views. The renovated condo, which was sold furnished with contemporary décor, hit the market in October with a $425,000 price tag. The price rose to $435,000 in December, then slid back down $10,000 in May. The French chef is known for his Michelin three-star French restaurant, Le Bernardin, in New York City. He used the Miami condo for getaways at least once a month, when he’d walk and bike along the beach, says Carol Cassis, who co-listed the property with Stephan Burke with Cassis Burke Collection. The team works for Brown Harris Stevens in Miami. “They love the weather, the food here,” says Cassis. “They decided to sell because they have other investments in other areas. But they’ll miss Miami.” The post Le Bernardin Chef Eric Ripert Serves Up Cool Miami Beach Condo appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®. via http://www.realtor.com/news/celebrity-real-estate/le-bernardin-chef-serves-miami-beach-condo/ Rising home prices are getting borrowers comfortable again with the idea of tapping their homes for cash. Home-equity lines of credit and cash-out mortgage refinances, two products that let consumers spend the windfall of home ownership, are back in vogue with consumers. That reflects growing confidence and is a potential benefit to the U.S. economy as homeowners have more money to spend. “If customers feel like their home values are stable or increasing, and if they feel like their job prospects are good—that they will have the ability to pay back a loan they take—then they will start to take out more home-equity lines,” said Mike Kinane, head of U.S. consumer-lending products at TD Bank. “That is what we are starting to see.” Home-equity line originations rose 8% to nearly $46 billion in the second quarter, their highest level since 2008, according to credit-reporting firm Equifax. Borrowing via cash-out mortgage refinances hit $15 billion, up 6% from a year earlier, according to recent data from Freddie Mac. The main engine driving demand: rising home prices. The median sale price of an existing home rose to $263,800 in June, the highest on record, up 40% from $187,900 at the start of 2014, according to the National Association of Realtors. Banks insist the increased borrowing doesn’t herald a return to housing-bubble days when consumers came to view their homes as cash registers. Banks say they are being more cautious in how they make such loans and some add they are encouraging borrowers to tackle renovations or consolidate debt—uses that are considered investments rather than luxuries. “We continue to watch what’s going on and the way it’s being done, but it’s much different from before the crisis,” said Tom Wind, head of U.S. Bancorp ’s home-mortgage division. Mr. Wind added that the bank expects this type of borrowing to keep rebounding because the equity in people’s homes is “meaningful and people want things like renovations.” A home-equity line is similar to a credit card, where a borrower can spend as much or as little of the available credit as they wish—but with the house as collateral. In a cash-out refi, borrowers refinance an existing mortgage into a new one with a higher principal balance, putting cash in their pocket. Marc Yu took out a home-equity line to buy an investment property, a house he now rents out at a profit. He has thought about paying off the line early, but instead decided to keep it open as long as interest rates stay relatively low. “I wanted to use the equity” in the first house, rather than “it just sitting there,” said Mr. Yu, who works in digital forensics in the Atlanta area. Low interest rates are another draw. For example, the average interest rate on a home-equity line is roughly 5.6%, according to Bankrate.com, a personal-finance website. Credit cards average 16.7%. There are risks. A cash-out refi can extend the length of a mortgage and cost a borrower more in interest over the life of the loan. If home prices fall, a borrower who has tapped home equity can risk the mortgage being greater than the value of the home—a scenario that caught many in the financial crisis. Those dangers aren’t lost on borrowers. Some bankers say wariness about the products have made home-equity lines and cash-out refis a tougher sell than they had expected. “Would I like to see it pick up more? Absolutely,” said TD’s Mr. Kinane. Further increases in interest rates also could make both products less appealing. Many home-equity lines have rates that rise and fall with shorter-term borrowing benchmarks. Rob Cash used a home-equity line to pay for upgrades on his Maryland home. But he paid it off as quickly as he could. He didn’t like having the debt hanging over his head, and didn’t want to get used to having the extra cash. “It’s easy to…see it as more money,” said Mr. Cash, who works in construction, “when it’s just more debt.” For banks, increased originations aren’t yet strong enough to stop continued declines in the overall level of outstanding home-equity-line debt. This is a hangover from the surge of such borrowing during the housing bubble. Lenders originated a combined $720 billion of home-equity-line credit in 2006 and 2007, according to Equifax data. Borrowers typically only pay interest on these loans for the first 10 years. In subsequent years, both principal and interest is due. Given that, borrowers often look to repay or refinance home-equity lines at or around the 10-year mark. Because of this, and the huge amount of such debt that was originated around a decade ago, new originations haven’t been enough to offset repayments. The result: U.S. banks’ holdings of about $387 billion in revolving home-equity loans as of early August are down more than 35% from a peak of around $610 billion in early 2009, according to Federal Reserve data. “Home-equity originations are up nicely, but continue to be outpaced by pay downs” of old lines, Bank of America Corp. finance chief Paul Donofrio told analysts in July on the firm’s second-quarter earnings call. That sentiment was echoed by other banks and means it could be another year or two before the drag from crisis-era loans fades. The post Tapping Your Home Equity for Cash Is Big Again appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®. via http://www.realtor.com/news/trends/tapping-home-equity-cash-big/ Actress Sally Kellerman has put her cozy home in the Hollywood Hills on the market for $1.4 million. The price is right, because the listing is already in pending status after just a couple of weeks on the market. The quaint, two-bedroom, one-bath, 1,557-square-foot cottage is very private, tucked behind a gate and surrounded by mature foliage. It has high-beamed ceilings and colored tile in the bath and kitchen that looks as if it was installed when the home was built in 1950. Located in a historical Hollywood area off notorious Mulholland Drive, the quarter-acre property has great family potential—the local elementary school is Wonderland Avenue Elementary, one of L.A.‘s highest-rated public schools. The new owners can easily adapt the home to their own needs. As the listing notes, “Your own updating and style will only add to this magnificent and unique property.” So yes, it’s a bit of a fixer-upper. The listing also notes that the home sits “amidst many multi-million dollar estates.” In fact, Kellerman and her late husband, “Look Who’s Talking” producer Jonathan D. Krane, who passed away last summer, owned the famous mansion right next door, before it was sold in a bank sale. Although not currently on the market, the home was listed in 2015 for $5 million, and offered for rent for $21,000 per month. In addition to having been owned by Kellerman and Krane, the five-bedroom estate once owned by the couple has a number of other notable ties to Hollywood, one of them being that a young, yet-to-be-famous carpenter by the name of Harrison Ford did some renovation work on it. In 1983, architect Frank Gehry completely redesigned the 1940s-era Cape Cod, giving it a modern addition that looks nothing like the rest of the house, yet somehow works. The post Actress Sally Kellerman Puts Her Hollywood Hills Cottage on the Market appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®. via http://www.realtor.com/news/celebrity-real-estate/sally-kellerman-hollywood-hills-cottage/ You can see it in Home Depot, as homeowners cruise the aisles with overflowing orange carts, and in the offices of contractors whose phones are ringing off the hook: The home improvement industry is booming. Call it the HGTV effect, which has inspired millions of U.S. viewers to knock down walls, install kitchen islands, and outfit their living room walls with shiplap so they’re Instagram-worthy. Or maybe it’s because folks have more money in their pockets thanks to a stronger economy, and want to invest in their homes. The average homeowner is taking on more improvement projects—and dropping more dough on them, according to the 2017 True Cost Survey from the national home services marketplace HomeAdvisor. “A few years back, when things were rougher, when home values were not as high, people tended to take on projects like a new toilet and sink,” says HomeAdvisor’s chief economist, Brad Hunter. Now that the economy and the housing market have improved, homeowners finally have more income, as well as more equity in their abodes—and so they’re taking on nonessential renovations to turn their homes into their dream homes. “Nowadays, it’s ‘Let’s redo the toilet, sink, tile, and vanity.’ Instead of replacing countertop in the kitchen, it’s: ‘Let’s reface cabinets,'” Hunter says. But not all home improvement projects are equally in demand—what homeowners want varies a lot depending on their generation, income, the age of their home and where they live. We teamed up with the folks at HomeAdvisor to get a picture of who’s renovating what in America. The company scoured the 14 million service requests it received from mid-July 2016 to mid-July 2017 to find out which projects are more popular than average among a given demographic group. So read on to find out which generation is focused on swimming pools, where glass blocks are a must-have, and what people shell out for when they move up an income bracket. Maybe you’ll get ideas for your next home improvement project! The generation gap in most-wanted improvementsWe’re all familiar with the stereotypes: Millennials aren’t in any rush to settle down; they’re delaying traditional milestones of adulthood like getting married, having babies, and buying homes (whether you blame student debt or avocado toast). True or not, the “kids” of this generation are growing up. And now that millennials are starting to tie the knot, even die-hard urbanites are starting to leave the cities for the suburbs, as they begin raising families. Unfortunately, they’re doing so at a time of record home prices in many markets. This means they’re often forced to buy smaller, older homes that are farther from the city center and need some serious work. These younger adults gravitate towards home projects like installing outdoor play equipment for the kiddies and childproofing their homes. In fact, they’re 2.5 times more likely to request child-related jobs on HomeAdvisor. “As soon as they have two kids, they’re going to move to the suburbs,” says demographer Ken Gronbach of Haddam, CT, author of “The Age Curve: How to Profit from the Coming Demographic Storm.” Due to the housing shortage, millennials are going to take whatever they can get, he says. “Making the home safe for children will be their priority, and then the other things will fall into place.” Aside from kid-friendly undertakings, the eight services that the youngest homeowners (34 and under) are mre likely to request are related to expanding their living space, whether it’s remodeling a basement or landscaping the exterior. These are the kind of improvements that allow you to enjoy your home more, but they’re not exactly exciting. Orlando-based math teacher and new mother Lisa Wray, 32, hired a professional to landscape her yard after a disastrous DIY gardening experiment resulted in a field of overgrown weeds surrounding her home. “We don’t always have extra money to spend going out, so I want to go outside in my yard and sit and relax,” Wray says, adding that after the landscaping, it’s “not like there’s a dead bush over there, or I can’t walk through the backyard because the weeds have grown up to my legs.” What about Generation Xers? Those in their mid-30s to mid-50s, sandwiched between attention-hogging millennials and baby boomers, are also spending on their kids and optimizing living space. However, with more equity and potentially higher salaries, they’re more likely to seek out high-end upgrades like new pools, outdoor kitchens, and professional holiday lighting. “They’re [at] the age where they’re paid more money,” Gronbach says. “They’re going to spoil their kids.” But it’s baby boomers who top the list of big spenders, forking out the most cash on nonessential improvements when they’re not repairing what they’ve already got. They were more likely to fix gutters, sheds, playhouses, gazebos, and freestanding porches. Maintenance is important for boomers, who need to keep their property values up if they plan to eventually sell their homes and retire on the proceeds, Gronbach says. “They have savings and stock portfolios, which millennials don’t have,” says HomeAdvisor’s Hunter. “Boomers are indulging in luxury purchases, large discretionary remodels, kitchens, bathrooms, stonework, remodeling swimming pools, hiring designers to do professional landscaping jobs.” And not just reining in the weeds, we imagine. From essential maintenance to big-ticket splurgesClearly, how much you’re raking in each year determines whether you spring for a fresh coat of paint in the master bedroom, install that drool-worthy outdoor hot tub, or build a landing pad out back—for your private jet. Or whether you make any improvement at all. For example, installing or repairing swamp coolers is popular with those making less than $75,000. The coolers are like cheaper versions of air conditioners, which lower the temperature inside homes by adding moisture to the air. Plus, they only use a fraction of the electricity of A/Cs. Building new carports is also a priority—a project more likely to be requested by those earning between $50,000 and $74,999. Earners in the $75,000 to $100,000 bracket indulge in some less essential projects like maintaining or installing above-ground swimming pools, followed by aerating their lawns. “An above-ground swimming pool isn’t going to be in one of the magazines, but it’s going to serve its purpose and be fun,” says Houston, TX-area remodeler Dan Bawden, who also serves as the chairman of the National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB) Remodelers group. “And it’s probably 60% less [in price] than in-ground.” Take that, infinity pools! It’s only when you get into the $250,000-plus category that the real luxury-ticket items appear—although some are weirdly practical. Homeowners in this bracket are more concerned with fixing their central vacuum systems. With these systems, it’s as if the body of the vacuum is inside the walls of your home; you just plug the vacuum hose right into the wall, and the dirt is sucked away. That’s right, Roombas are so middle-class. Vacuum system repairs are followed by repairing outdoor lighting, and installing or resurfacing tennis or other sports courts or putting greens. Ready to hit the court, Buffy? From coast to coast, different priorities stand outYou may not have much in common with your neighbors (as can be seen from your holiday light displays), except when it comes to your home improvement projects. Certain home projects are favored in certain regions because of the areas’ environmental conditions. Just look at the South, where hurricanes and pesky mosquitoes are major issues. So it makes sense that this is the region where requests roll in to prevent and fix storm damage, and keep those blood-sucking pests at bay. Pool enclosure jobs and security- or storm-shutter repairs and installations are also twice as likely to be requested in the South than in other regions. “You get a lot of value from storm shutters, because you get a reduction in home insurance costs” if you have them, says real estate broker Marcos Fullana of Choice One Real Estate in Cutler Bay, FL, between Miami and the Florida Keys. The shutters keep storm debris from damaging your windows, he notes. In the earthquake-prone western swath of the country, homeowners are ready. Retrofitting their homes with earthquake protection is a popular project in the region, followed by installing or replacing those ever-popular and electricity-bill-lowering swamp coolers. While desert residents seek to cool off, Northeasterners are trying to turn up the heat. Where winter temperatures regularly dip well below freezing, heating system installations and repairs are more popular projects. But while much of the Midwest is just as cold, if not colder, than the Northeast, some top service requests there are not related to heat. Midwesterners spend on basements, installing egress windows, sump pumps, and waterproofing. But they are more likely than homeowners in any other region to install glass blocks, which let in light without sacrificing privacy, and also lose less heat than windows. Jeanne Ladd, 60, and her husband had glass blocks installed in the bathroom window of their 100-year-old home 10 years ago. Originally framed with metal, which expands in the heat of summer, Ladd’s glass block window cracked last year. So she had the metal framing switched out for plastic. “In Chicagoland, glass block is everywhere,” she says, adding that it is used in windows as well as walls. “It’s like meat and potatoes.” Your home’s age can predict what you’ll improve nextBecause of the distinctive design trends and construction techniques of each era, a home’s age directly correlates with the kind of improvement jobs its modern owners need—and how much they can expect to shell out. Take Realtor® Amanda Nickerson Toste, 37, and her husband, Jeremy Toste, 37. They scored a deal on their dream 1940 Craftsman-style bungalow in Little Compton, RI, which had been vacant for a year and a half before the sale. And no wonder: The home is in need of a black mold remediation and a kitchen and bathroom renovation, and the fuel tank had to go. Removing a fuel tank, which can cost a few grand, is the second most common project for residences built in the 1940s. “We had to replace the oil tank, because it’s outside, and the legs were rusted off,” says Nickerson Toste. Because the Tostes live in New England, which isn’t earthquake-prone, they don’t have to retrofit their home for seismic activity. That’s a top service request for properties built in the 1940s (most likely because the postwar housing boom was in the West and Southwest). They just have a few other costly problems to take care of. For homes built before 1940, repairs of wood gutters and heating systems trend high on the list, along with abatement of toxic lead (hey, they didn’t know better!). Jumping ahead, owners of properties built in the 1950s are more likely to request glass block installation, to go with those sleek Mid-Century accents. Meanwhile, the repair that stands out for groovy ’60s-era homes is mending or altering chain-link fences. Owners of 1970s-era homes are fixing the solar water heaters that gained traction during the oil crisis, and repairing or removing popcorn ceilings. Those textured toppers are also a prime target of owners of homes built in the 1980s—in fact, that’s a popular service request for homes built throughout that 20-year span. The synthetic stucco, pool enclosures, and Mediterranean tile roofs favored by subdivision builders in the 1990s are now hitting life expectancy, putting those repairs high on the list for owners of those homes. Newer houses tend to need fewer major fixes, of course. For houses built between 2000 and 2005, pool enclosure, repairs of prefabricated gas fireplace units and exterior shutters crown the list of service requests. Homeowners of places built after 2005 have it best in the repair department and can spend the most cash on recreational improvements like pergolas, in-ground pools, and home-theatre surround-sound systems. Outdoor kitchen and garage organizer installations are nearly three times more common in homes built within the past 12 years than for older homes. “Homes built in the last 20 years tend to need different kinds of work from homes built in the 1970s, which are different again from homes built in the 1950s,” Hunter says. “Homes that are fairly new are not yet in need of a new roof or new appliances, but we see add-ons that embrace the trend toward outdoor living, like adding an outdoor kitchen, installing a pool, and building custom outdoor décor items like arbors and pergolas. As you look at older and older homes, you still see the outdoor-living trend, but it is reflected more in repairs.” The post Home Improvement Is Hot Right Now, but Who’s Doing What? appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®. via http://www.realtor.com/news/trends/home-improvements/ Tensions are running high across the nation in the wake of a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, VA, where one protester was killed. Residents of Northern California and Tennessee are bracing for more rallies and protests this weekend, which will likely dominate the airwaves on TV news. But what happens when that overt racism suddenly appears in your own building or community? Do upset neighbors or city officials have the right to demand that, say, the flag of Nazi Germany be removed? And can offensive displays affect local property values, or how long it takes to sell nearby homes? These weren’t hypothetical questions for Page Braswell, who confronted her neighbor over the Nazi flag he put up in front of his Gaston County, NC, home. The exchange quickly turned heated and went viral after Braswell posted it on Facebook. “What’s it to you?” the homeowner with the flag said in the profanity-laden conversation. “Do you make the payments on [this] … house?” Meanwhile, in New York City, angry neighbors threw rocks and insults at an apartment in Manhattan’s trendy East Village that has displayed Confederate flags in its window for years, alongside Israeli and American flags, according to The New York Daily News. (While the Confederate flag is seen by some Southerners as a symbol of regional heritage and pride, many others consider it a symbol of white oppression, and it’s a rare sight in the North.) The Confederate flag incensed a local DJ so much that he broke into Will Green‘s home to remove it. Green’s landlord also sued to evict him. DJ Darren Keen was charged with criminal mischief and fined $150, and the eviction suit was dropped, according to The New York Post. “It’s a Southern flag,” Green told the Post. “It flies many places in the South, but they only show it on TV when a racist is talking.” Could a neighbor’s offensive flag bring down property values?Controversial symbols in front of someone’s home could also cause property values to suffer—by indicating that your neighbor is spoiling for a fight. “It’s the concept of a nightmare neighbor,” says national real estate appraiser Jonathan Miller. “People don’t want to buy into those problems.” This could lead to a home on the same block sitting on the market longer—and maybe requiring a price cut before it sells. After all, many people are not eager to live near a self-proclaimed neo-Nazi. However, in this tight housing market, with too many buyers and not enough homes for sale, it’s likely not to damage property values too much, Miller says. What can you do about it?Those living in an apartment or condo building, or in a single-family home in a community covered by a homeowners association, may have some leverage in getting an offensive flag or sign taken down. That’s because many buildings and associations prohibit such displays in windows or on front doors. “If it’s in a rental building, complain to your landlord,” says New York City-based real estate attorney Aaron Shmulewitz of Belkin Burden Wenig & Goldman. “If it’s a co-op, condo, or a homeowners association, it might be violating a house rule. There might be something that the board can do about it.” But those who do take action could find that it might come back to bite them. Some people may find their building’s or community’s Christmas or Hanukkah displays inappropriate. So going after one person could lead to a crackdown on everything else—including Santa. Meanwhile, those whose homes aren’t covered by a landlord, board of some sort, or homeowners association have little recourse. People can generally put up whatever they want in front of their homes unless there’s a law against it. “Hate speech is still protected speech under the First Amendment,” says Houston, TX-based real estate attorney Cassandra McGarvey of Sanders Willyard. Should you talk to your neighbors about it?Frustrated folks could try to reason with their neighbors, but they shouldn’t get their hopes up too high. “It probably won’t help, because their goal is to make a statement,” Shmulewitz says. That’s the price of living in the United States. “We do have the First Amendment protection. But it cuts both ways,” says McGarvey. “We can say a lot of things we couldn’t say in other countries. But … the other side also has free speech and may say things we don’t agree with.” The post So Your Neighbor Put Up an Offensive Flag—What Can You Do? appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®. via http://www.realtor.com/news/trends/neighbor-puts-nazi-flag/ |
About usI am Casey Abby From USA and I am 30 Year Old. I done my study recently in MBA Marketing. Archives
April 2021
Categories |