Landscapers say they see homeowners repeatedly making the same mistakes in yard design, whether it's using the wrong plants or not keeping up with maintenance. Landscapers recently shared with Apartment Therapy some of the most common yard mishaps they see, including:Going too big. “Don’t be seduced by showy plants you see on the internet or at the nursery,” says Jenny Jones, senior landscape designer at Terremoto Landscape Architectur
Certain grocery stores may help lift nearby home values, particularly if those stores happen to be Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, or Aldi, suggests a new analysis from ATTOM Data Solutions, a real estate data firm. Home sellers who live near a Trader Joe’s earned 51% more at resale than the average seller, according to the study. Homes near a Whole Foods or an Aldi sold for 41% and 34% more, respectively.ATTOM researchers analyzed average home va
Consumers and mortgage lenders may not have the best relationship. In fact, mortgage servicers have some of the lowest customer satisfaction scores compared to other industry groups recently studied by J.D. Power, a consumer data and analytics firm.In its 2019 U.S. Primary Mortgage Servicer Satisfaction Study, J.D. Power found that overall satisfaction with mortgage servicers is 777 (on a 1,000 point scale), which falls just below life insurance
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage barely budged this week, remaining low at a 3.75% average, Freddie Mac reports.“Mortgage rates have essentially stabilized over the last two months, which reflects the recovery and improvement in the economy from the malaise earlier in the year,” says Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “Going forward, the combination of low mortgage rates, tight labor market, and high consumer confidence should set
More homes are being outfitted with smart-home technology—devices that enable remote control and monitoring of household systems. A new analysis from Harvard University’s Remodeling Futures Program shows high demand for such devices and predicts the trend to only get bigger over the coming years, despite some recent security concerns and device breaches.But more than half of consumers say they find the internet of things “creepy,” an
College graduates are searching for a place to live, whether it’s a home of their own, a place to rent, or moving back with their parents. But $7,481 is their magic number—that’s what they see they need, on average, to move out of their parents’ house, according to a new survey from Apartment Guide.Forty-six percent of Generation Z college students say they plan to rent or buy a home after graduation. However, 63% don’t know their curre
Kitchen islands have become the focal point in many homes, and there are plenty of reasons why real estate pros are spotlighting them in their listings.Kitchens have transformed into multifunctional spaces in recent years, and the kitchen island is turning it into a social gem. “The island gives families with children the opportunity to combine cooking, homework and socializing, the latter being especially valuable,” Lene Halse Hornemann, des
Big metro cities like San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles are notably absent from realtor.com®’s latest list of the top-performing housing markets in the country. Instead, more suburban areas—like Grand Rapids, Mich., and Omaha, Neb.--are topping the list.Housing affordability has been fueling demand in smaller, more suburban housing markets, realtor.com®’s 2019 hottest ZIP codes report notes. The average home price of $272,000 in th
The home may look great, but if you don’t get this one thing right, buyers won’t be buying, real estate pros say. And that all centers around the smell—the sense that too many home sellers neglect to pay attention to.Some home sellers may be noseblind to their home’s scent, and they need the real estate professional to offer a fresh unbiased opinion.“One of the easiest ways to evoke pleasant feelings about a space is to enhance the
Some of the most popular renovations, such as a kitchen remodel or landscape upgrade, are likely to cost your sellers more than they’ll get back at resale. And a major mistake sellers make when undertaking home improvement is tailoring the project to their own personal tastes without considering potential resale value, Alex Lavrenov, a broker with Warburg Realty in New York, told Forbes.com. Some costly renovations may even hurt your sellers’
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