Sunday, March 24, 2013

17 Ways to Increase Your Home's Curb Appeal

The folks at Houzz keep up the good advice.  Whether you're selling your home or just want some quick spring pick-me-ups for your house, try one or all(!) of these suggestions:

1. Add big, bold house numbers.  It's so easy to swap out house numbers, and this one thing can make a huge impact.  Echo your house style in the numbers you choose - a clean sans serif font for a modern house, hand-painted tiles for a cottage, aged copper for a Mission-style home, etc.

2. Paint the front door.  A front door that pops can be hugely cheering.  And it doesn't take too much time to do!

3. Add fresh porch furniture.  A pair of matching rockers, Adirondack chairs or a cozy glider is a must when you have a front porch that is visible from the street.  Try some zinc planters and seasonal flowers and greenery.

4. Swap out porch lighting.  Try replacing tiny sconces with a big, statement-making pendant light, add recessed lighting beneath the eaves or install solar lights along the front walk.

5. Add a hot-red accent.  Red has such vibrancy; a little goes a very long way.  Try a bright red bench, planter or mailbox to add zing that can be seen from across the street.

6. Do some hardscaping.  Built-in concrete planters, a low stone wall or new paths are all great ways to add structure to your front yard that will last for many years to come.

7. Spruce up the side yard.  Camouflage an eyesore with attractive fencing, clear out weeds and lay out a neat path to the back yard.

8. Add depth with a fence.  A low fence around a property (or a portion of the front yard) not only adds a welcome boundary between the street and private space, it also makes the front yard seem larger.

9. Replace a lawn with flowers.  Dig up part or all of your front lawn and plant perennials instead for a lush landscape that sets your house apart.  (Requires less work, too!).

10. Repair the driveway and paths.  Cement, stone and pavement all can split and crack over time.  Repairing or replacing damaged areas can do wonders to freshen up your home's street view.

11. Paint the garage door.  The garage takes up a lot of visual space, so it pays to make sure it looks its best.

12. Refinish the porch floor.  If your porch floor has seen better days, renew it by stripping off old layers of paint and finish, and brushing on stain or paint.

13. Add a shiny new door knocker.  Gorgeous hardware (plus a glossy paint job) can make even the plainest door look very classy.

14.  Try a unique front door.  A really eye-catching front door can be just the thing to give a plain exterior a big dose of personality.  Whether it's super-sleek and modern steel or a beautifully detailed Mission-style door, it can set the tone for the entire house.

15. Matching plantings to your house style.  Let the plants and pots you choose reflect the style of your house for a cohesive look.  Accent a modern home with succulents and spiky-leafed plants in simple round pots, or surround your cottage with lush beds of flowers.

16. Echo the architecture with paths.  Another way to accent the style of your home is by repeating the lines of the architecture in the paths and landscaping surrounding it.

17. Create curb appeal when you only have a curb.  When you have no front lawn, it can be hard to personalize your home's exterior.  Work with what you have by adding neat window planters, glossy shutters, good lighting and clearly visible house numbers.

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

January Sales Show Price Increases and Foreclosures Fall in MA

Massachusetts foreclosure activity slowed significantly in January, another positive indicator for the state's housing market, according to data released Tuesday.
During the month (January), 292 homeowners lost their properties to foreclosure, a 63% decrease compared with January 2012 and the lower number since 2006, according to Warren Group, a Boston company that tracks local real estate.
Foreclosure petitions, the first step in the property-seizue process, fell to 940 in January, almost 30% less than during the same month in 2012, Warren Group reported.
The decline comes amid other signs of strength in the Massachusetts housing market, including increased sales and increasing home values.
"The housing market has greatly improved,: said Timothy M. Warren Jr., chief executive of Warren Group.
January's better numbers follow mixed data from last year, skewed because of a national slowdown in foreclosures prompted by scrutiny over so-called robo-signing and other issues involving lenders' loan practices.
The number of completed foreclosures declined almost 13% in 2012, compared with 2011, but the number of foreclosures started increased by more than 35% year-to-year, Warren Group said.
Paul Willen, senior economist for the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, said that he expects foreclosure numbers to continue to go down throughout the year, but not at a rapid rate.
While that's news, he said, the number of foreclosures is still historically high.  "This is still a pretty elevated number," Willen said.
The Massachusetts data coincide with national statistics that show the country's foreclosure epidemic is waning.
Across the United States, there were 61,000 foreclosures in January 17.8% fewer than during the same month in 2012, according to the most recent data from CoreLogic, a California company.
"The backlog of distressed assets continues to fade as the foreclosure inventory has fallen to a leven not seen since mid-2009," said CoreLogic's chief economist, Mark Fleming.
"The improvement is wide-spread."
                                                                 - Jenifer B. McKim of the Boston Globe

US home prices surge in January

US home prices jumped in January, a sign the housing market is gaining momentum as it nears the spring selling season.
Home prices rose 9.7% in January from a year ago, according to data released Tuesday by CoreLogic.  That's up from an 8.3% increase in December and the biggest annual gain since April 2006.
Prices rose in all states except Delaware and Illinois.  And prices increased in 92 of the 100 largest metro areas, up from 87 in December.
Home prices also rose 0.7 percent in January from December.  That's a solid increase given that sales usually slow over the winter months.
Rising demand, combined with fewer available homes, is pushing up prices.  Sales of previously owned homes ticked up in January after rising to their highest level in 5 years in 2012, according to the National Association of Realtors.  At the same time, inventories of homes for sale fell to a 13-year low.
Nationwide, home values were still down more than 26% from their peak in April 2006 through January, CoreLogic said.  But in some states prices have recovered a lot of lost ground.
There have been other recent signs that the housing market is going strong.  A measure of the number of Americans who signed contracts to buy homes rose in January from December to the highest level in more than 2.5 years.  That suggests sales of previously occupied homes will keep rising in the coming months.
Steady increases in prices help fuel the housing recovery.  They encourage some homeowenrs to sell homes and entice some would-be buyers to purchase homes before prices rise further.

                                                               - Associated Press