Housing reports show a fall back from the number of housing starts in March which set an annual pace of 1 million units to 853 thousand units in April. The decline is attributed to a correction in multifamily homes, which fell from 398 thousand in March to 243 thousand in April. Single family homes also […]
Home Builder Confidence Up
After the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index dropped for three straight months, builders showed renewed confidence in May. The index for May raised three points to 44 after an April which had fallen to 41. The index has three components: current sales, expected sales, and traffic. All three components raised […]
Home Energy-Efficiency Upgrades for Beginners
Many homeowners with older homes contact the Green Board Advisory (GBA) with questions on how to make their old homes more energy efficient. While the easy answer is to hire an energy audit on your home, which will result with a tailored list of things that can be done to improve energy efficiency in a […]
Make Bathrooms Safer, Easier to Use for All
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 235,000 people over the age of fifteen go to the emergency room each year with injuries that took place in the bathroom. About 33,000 of them are hospitalized from the injuries. For all ages, most accidents involved bathing, showering, and getting out of either the bath […]
Big-Ticket Remodeling Activity Up 1.1% in 1Q: Metrostudy
In Metrostudy’s most recent Residential Remodeling Index (RRI), they noted that home remodeling activity in the first quarter of 2013 was higher than expected and projected for it to increase further over the next three years. The first quarter of 2013 was the fifth quarter in a row that remodeling activity increased, showing a 1.1% […]
Move-Up or Remodel? How Do You Decide?
When the signs begin to show that their current living space is no longer ideal, it is only natural for people to start considering either selling or remodeling their home. Selling may seem appealing in what is currently a buyer’s market, but then the current iteration of home remodeling also focuses on improving livability while […]
Three Ways to Make Your Next Remodeling Project Cheaper
This article is about making home remodeling cheaper, but not necessarily by bargain-hunting materials online or doing the project yourself. DIY may be a cheaper alternative for those with the skills and knowledge to pull it off, but the focus of this article is to ease a contracted remodeling project’s costs. The first tip is […]
Tips for Surviving Home Remodeling
One homeowner likened remodeling a home to a plane crash, in that it is a personal experience that you share with strangers. While that may be true in the sense that the various professionals you bring into your home remodeling project may be strangers, they are still professionals, and they are the ones that you […]
Does a Heat Pump Condenser Need to Go Outdoors?
Dr. Allison A. Bailes, advisor on GreenBuildingAdvisor.com, writes that he often gets asked if it is okay to put an air conditioner’s condensing unit or heat pump indoors, in a garage or attic. The thought process behind such questions is often that the system will be more efficient because summer and winter temperatures will not […]
Homeownership Rate Inched Lower During the First Quarter
The first quarter of 2013 showed a slight drop in the rate of homeownership with a seasonally adjusted reading of 65.2%. Although it was a slight dip, it still marked the lowest reading since 1995 and a 4.2 percentage point drop from the 1994 high. Across all age groups, homeownership either remained flat or declined […]