Cheryl Karr - Your Solid Source Realty Agent

    Homeowners and house hunters are looking to maximize outdoor space while sheltering at home. The National Kitchen & Bath Association reports a 65% uptick in interest among its membership in outdoor living projects this year. NKBA, John Burns Real Estate Consulting, and Houzz have surveyed design professionals and home builders to identify some of the top outdoor trends this year. Year-round gathering spots. NKBA professionals report that the most requested features for enhanced outdoor living spaces are upgraded seating, fireplaces, and fire pits. “COVID-19 may be encouraging homeowners to get more year-round usage from their outdoor living areas,” NKBA’s report notes. Millennials were particularly drawn to outdoor spaces that integrated more entertainment and gathering spots. Privacy.  John Burns Real Estate Consulting notes that homeowners are craving more privacy in their backyards, using their outdoor spaces more for meditat...

Saw this article and felt it was very worthy to share. What are your thoughts? Housing appreciation has grown over the last few months with the surging real estate market. Thirty percent—nearly one in three—of homes with a mortgage in the U.S. are now considered “equity-rich,” according to a new report from ATTOM Data Solutions, a real estate research firm. A home being equity-rich means that the combined estimated amount of loans secured by the property is 50% or less of the estimated market value. In short, it means homeowners themselves have accumulated at least half of the equity in their homes. ATTOM’s fourth-quarter 2020 U.S. Home Equity & Underwater Report shows that 17.8 million residential properties in the U.S. were considered equity-rich. “The housing market kept booming despite damage caused by the virus pandemic to the broader economy—a surge that continued to boost the equity that most property owners have in their homes,” says Todd Te...

  Certain housing trends emerging from the pandemic likely will outlast the virus, real estate professionals predict. “The idea of what is necessary is changing,” Camille Thomas, a real estate professional in Jackson Hole, Wyo., told realtor.com®. “The home has become more than a living space.” The Great Escape The suburbs have become a hot place to be in the pandemic. Some real estate experts have called urban flight a myth, but Americans—particularly millennials—were already leaving crowded cities for the suburbs in the five years prior to the pandemic, according to the Urban Land Institute. Now the trend has accelerated. Housing inventory in the suburbs is shrinking faster than in urban areas, according to a report from realtor.com®. The Urban Land Institute refers to the current booming housing market as “the great American move,” which was ignited by the pandemic, creating a growing desire to live in lower-density areas and prop...