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How much does lawn care cost? That’s a question home buyers don’t often consider as carefully as they should. When you first lay eyes on that gorgeous spread of grass, it tends to look much greener when you don’t own it.

But once those weeds creep knee-high or the grass starts to brown, you’ll want to know: How deeply do you need to dig in your pocketbook to trim things down to size?

Lawn care expenses will depend, of course, on how much lawn you have, your willingness to do some of the work yourself, and (let’s be honest) just how jealous you want your neighbors to be. But there are some general rules of thumb to help you anticipate how much you’ll have to spend—and how to trim those costs.

How much it costs to mow your own lawn

At the very least, your lawn needs to be mowed. If you choose to do it yourself, you’ll need a lawnmower, which can range in price from less than $100 for a steel-blade push mower ($89.99 on Amazon for this snazzy green mower with a catcher) to $500 to $1,000 (or more) for a gas-powered push mower or rider.

Realtor.com

A colorful, postmodern mansion with flair to spare has hit the market in Sarasota, FL.

The multihued home is considered an architecturally significant structure.

“Architect Don Chapell built the home for himself and family, and I’ve never seen a home where there has been more thought, attention, and custom-planning for every detail,” says Lisa Rooks Morris, who is co-listing the house with Amy Drake. Both are with Premier Sotheby’s International Realty.

The list price is $10 million.

HGTV

While property brothers Jonathan and Drew Scott are both clearly adept at renovating homes, do you ever wonder which sibling is better? The latest “Brother vs. Brother” seems to point to a clear winner.

Drew has won the first two challenges this season, so in the third episode, “Main Bedroom Magic,” Jonathan goes all out to close the gap between their scores. But will his efforts be in vain?

Jonathan plans to spend $100,000 to remove a small bedroom and add that space to the main suite, which includes a luxurious bathroom and walk-in closet.

Drew, on the other hand, plans to attach his property’s accessory dwelling unit to the main house, and make that into a primary suite. He knows he’ll have to spend a little more on that, and budgets $150,000. (This proves to be a surprisingly naive estimate.)

"We are really not in the real estate business…We’re in the relationship business,” said luxury broker Dolly Lenz at the final session of Inman Connect New York on Thursday.

Amanda Marsh and Amie Quirarte shared their personal experiences at Inman Connect New York on Thursday and talked about channeling endurance and resilience.

According to Chris Suarez, who spoke at Inman Connect New York on Wednesday, the "Day-1” mindset should be applied by real estate professionals if they want to stay competitive. 

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The numbers: U.S. new home sales rose 2.3% to a seasonally-adjusted rate of 616,000 in December, from a revised 602,000 in the prior month, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.

This is the third month in a row that new home sales have risen. Existing-home sales, on the other hand, continue their downward streak.

The December sales figure beat analyst estimates slightly. Analysts polled by the Wall Street Journal had forecast new home sales to come in at 615,000 in December.

The sales of new homes are below a peak of 1.04 million in August 2020.

At Inman Connect New York on Wednesday, Dana Cadena, Kathy Helbig-Strick and Phillip Salem offered tips for making the transition from a seller's market to a buyer's market.

When it comes to reaching your clients, old and new, it’s all about going deep, not wide, according to real estate coach John Cheplak, who spoke at Inman Connect New York on Thursday.

District court judge sets aside DOJ demand for information from the NAR on buyer broker commission and pocket listing rules.

The 2008 downturn nearly drove Marc King into bankruptcy. At Inman Connect New York on Thursday, he shared the steps he learned about avoiding financial ruin and instead growing

At Inman Connect on Thursday, the SERHANT. CEO dished with Inman's Lockhart Steele on the rise of artificial intelligence, ChatGPT, virtual worlds and a more inclusive real estate industry.

Author and strategist Katie Lance told an audience at Inman Connect New York on Wednesday that putting yourself out there on video isn’t about getting popular, and all that matters is trying.

Unable to afford the homes they wanted on their own, a couple and their friend combined resources and bought a multifamily house. Here’s what they found in western Queens.

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Rapper, actor, and TV host Alvin Nathaniel Joiner—professionally known as Xzibit—is hoping to find a new owner for his posh place in the Los Angeles suburb of Porter Ranch. The swanky home was recently listed for $3,850,000.

Xzibit purchased the 5,710-square-foot spread for $2,436,000 in 2017, when it was brand-new. And it appears to have been kept in pristine condition.

The home was initially listed in July 2022 for $3,995,000.

The residence is located in the guard-gated community of Westcliffe, about a half-hour drive from Hollywood—an advantageous location for anyone looking to avoid the paparazzi.

This week’s properties are on the Upper East Side, in South Harlem and in Hunters Point.

This week’s properties are in Brookville, N.Y., and New Canaan, Conn.

Parents have more flexibility these days to choose where they want to put down roots. A new study can help them decide.

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The rent may still be too damn high, but at least it isn’t skyrocketing anymore.

That’s the message from the Realtor.com® monthly rental report, which shows a welcome cooling-off after the craziness of the COVID-19 pandemic period.

Rental prices in the largest metropolitan areas across the country rose 11.6% for the full year in 2022 but downshifted steadily throughout the year. By December, prices were only 3.2% higher, compared with the same month a year earlier.

Nationally, the median monthly rent was $1,712 in December—down $69 from the peak in July.

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In March 2020, Mark Joseph bought his first home: a spacious three-bedroom, 2.5-bedroom house in Saint Louis. He and his wife had recently had their second child, and they badly wanted more square footage.

Even in those earliest days of the COVID-19 pandemic, the housing market was very competitive. Joseph was convinced “someone else would swoop in and take it away if I didn’t make a strong offer,” he says, so he paid more than the asking price.

When Joseph moved in, he noticed the HVAC system, plumbing, and electrical wiring were in need of some costly repairs as he’d skipped having them inspected. That unexpected work exceeded his initial budget.

Joseph, founder of Parental Queries, a website devoted to pregnancy and child rearing, has since had trouble keeping up with his mortgage payments. And despite his home value rising, it hasn’t gone up as much as he initially anticipated.