More consumers are coming around to economists' views that home prices and mortgage rates probably peaked last year, according to a monthly survey by Fannie Mae.

Dennis Shirshikov

After months of house hunting, Dennis Shirshikov and Natalie Backman couldn’t believe their luck when they finally found the perfect home. Located in Greene, NY, the three-bedroom house on a quarter of an acre had plenty of room for their three young kids, two dogs, and three cats. Best of all, it was a steal, listed at just $90,000.

“It needed some minor repairs but was completely livable,” Shirshikov recalls.

Shirshikov, who works at the real estate investment site Awning.com, had amassed a decent down payment of $20,000. Nonetheless, getting a good mortgage proved to be much harder than he’d anticipated.

“We struggled to get a good mortgage,” Shirshikov admits. “We could not get a mortgage with a decent rate.”

Realtor.com

A meticulously restored Palm Springs, CA, home in a post-World War II housing area has entered the market.

It’s one of 15 homes in a development called Bel Vista, designed by local architect Albert Frey.

The home known as Bel Vista #2 is now listed for $995,000.

Frey created the early type of modernist architecture the area is known for.

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Painting can be hellishly messy, but there are plenty of ways to clean up any accidents.

The amount of work you’ll need to do depends on a few things, including the kind of paint you used and whether it’s still wet or dry. Here’s what to do in each scenario.

Removing paint from wood floors, baseboards, and window frames

One of the most common areas where you’ll find yourself having to remove paint is the wood that’s all around your freshly painted walls, from the baseboards to the door trim to the windowsill.

For latex paint: Latex is what’s usually used for walls and ceilings. And you’re in luck if that’s what you’re facing!

HGTV

On “Home Town,” Erin and Ben Napier help make houses feel like home—but they must also make sure a property is safe to live in.

In the episode “A Solid Foundation,” the HGTV stars meet Chase and Corrinn, who have bought a 1929 property in Laurel, MS, for $250,000. They plan to renovate it for $70,000, but this budget won’t go far once Erin and Ben find rotted subflooring and unstable walls, which Ben says are “the kind of problems that eventually bring a house down.” Clearly, this is not the type of house the couple should live in with their four kids.

The Napiers need to spend an extra $8,000 to keep this place standing. To save money, they find plenty of ways to incorporate family heirlooms and upcycle old parts of the house. Here’s how they pull it off, with plenty of lessons on mixing old with new in creative ways you might want to try, too.

Painting trim can make a big difference

HGTV

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It may sound intimidating, but trust us: This is one project you can handle yourself—no need to call in the pros. And when it comes to the efficacy of those odd “miracle” methods you may have heard about—using ketchup or toothpaste to polish silver—it’s best to just steer clear. “Anything found in your pantry, such as ketchup, is too acidic, and toothpaste is too abrasive,” says Kelly Juhasz, principal at Fine Art Appraisal and Services.

The following methods for cleaning silver are reliable, tried-and-true ways to remove tarnish fast and polish your pieces back to their former glory.

Know your silver

Before the washing begins, determine what kind of silver you have. There are generally two kinds of silver objects. If they are silver-plated, a thin layer of silver has been bonded to a base metal, usually made of a brass, copper, or nickel alloy. Sterling silver, on the other hand, is at least 92.5% solid silver, and is significantly more valuable. It also lasts much longer. But sterling silver is also much softer than silver plate, says Grace Torbeck, a content editor specializing in silver and art at the online estate marketplace Everything but the House. The cleaning method you choose may depend on what kind of silver you have.

Cleaning silver with dish soap

This method is extremely simple: Wash your silver by hand with gentle dish soap and water after every use.

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If you’re a potential buyer in the real estate market, you may wonder whether a condo is right for you. Condominiums are generally less costly to purchase than houses or townhouses, and they can offer conveniences you might not otherwise be able to afford. In fact, some buyers who are priced out of single-family homes in high-priced markets may qualify only for mortgage loans on condos or co-ops.

Condominiums can be a good investment, especially if they allow you as a buyer to enter the real estate market. Qualifying for financing is much the same as getting a mortgage for a single-family home. If you are purchasing condos as investment properties, you should be able to find a lender as well.

Yet there are caveats to condominium ownership. Here are five things to think about before you take the plunge.

You don’t own the land

A condo building is a building or complex consisting of multiple apartments that are individually owned. The entire building is owned by an individual or a property management company, but condo unit owners do not hold the title to the land on which the structure sits. This means the value of the property you own will consist solely of your condo.

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Home-buying sentiment is glum as we enter 2023, thanks to high mortgage rates and home prices, according to new research.

Fannie Mae’s Home Purchase Sentiment Index rose slightly in December by 3.7 points, to 61, the company said Monday. The index hit an all-time low in October.

In December, 21% of the 1,000 respondents surveyed said they believe “it’s a good time to buy.” Last month, only 16% said that it was a good time to buy a home.

Despite the slight improvement, “the [index] remains very low by historical standards, particularly the ‘good time to buy’ component, and respondents continue to cite high home prices and unfavorable mortgage rates as the primary reasons for their pessimism,” said Doug Duncan, senior vice president and chief economist at Fannie Mae.

As a real estate agent, your relationships are everything, so put them at the forefront. Put your best foot forward this year as you forge new connections and boost your business in the process. 

Not content to pause after purchasing "The One" megamansion for $126 million in March, the Fashion Nova founder also added the $40 million Billionaire's Beach property to his portfolio recently.

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With open floor plans all the rage these days, you may be thinking seriously of tearing down a wall or two in your home. So, how do you do it without destroying your place or, at the very least, creating on ungodly mess?

How to remove a wall

For starters, removing a wall is not as simple as swinging a sledgehammer. You’ll want to make sure the wall you want to remove can be taken down without destroying something else in your home, especially the structure of the building itself. You’ll also need to right tools, and a plan for what to do once that wall is gone.

Follow these steps on how to remove a wall with minimal danger and damage.

1. Determine whether a wall is load-bearing

This is critical: One wall you definitely won’t want to mess with is a load-bearing one. This is a wall that helps carry the weight of your house, so if you knock it down, you could do serious damage to the structural integrity of your home.

The Series B round, which brings Doorstead to $37 million in total funding since its 2019 seed round, includes investments from Avanta Ventures and MetaProp, according to an announcement.

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Future Baseball Hall of Famer Adrián Beltré has put his huge vacation home in Big Bear, CA, on the market for $2,389,000.

Beltré retired following a storied 21-year MLB career in 2018. He now seeks to sell his six-bedroom, 6.5-bathroom mountain property in Southern California.

Sitting on just over an acre, the residence is part of the tony subdivision known as Meadowbrook Estates. The large 6,500-square-foot residence is filled with luxury features and comes with a four-car garage and a guesthouse.

Realtor.com

A midcentury-style retreat in Palm Springs, a townhouse in Westlake Village and a 1947 ranch house in Altadena.

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It’s no secret that renovating a kitchen is one of the most expensive home improvement projects you can take on. The average homeowner spends about $26,000 on a kitchen remodel. So it only makes sense that folks investing that much cash are reluctant to go against a list of unspoken design rules for fear of messing with their home’s resale value and turning off future potential buyers.

But as we jump into the new year, we’re finding that neutral kitchens are no longer the norm and homeowners are focusing more on renovating to better fit their own lifestyle needs and personal preferences.

“This is a major change compared to previous years and alludes to the shift we’re seeing in design and renovation trends,” says Mallory Micetich, home expert at Angi.

Some 17% of homeowners plan to remodel their kitchens this year, and even more are planning for a less extensive revamp. If your kitchen is due for an overhaul, we encourage you to step outside the box and dare to break the following conventional wisdom design rules.

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While home staging and interior design share the goal of making your home look its best (and many pros offer both services), each serves a very distinct purpose. Here are some questions to ask to help you decide which one is right for you.

Are you selling your home soon, or staying put?

To begin, consider whether you’re planning a move in the near future. If a sale is on your mind, a home staging company is the right choice.

“Home staging is all about prepping your house so it will appeal to as many buyers as possible,” explains Dessie Sliekers of Slick Designs.

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If you’re a pool owner who’s a little foggy on what to do and why it’s important, allow this primer to fill you in—because while your pool might look sparkling-clean right now, it won’t stay that way on its own. Pool maintenance requires vigilance and a firm understanding of a few scientific principles.

“There’s lots of chemistry that goes on in a swimming pool,” says Bill Carroll Jr., an adjunct professor of chemistry at Indiana University. “You’ve got to be careful about what you do and how you do it.”

What’s in your swimming pool (if you really want to know)

When it comes to keeping a pool clean, “what you’re fighting is biological activity—human beings that go into the pool,” Carroll explains. “You might not, but the rest of the human population feels no compunction about peeing in a swimming pool.”

And it’s not just urine that contains germs that can funk up your pool. It’s also body oils, sweat, and other secretions.

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The rental market appears to have hit an inflection point—and not a moment too soon for many Americans who have been squeezed tight by record-setting price increases over the past few years.

Finally, the steady drumbeat of steep and often untenable increases in leases across the U.S. is slowing, and rents have even begun falling in many of the nation’s hottest real estate markets. Those declining prices are welcome news for renters who have been through the wringer. Rental prices have risen more than 20% over the past three years—while their earnings increased by only about 10%, according to Realtor.com® and U.S. Census Bureau data.

While Realtor.com economists predict that, nationally, rental prices will continue climbing in 2023, they expect the days of double-digit hikes are likely over.

As of November, rental prices in nine of the 50 largest metropolitan areas are showing year-over-year declines. That’s up from seven of the 50 largest metros just one month prior, as the national rental market correction continues. And for the metros that already saw rents turning south before November, prices dropped below October prices. That’s a steeper dip than just the typical seasonal declines, suggesting a deepening trend.

Luxury marketing expert Laura Stace shares her best practices to get listings buyer-ready. These seven "must-do" tasks are her essentials to make sure every property is ready for a timely sale process.

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