Writer, editor, dog lover
There are only so many binge-worthy shows on Netflix. So, on a gloomy winter weekend, when you’ve run out of entertainment, why not take advantage of the time indoors to spruce up your home?
We asked home-improvement afficionados for their favorite cold-weather projects to arrive at this list of nine DIY jobs that you can tackle in just a day or two. As a bonus, a few may even help you cut down your utility bills.
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In a recent conversation with a long-term client, Rush Griffith, a Schwab financial planner in Dallas, discussed a decision she was grappling with: paying off her mortgage or keeping her money in the stock market. Rather than watch her investments weather the ups and downs of the market, the soon-to-be retiree sold a significant portion of her stocks and paid off her roughly $135,000 mortgage.
“When I asked her, ‘Which scenario would make you most happy?’ she quickly shouted out that no longer having a mortgage would be reaching a milestone she never thought was possible,” says Griffith.
No brainer. Many people strive to pay off their mortgage before they retire. It’s a legitimate objective, especially when you consider that 73% of seniors said their home is their most valuable asset, a 2021 survey by American Advisors Group found. “When you buy a home, your goal is to own it one day, and retirement is a good goal post for paying off your mortgage,” says Rob Williams, managing director of financial planning at Charles Schwab.
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Good news, house hunters: Home prices have started to cool. Prices are still rising, but annual home price appreciation slowed from April to June, with June marking the strongest single-month deceleration in home price growth ever, according to Black Knight, a mortgage data analytics firm.
The bad news: Rising mortgage rates are making homeownership less attainable for some buyers.
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Even in today’s red-hot market, where buyers are fighting tooth and nail for a limited supply of homes, how a property looks — in listing photos and in person — is important. This is where staging comes in. “It doesn’t matter whether it’s a seller’s market or a buyer’s market,” says Monica P. Murphy, the owner of Preferred Staging, a home staging company in Potomac Falls, Va. “What staging does is it makes your home more presentable.”
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DIY home projects can save you time and money and can leave you with a sense of accomplishment. But if you stretch yourself beyond your abilities, they can also leave you with a big mess that you end up having to pay a professional to come in and fix. Before you start one, it’s important to know what is feasible and what to expect along the way.
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New tile can instantly transform a bathroom floor, kitchen backsplash or exterior wall, and there’s no shortage of options. Indeed, tile comes in countless shapes, sizes, materials and colors. Ceramic, porcelain, cement, granite and glass are just a few tile materials on the market today. Each tile has a unique aesthetic: Subway tile, for example, lends itself well to a kitchen, while rock pebble tile gives a bathroom a spa-like atmosphere.
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Buying a car from out of state is becoming more common due to limited inventory, but it’s not without its potential pitfalls.
When Colleen McDarby set out to buy an Audi Q8 last fall, she had no idea her search would lead to a dealership in Des Moines, Iowa, and end up involving a repair shop.
McDarby, a federal employee, couldn’t find a vehicle with the features she wanted at dealers near her hometown in Centreville, Va. So she went to CarGurus, an automotive comparison shopping site, plugged in the details, and found an Audi dealer in Des Moines with the exact model. She purchased the vehicle in October.
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There’s a good chance you’ve recently rolled up your sleeves and taken on a home improvement yourself.
Eight out of 10 homeowners have tackled at least one DIY project since the start of the pandemic, an Angi survey found. Furthermore, spending for home improvements and repairs is expected to peak this year, according to a study by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. In 2019, the most recent year JCHS has data for, homeowners spent an average of $3,300 on improvements and $820 on maintenance.
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If you’ve lived in the same home for a while, you’re not alone.
Homeowners are staying put longer than they did in the past. The typical homeowner now spends about 13 years in their home, up from roughly 10 years a decade ago, according to a Redfin study. Homeownership tenure is especially long in California — Los Angeles homeowners hold onto their homes for a median of 18.1 years, up from 13.6 years in 2012.
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To Vicky and Mickey Popat, it seemed as if everyone in Orlando, Fla., wanted to buy a house last spring. “The market here was so skimpy that any time a decent property got listed, it would receive multiple offers right away and get snatched up,” said Ms. Popat, 39.
Much has been written about the extremely tight sales market for existing homes across the country, but there is a relatively unheralded segment of the market that has been experiencing a boom during the pandemic, and that is the market for vacant lots.
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Daniel Bortz 