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Today seems like a perfect day for a drive. This drive lasts about 115 years, but it’s well worth it.
It’s a fun interactive timeline infographic from imove.com that travels through time – beginning in the 1900s and continuing through every decade to the present – to highlight the most iconic home architectural styles of each period. Along the way, you’ll discover the design features, cultural fads and technological innovations that characterized the homes of each era.
“Explore the eccentricities as you stroll along the past 115 years of American homes – we think you’ll like the neighborhood.”
[View the interactive timeline]
Freddie Mac released its April 2015 Multi-Indicator Market Index this week, indicating significant housing market improvements nationwide in several states and individual metro areas. This article from DS News summarizes the results.
More than half of the states plus the District of Columbia, along with more than a third of the nation’s largest metro areas, were categorized as in the “stable” range in April on the strength of a healthy spring homebuying season, according to Freddie Mac’s April 2015 Multi-Indicator Market Index (MiMi).
In addition to 26 states that fell in the stable range, 35 of the nation’s top 100 metro areas had a MiMi value in the stable range in April.
“We saw a significant improvement in housing markets nationwide, with ten more metro areas and nine more states moving within range of their benchmark, stable level of housing activity,” said Len Kiefer, Freddie Mac’s Deputy Chief Economist. “The West and Southwest areas of the country continue to lead the way, especially Colorado, Oregon and Utah, and California is right there as well. Unlike a year ago, when the most improving markets were those hardest hit by the Great Recession, we’re now seeing stable markets among the most improving as well. So the strong housing markets are getting stronger, which reflects the better employment picture, rising home values and increased purchase activity in these markets with the spring homebuying season in full swing.”
Freddie Mac’s report of more stabilization nationwide in the housing market was right in line with the GSE’s economic outlook for June 2015, released just one day earlier, which showed that Americans may be ready to take on more mortgage debt due to low debt servicing costs and improved household balance sheets.
This new article from U.S. News offers some excellent advice on some steps you can take right now to begin improving your credit score.
There are a lot of rumors circulating when it comes to credit scores and how to improve them: Do you really need to pay a credit repair company to increase your score? (No.) Will getting married help raise it? (No.) Will making on-time payments every month give it a boost? (Yes.) If you want to make your score better, perhaps because you plan to take out a sizable loan in the future, consider these strategies.
Review your credit report for any errors and omissions. If you have a negative mark that isn’t rightfully yours, dispute it and get it removed. If you have an account that’s not listed on your report, make sure it’s added.
Making on-time payments each month is key to staying on top of your debt and maintaining your score. It might sound boring, but it’s a tried-and-true method.
If you have a major black mark on your credit history – if you’ve filed for bankruptcy, for example – it will take time to put some space between that event and your score. In most cases, it takes about seven to 10 years to erase the negative effects of a bankruptcy filing from a credit report.
By paying off debt and lowering your total balance owed, you lower the total amount of interest you pay, and improve your credit score at the same time.
If you’re a college student still spending mom and dad’s money, or you’re an unemployed spouse with accounts in your partner’s name, it’s time to set up some accounts in your own name. That will give you the chance to build your own credit history. Most accounts with monthly bills, including for utilities or credit, can help fill out your credit history.
Following a report that showed existing home sales climbing last month to the highest rate since late 2009, the Commerce Department released its results for May new home sales on Tuesday. This article from The Wall Street Journal highlights the results.
Sales of newly built homes rose in May to the highest level since the recession, another sign the housing market is building steam after years of sluggish progress.
New-home sales increased 2.2% over the month to an annual rate of 546,000. That marked the best month of sales since February 2008, and it followed an 8.1% surge in sales in April.
The figure comes amid a flurry of other signs that more Americans are buying homes after a run of strong job growth, buoyed by slightly looser lending standards and historically low mortgage rates.
“While we have yet to see whether the recent momentum in housing will sustain, there’s no doubt that we’re in a healthier and more robust market where consumers stand to benefit,” Bill Banfield, Quicken Loans vice president, said in a statement. “With inventory slipping a bit, expect to see home construction pick up the slack in the coming months.”
The broader trend shows healthy growth, with sales up 19.5% over the past year.
Is your city a good and safe one for biking? Walk Score has developed a Bike Score ranking of 154 U.S. cities and more than 10,000 neighborhoods. The scores are measured by four components: bike lanes, hills, destinations/road connectivity, and share of local workers’ commutes traveled by bicycle.
Minneapolis is the most bikeable city in the U.S. in 2015. With a Bike Score of 81.3, Minneapolis has a strong lead over San Francisco (75.1) and Portland (72.0).
Of cities with populations of 300,000 or more, the 10 most bikeable cities are Minneapolis, San Francisco, Portland, Denver, Boston, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Sacramento, Tucson and Philadelphia.
Other cities in the top 20 include Seattle, Miami, Aurora CO and Mesa AZ.
“Biking is central to the healthy Minneapolis lifestyle and to a lot of people’s decisions about where to live in and around the city,” said James Garry, a Redfin agent and avid biker in Minneapolis.
Thanks to investments in infrastructure such as protected bike lanes and networks of bike paths, several cities saw big increases in their Bike Scores since the 2013 ranking.
In San Francisco, cyclists have seen more protected bike lanes added over the past couple years, reflected in a five-point Bike Score increase from 70.0 in 2013 to 75.1 today.
A new article from BUILDER highlights 17 of the most beautiful swimming pools from communities around the country. Three of those pools are located in communities where Lennar offers new homes.
Smart builders and developers know that it’s often a community’s amenities that sell homes more than location or floor plans, and of all the perks that builders offer, pools are a perennial favorite.
Builders across the country are including some pretty amazing swimming pools in their new communities, from luxurious adults-only models to kid-friendly water parks. Here, as we enter the dog days of summer, BUILDER offers a roundup of some of the best spots to beat the heat.
Irvine, California: Named the Master-Planned Community of the Year at the 2015 International Builders Show, Pavilion Park in the Great Park Neighborhoods offers trails, mature trees, a 5-acre park, and a variety of outdoor recreational and entertainment spaces.
Orlando, Florida: The Oasis Club at Lennar’s ChampionsGate golf-centric community includes a 16,000-square-foot amenity center, a lazy river, water slide, full-service cabanas, and heated pool.
Katy, Texas: The water park at Cinco Ranch community is a favorite of families with young children.
Today the National Association of Realtors released its May report on existing home sales, indicating that closings rose 5.1% to a 5.35 million annualized rate. This article from Bloomberg highlights the details from the report.
More first-time homebuyers took the plunge in May, helping catapult U.S. sales of previously owned properties to their highest level since 2009. First-time buyers accounted for 32% of purchases during the month, matching the highest share since September 2012.
Lower down-payment requirements from government-sponsored enterprises, rising rents and a brighter employment picture are persuading more Americans to become homeowners. The prospect of higher borrowing costs as the Federal Reserve considers raising rates may also be spurring fence-sitters to move forward, an additional boost to a housing market that’s been short on momentum.
“Incomes are doing better and more people are working,” said Stephen Stanley, chief economist at Amherst Pierpont Securities LLC in Stamford, Connecticut, who correctly forecast May sales. “I would imagine we’ll continue to see better demand from first-time buyers.”
Excluding November 2009, when demand was bolstered by the expiration of a federal government first-time homebuyer tax credit, sales last month were the strongest in more than eight years. Demand accelerated in all four major U.S. regions in May and median prices rose at a slower pace.
Overcoming student loan debt is a big challenge for many young adults who are looking to own their first home. According to a survey released by the National Association of Realtors, 23% of first-time buyers said saving for a down payment was difficult, while 57% of that group cited student loans as a factor. This article from Bankrate explains the facts and misconceptions behind student loan debt, and offers three solutions for how homebuyers can overcome it.
The problem is that student loans can be included in the buyer’s debt-to-income ratio, or DTI – the percentage of monthly income that is spent on debt payments, including mortgages, student loans, auto loans, minimum credit card payments and child support.
This ratio is one factor lenders use to decide whether a buyer can afford a mortgage payment. Generally, mortgage lenders prefer a debt-to-income ratio of 36% or less.
The home payment is an important part of DTI. Because the payment is affected by home price, property taxes and interest rate, a borrower’s DTI is a moving target.
There are three ways to overcome a DTI difficulty: Reduce debt, increase income or decrease the target mortgage payment.
A holiday that would would “establish more intimate relations between fathers and their children” and “impress upon fathers the full measure of their obligations.” That’s how Calvin Coolidge described in 1924 what would become the national holiday known as Father’s Day. But the history of Father’s Day actually begins several years before then, in Spokane, Washington. This article from International Business Times fills us in on the details.
Father’s Day officially began in 1910 when 27-year-old Sonora Dodd of Spokane proposed it as a way to honor the man who raised her when her mom died in childbirth.
The holiday gained traction during World War II, and in 1966 President Lyndon B. Johnson proclaimed the third Sunday of June to be Father’s Day. President Richard Nixon made it a federal holiday six years later.
Today, Father’s Day has a passionate following, with about three-quarters of Americans telling the National Retail Federation they plan to celebrate on Sunday.
Spending on Father’s Day will reach about $12.7 billion this year, with the average person spending about $115.57 on presents. That’s about $2 more than last year’s average.
And Father’s Day is the fourth-biggest day for sending greeting cards, after Christmas, Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day, according to the Greeting Card Association.
