Florida? Better Climate Can Make People Relocate

What states are the top picks for Americans looking to move? Florida, California, Hawaii, Colorado, and New York, according to a new survey by Harris Poll of more than 2,200 U.S. adults.

Besides looking at the most desired moving locations, the survey asked respondents to name their top reasons for wanting to move. The number one moving motivation for respondents was wanting to live in a better climate. In fact, the survey found that more than six in ten residents who live on the East Coast – 64 percent – and 61 percent of Midwesterners say they’d consider moving in order to live in an area with a better climate and weather.

These are the top moving motivations for survey respondents:

• 52% said they’d consider moving to another state to live in for a better climate or better weather.
• 41% said they’d consider moving for a job opportunity.
• 35% said they’d factor in proximity to family.
• 25% said they’d consider a move for health reasons
• 18% said they’d move to be closer to friends.
• 16% said they’d relocate to be closer to a significant other.
• 14% said they’d move for greater educational opportunities.
• 13% wanted to live in an area with a more accepting lifestyle.
• 11% said they wanted to move to a place with political views that are more accepting.
• 11% wanted to move to an area where recreational marijuana is legal.
• 7% said they’d consider moving to a place where their religious views are more accepted.

Plansource, Inc., www.plansonline.com, remains a portal of information for homebuilders and the homebuilding industry.

 

Reprinted from Realtor Today

What’s Hot, Not in Home Decor in 2016

The Wall Street Journal recently had interior designers weigh in on the top design trends likely to make a big splash in 2016 as well as what’s likely to fall out of style. Here are some design trends to keep in mind when staging your listings.

What’s In

Black metals: This metal was once reserved for outdoor furniture or bed frames, but not anymore. This unflashy metal is appearing as simple hardware, bathroom fixtures, and even flatware, British interior designer Martyn Lawrence Bullard told The Wall Street Journal. Black metal is also being blended into wood and glass.

Curvy home décor: Rounded tables and curvy aesthetics will likely appear in more furnishings. Radial and bullnose edges soften hard materials like marble, says Glenn Lawson of Lawson Flenning in Los Angeles.

Old-world style: “People want the traditional and dressy, with a shot of nostalgia, to feel like everything is going to be OK,” Tobi Fairley, an interior designer in Little Rock, Ark., told The Wall Street Journal. Expect to see more brocades, tapestries, Georgian and Empire antiques, as well as fringe, cording and tassels.

Scandinavian flat weaves: “With elegantly balanced geometric compositions, these rugs are a sophisticated answer to the omnipresent neutrals and sisals,” said Los Angeles designer Madeline Stuart. The Scandinavian designs are being weaved into both contemporary and traditional spaces.

What’s Out

Rosy metallic: Copper and rose-gold metals were big in 2015, but, alas, the rosy-gold hues may have a look of being “cheap” in 2016, warns Barclay Butera, a designer with offices in Los Angeles and Park City, Utah.

The industrial look: “Enough of looking like we are living in the garage,” says Joe Lucas of Lucas Studio in Los Angeles. The millennial-coffeehouse design is finally showing signs of fading, co-signs Timothy Brown, an interior designer based in New York.

Sisal and jute: These two types of fiber rugs may have overstayed their welcome in home décor, designers say. “They don’t feel soft or cushy on bare feet and are not very child- or pet-friendly,” says Timothy Corrigon, a Los Angeles designer. “It wears quickly, stains easily and is virtually un-cleanable,” adds Philip Gorrivan, a designer in New York.

 

Plansource, Inc remains a portal of information for homebuilders and the homebuilding industry.  http://www.plansonline.com

Reprinted from NYT

New Home Design Trends

Nick Lehnert, executive director at Irvine, Calif.–based KTGY, and Mollie Carmichael, principal at John Burns Real Estate Consulting in Irvine, assembled for BIG BUILDER 14 ethnographically informed design trends. All 14 of these trends fall within three primary assertions in today’s new-home market: scale trumps size; livability trumps salability; technology can solve for both scale and livability. Below are this year’s top design trends in the new-home market.

1. Scale and Function

The latest American Institute of Architects’ Design Trends Survey notes that households have a “growing interest in going smaller due to an effort to contain energy costs, and a significant higher number of architects report demand for smaller homes.” Scale and function are the solution here, not sheer square footage.

2. ”Private” Space

Boomers, empty nesters, and Gen Y cohorts express a desire for less maintenance and more privatized outdoor space, breaking away from the traditional “public” backyard. This design trend can be achieved by creating spaces that are private from the neighboring house by either positioning architecture around the outdoor space or by allowing the outdoor space to pierce architecture, affording more interior living spaces to be exposed to the outdoor area.

3. Indoor/Outdoor Connectivity

Bring the outdoors into the home experience. These thresholds to the outdoors offer more light and exciting access to “private” outdoor space. The result makes the interior feel like it extends beyond walls.

4. Covered Outdoor Rooms

Outdoor rooms expand the utility of the adjoining interior rooms and become outdoor retreats, still covered and protected but open to the outdoors.

5. Personal Touches

Whether it is a resale or a new home, the consumer is looking for and purchasing feature elements—such as kitchen products, bath fixtures, and custom flooring—that reflect their lifestyle and aesthetic preferences. Now take this trend to the architecture/structure of the house. Each consumer will “live” the interior space of a home differently.

6. Super Kitchens

The kitchen is viewed as the “hub” of the house. While providing the main function of a place for food preparation, the kitchen also serves as an entertainment/conversation area. Kitchens are now open to other rooms, visible and exposed. An island offers additional seating capacity along with prep space, and pantries need to be able to store more packaged foods, which often are purchased in bulk at stores like Costco. As the hub, it becomes a consumer’s dream to design these elements together with function, practicality, and flair.

7. Spalike Master Baths

The bathtub is not dead—rather, it has become an afterthought in most designs. However, trends reveal that women tend to take more baths than men as they’re more apt to dedicate the time. It is an experience and offers an opportunity for relaxation, so why not design the setting to enhance the experience?

8. Larger Media Areas

Many households these days possess at least one large flat-screen TV. The new, larger sizes of these televisions create a design need for more wall space and more seating capability.

9. More Garage Space

Garages are more than “housing” for vehicles. In fact, the garage is one of the only places within a “programmed” house that will offer the consumer what we call idea space. Creating a larger garage to accommodate more functions becomes a value to the consumer.

10. Smarter Storage

Always an important factor, storage rarely gets designed into a home, leaving the consumer to create their own space. Smarter, well-designed storage is especially useful within smaller spaces.

11. Office Space

The office/den is trending to a higher need and the “want” issue dictates the best location within the home. Who uses it and where it is located becomes critical to the consumer and how they value the space. As a “utilized” office space, the front of the home off the entry is not considered an intelligent and practical location. The better location is closer to the “living” area of the house—the kitchen hub and family room.

12. Entry and Exits

Buyers are looking for entry drama and home announcement when greeting guests. As such, the entry and exits become important for impact. Over the past 10 to 15 years, we have stacked living over the entries. To be able to create some level of volume increases demand.

13. Dual-Use Homes

Multigenerational living has become part of the “next” culture. Families are staying together longer and the coupling of families becomes economic as well as cultural.

14. Technological Advances

Technology products create a need for a new lifestyle that revolves around the constant use handheld electronic devices. We will be designing small “server” rooms as smart technology continues to enter the home.

 

Reprinted from Builder Magazine

Plansource, Inc., remains a portal of information for homebuilders and the homebuilding industry. http://www.plansonline.com

New Bathroom Trends

What’s the greatest thing since indoor plumbing? His-and-hers shower stalls. But say bye-bye to the bidet.

Luxury bathrooms have undergone some notable changes since 2008, considered the peak of the real-estate bubble, according to a survey by the Home Innovation Research Labs (HIRL). The biggest casualties are whirlpool bathtubs and stand-alone bidets, down 9.4% and 34.9%, respectively, over the six-year period.

   

In the study, conducted between January and March, roughly 1,400 home builders cited trends in new construction in 2013. Analysts at HIRL, a subsidiary of the National Association of Home Builders, then compared the findings with its 2008 survey results.

“Since the recession, there have been a lot of trade-offs,” said Ed Hudson, director of the group’s market-research division. Luxury homes have shrunk slightly, from 4,190 square feet in 2008 to 4,049 square feet in 2013. Home buyers, even on the luxury end, are more conscientious about what they look for in amenities, he said.

In some cases, buyers toned down the guest bathrooms to focus on the master suite, said Scott Hobbs, president of custom home builder Hobbs Inc. in New Canaan, Conn. “People choose to spend money where they’re most going to enjoy it,” he said.

Aesthetically, new homes today are less ornate than they were in the go-go days of the housing boom, said April Saxe, an agent with Houlihan Lawrence who sells multimillion-dollar homes in Westchester, N.Y. “The [whirlpool] tub has certainly been on the way out,” she said. Instead, that space may be going toward a new soaking tub or shower stall.

Even for buyers who weren’t hit hard by the downturn, decorum dictated some stylistic changes. The bathroom is less showy and much more contemporary since the recession, said Leo Birov, founder of Heritage Luxury Builders in Northfield, Ill. “Everything looks more transitional now,” he said, with popular features including heated floors, steam showers and computerized controls.

But that doesn’t mean bathrooms are less luxurious. Mark Pulte, founder of luxury home builder Mark Timothy Inc. in Boca Raton, Fla., said he is building showers with a half dozen body sprays, his-and-her shower heads and waterproof keypad controls for all the nozzles.

He is noticing one demographic shift on the ultrahigh end. Younger clients want one large his-and-hers shower with two entrances; “the older crowd wants separate showers.”

Plansource, Inc., http://www.plansonline.com, remains a portal for information on the homebuilding industry.

Reprinted from WSJ and Builder magazine

Home Trends for 2014 and beyond

Nick Lehnert, executive director at Irvine, Calif.–based KTGY, and Mollie Carmichael, principal at John Burns Real Estate Consulting in Irvine, assembled for BIG BUILDER 14 ethnographically informed design trends. All 14 of these trends fall within three primary assertions in today’s new-home market: scale trumps size; livability trumps salability; technology can solve for both scale and livability. Below are this year’s top design trends in the new-home market.

1. Scale and Function

The latest American Institute of Architects’ Design Trends Survey notes that households have a “growing interest in going smaller due to an effort to contain energy costs, and a significant higher number of architects report demand for smaller homes.” Scale and function are the solution here, not sheer square footage.

2. ”Private” Space

Boomers, empty nesters, and Gen Y cohorts express a desire for less maintenance and more privatized outdoor space, breaking away from the traditional “public” backyard. This design trend can be achieved by creating spaces that are private from the neighboring house by either positioning architecture around the outdoor space or by allowing the outdoor space to pierce architecture, affording more interior living spaces to be exposed to the outdoor area.

3. Indoor/Outdoor Connectivity

Bring the outdoors into the home experience. These thresholds to the outdoors offer more light and exciting access to “private” outdoor space. The result makes the interior feel like it extends beyond walls.

4. Covered Outdoor Rooms

Outdoor rooms expand the utility of the adjoining interior rooms and become outdoor retreats, still covered and protected but open to the outdoors.

5. Personal Touches

Whether it is a resale or a new home, the consumer is looking for and purchasing feature elements—such as kitchen products, bath fixtures, and custom flooring—that reflect their lifestyle and aesthetic preferences. Now take this trend to the architecture/structure of the house. Each consumer will “live” the interior space of a home differently.

6. Super Kitchens

The kitchen is viewed as the “hub” of the house. While providing the main function of a place for food preparation, the kitchen also serves as an entertainment/conversation area. Kitchens are now open to other rooms, visible and exposed. An island offers additional seating capacity along with prep space, and pantries need to be able to store more packaged foods, which often are purchased in bulk at stores like Costco. As the hub, it becomes a consumer’s dream to design these elements together with function, practicality, and flair.

7. Spalike Master Baths

The bathtub is not dead—rather, it has become an afterthought in most designs. However, trends reveal that women tend to take more baths than men as they’re more apt to dedicate the time. It is an experience and offers an opportunity for relaxation, so why not design the setting to enhance the experience?

8. Larger Media Areas

Many households these days possess at least one large flat-screen TV. The new, larger sizes of these televisions create a design need for more wall space and more seating capability.

9. More Garage Space

Garages are more than “housing” for vehicles. In fact, the garage is one of the only places within a “programmed” house that will offer the consumer what we call idea space. Creating a larger garage to accommodate more functions becomes a value to the consumer.

10. Smarter Storage

Always an important factor, storage rarely gets designed into a home, leaving the consumer to create their own space. Smarter, well-designed storage is especially useful within smaller spaces.

11. Office Space

The office/den is trending to a higher need and the “want” issue dictates the best location within the home. Who uses it and where it is located becomes critical to the consumer and how they value the space. As a “utilized” office space, the front of the home off the entry is not considered an intelligent and practical location. The better location is closer to the “living” area of the house—the kitchen hub and family room.

12. Entry and Exits

Buyers are looking for entry drama and home announcement when greeting guests. As such, the entry and exits become important for impact. Over the past 10 to 15 years, we have stacked living over the entries. To be able to create some level of volume increases demand.

13. Dual-Use Homes

Multigenerational living has become part of the “next” culture. Families are staying together longer and the coupling of families becomes economic as well as cultural.

14. Technological Advances

Technology products create a need for a new lifestyle that revolves around the constant use handheld electronic devices. We will be designing small “server” rooms as smart technology continues to enter the home.

 

Plansource, Inc., http://www.plansonline.com, remains a portal of information for builders and the homebuilding industry.

 

Reprinted from Big Builder

Home Construction to Surge in Coming Quarters

Home construction could surge in coming quarters, despite signals of recent softness, as buyers look to lock in good deals and it becomes easier to obtain a mortgage, according to a Monday research note from CIBC World Markets.

Analysts with the Canada-based investment bank forecast that construction will be started on almost 1.2 million U.S. homes next year, up 29% from 930,000 by the end of this year. Part of that jump will be due to borrowers rushing to close deals with relatively low mortgage rates, and before prices rise too much further.

“The anticipated increase in costs could be a powerful motivation to buy in the next few quarters rather than wait it out,” CIBC analysts wrote.

Annual home prices were recently up more than 12%. And mortgage rates started rising in early May, though they have declined in recent weeks. The combination of higher rates and prices raise monthly mortgage payments, pricing out some interested buyers.

However, mortgage rates remain relatively low by historical standards and home prices are about 21% below a bubble peak. Looking forward, mortgages may remain cheap following the Federal Reserve’s recent decision not to pull back yet on programs that are keeping longer-term rates low.

Among the various hurdles that would-be borrowers have faced in recent years are extremely high credit standards. In the wake of the financial meltdown, the mortgage market made it tougher to get a loan, and there’s been concern that some credit-worthy borrowers have been unable to obtain credit.

But there are signs that mortgage standards are starting to ease. Also, banks may increasingly look to make new loans as applications to refinance dry up.

There’s certainly room for home construction to grow. For August the government estimated that housing starts hit a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 891,000, far below the 1.7 million starts per year that economists estimate are needed to maintain current stock and meet demand for replacement and second homes.

Plansource, Inc, a Tampa based residential design firm, www.plansonline.com, continues to remain a portal of information for homebuilders and the homebuilding industry.

Reprinted from Builder Magazine/Market Watch

7 Reasons to Buy A Home in 2013

reasons to buy a home by the end of the year:

1. Mortgage rates are still dropping. The average rate for a 30-year fixed rate loan is 4.50 percent at the time of publication. While this is a 1.15 percent increase from the historic low of 3.35 percent at the end of 2012, it’s still an attractive rate for prospective homebuyers. The housing sector is getting stronger and inflation rates are low, which promotes low mortgage rates.

2. It’s still cheaper to buy than rent. If you live in a metropolitan area, it may make more financial sense to buy a home than rent a house, condo or apartment. According to a 2012 Trulia Trends study, buying a home is 44 percent cheaper than renting in the 100 largest metro areas in the United States. While this data was calculated based on last year’s lower mortgage rates, there is still a significant price difference in total monthly costs with today’s rates.

3. Home prices are relatively low. Housing price trends vary significantly by location and even by neighborhood, but the average housing price trends across the country look promising for prospective homebuyers. The S&P/Case-Shiller composite index of 20 metropolitan areas increased only 1 percent this past season, so 2013 could still be a great time to buy.

4. It may be easier to get a mortgage. Credit unions and banks may be making it easier for some prospective buyers to qualify for a mortgage. Less stringent requirements and qualifying criteria may help some people finally get that home loan. If you have good credit and some savings available for a down payment, you might just be able to get a loan for your dream home this year.

5. Less competition from home flippers. Investors looking to buy and flip houses can’t move as quickly as they did in recent years. Housing prices in some markets are increasing, making house flipping less attractive. This gives prospective homebuyers more inventory to choose from and the benefit of having less pressure to close a deal because of another pending offer. This could be the time to enjoy the freedom of shopping around for that perfect home and making an offer.

6. Avoid the cost of rising rent. A buyer’s market means it might be time to say goodbye to renting for good. If you’re tired of rent increases at your current location or want to move but will experience a spike in rent, consider the benefits of buying a home instead. You may be able to secure a great rate with your credit history and end up paying the equivalent or less in monthly payments as you build equity in a home. Renting can be a more affordable option for the short term, but renters still have to face rising rental costs year after year.

7. Invest in your future. Buying a home gives you a chance to start building equity, and you are investing in your future. Even if you end up selling your home in five or 10 years, you could profit from the sale and invest that money elsewhere. If you’ve been dealing with rising rent or the hassles of costly moves for the past few years, settling in to a home can stabilize your housing expenses – especially if you get a fixed-rate loan at a great rate. You won’t have to worry about your monthly housing expenses changing significantly for a few years, and you will pay for something that has more value than a rental property. Consider the benefits of making this type of contribution to your future month after month.

Plansource Inc., a Tampa-based residential design firm, remains a portal of information for homebuilders and the homebuilding industry.  www.plansonline.com

Reprinted from US News and World Report

Builders Boost Construction

U.S. builders started work in August on the most single-family homes in six months and requested permits to build even more in future months. The figures suggest housing remains are driver of economic growth despite higher mortgage rates.

The Commerce Department says builders increased construction of single-family homes 7 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 628,000. That was the most since February. And they sought 627,000 permits for them, a 3 percent increase from July and the most since May 2008.

Overall, builders broke ground on 891,000 houses and apartments last month, up from 883,000 the previous month. The gain in single-family homes was offset by a decline in volatile demand for apartments.

 Plansource, Inc. remains a portal of information for homebuilders and the homebuilding industry.

Reprinted from AP

Homebuilder Confidence at 8 Year High!

Confidence among U.S. homebuilders is at its highest level in nearly eight years, fueled by optimism that demand for new homes will drive sales growth into next year.

The brighter sales outlook is the latest sign pointing to a sustained pickup in construction in coming months and comes as applications for permits to build single-family houses are at a five-year high.

The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo builder sentiment index released Thursday jumped to 59 this month from 56 in July. It was the fourth consecutive monthly gain.

A reading above 50 indicates more builders view sales conditions as good, rather than poor.

The last time the reading was above 59 was in November 2005, when it was 61. U.S. sales of new homes peaked in July that year.

Measures of current sales conditions and builders’ outlook for single-family home sales over the next six months each increased to their highest levels in at least seven years. Builders’ gauge of traffic by prospective buyers was unchanged.

Steady hiring, rising home prices and still-low mortgage rates are encouraging more people to buy homes. New-home sales jumped 8.3 percent in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 497,000, the fastest pace in five years.

That’s still below the 700,000 pace consistent with healthy markets, but represents an increase of 38 percent over the previous 12 months, the biggest annual gain since January 1992.

The rise in demand, home prices and a thinning supply of previously occupied homes on the market have helped make builders more optimistic about their sales prospects, which has led them to step up construction.

Applications for permits to build single-family homes rose for the third straight month in June to 624,000, the highest since May 2008. That suggests home construction should rebound in the coming months.

Though new homes represent only a fraction of the housing market, they have an outsize impact on the economy. Each home built creates an average of three jobs for a year and generates about $90,000 in tax revenue, according to NAHB statistics.

Many of the large, publicly traded homebuilders have been reporting sharp growth in completed sales and new-home orders this year. And sales for privately held U.S. homebuilders are up 18 percent over the past year, according to data provider Sageworks Inc.

Plansource, Inc., a Tampa based residential design firm, www.plansonline.com, remains a portal for information for hombuilders and the homebuilding industry.

Reprinted from AP

 

Growing Share of Consumers Plan to Purchase Home

Measures of consumer confidence continue to report mixed results on a monthly basis. However, over time they are trending in the same direction. According to Thomson Reuters and the University of Michigan, the Consumer Sentiment Index rose by 1 point in July to a seasonally adjusted level of 84.1. The final reading of consumer sentiment was revised up from the preliminary reading of 83.9 that was released earlier in the month. Meanwhile, the Conference Board reported that its Consumer Confidence Index fell by 1.8 points, 2.2%, on a month-over-month seasonally adjusted basis in July to 80.3.

The directionally opposite monthly movements recorded by the two measures of consumer confidence in the month of July reflect different conclusions about consumers’ expectations about future conditions. According to the University of Michigan’s Consumer Sentiment Survey, the 5 point increase in consumers’ assessment of current conditions, from an index level of 94 to an index level of 99, was only partially offset by the 1 point decline, 78 to 77, in their view of expected conditions. In contrast, the decline in consumers’ expectations of future conditions according to the Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Survey, a 6 point drop from an index level of 91 to 85, more than offset the 5 point increase in consumers’ assessment of their present situation.

 

Despite the sharp decline in consumers’ overall expectations as recorded by the Conference Board, the share of consumers planning to buy a home in the next 6 months rose.  The rising trend in the share of consumers planning to purchase a home largely reflects an increase in the percent of respondents planning to purchase an already “lived-in” home. The share of consumers planning to buy a home in the next 6 months rose by 0.2 percentage points to 5.7% on a month-to-month seasonally adjusted basis. Since January 2011, the percentage of respondents with house purchasing plans has risen from 2.0% to 5.7%. Over this same period, the share of respondents planning to purchase a “lived-in” home rose by 2.2 percentage points while the share of respondents planning to purchase a new home rose by 0.7 percentage points. The portion of respondents that plan to purchase a home, but are uncertain about whether it will be a “lived-in” or a new home (series not shown) also rose by 0.7 percentage points.

 

The percent of consumers planning to purchase a new home is closely correlated with new home sales while the share of consumers planning to purchase a “lived-in” home is less correlated with single-family existing home sales. The continued increase in the percent of consumers planning on purchasing a new home as shown in Chart 3 may indicate that new home sales will continue to recover. In contrast, the rise in the share of consumers planning to purchase an existing home is not a strong predictor of existing home sales.

Plansource, Inc., www.plansonline.com, is a Tampa based residential design firm that continues to be a portal for information for homebuilders and the homebuilding industry.

Reprinted from NAHB