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Home prices are still near record highs, so if you’re purchasing your next home in a cheaper or unfamiliar area, be aware of outside influences that can lower your property values.

Noise. Traffic noise, sirens, construction, and other noise pollution can impact home values. Areas to avoid include next to a freeway, on a busy thoroughfare, or across the street from a school.

Danger. Crime statistics can be found at USA.gov. You can search the Office of Justice Programs for known sex offenders living in your area.

Industrial pollution. Builders often look for land in industrial areas where the parcels are cheaper and larger to construct apartments and houses. Visit The Environmental Protection Agency and enter your address to learn how emissions and releases from industry are impacting your neighborhood.

High number of rentals. If you’re buying a condominium or house managed by a homeowner’s association, you have the right to see all governing documents and financial records. High turnover rates make it more difficult to get mortgage loans and expose you to transients who may not care about their neighbors since they don’t own the property.

Bad neighbors. You’ll have to introduce yourself to potential neighbors and ask them what the neighborhood is like, but you can also tell a lot from the state of other properties near your next home. Rundown homes around your home make it less desirable.

Your Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices network professional will be able to help you research the home and neighborhood.

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Fall and winter can be hard on your grass, trees, and flowers, so here are five ways you can make your landscaping more attractive whether you’re selling your home, moving into a new home, or simply want to protect your landscape from fall and winter weather

According to the National Association of REALTORS®, late October to mid-November is the perfect time to plant, weed, prune, and mulch, so your yard looks nicer and your plants will be protected during the winter.

1. Trim trees of dead branches for your own and neighbors’ safety. From November to March is an ideal time to prune trees to give them a better shape and prevent branches from blowing against the house.
2. Now is the time to get rid of leggy shrubs and plant new ones. Plant new shade trees with leaves that change color. Few fall sights are as beautiful as a maple tree with flaming red leaves or a ginkgo with golden yellow leaves.
3. Clean out flower beds and re-mulch with a layer of “wood chips, tree bark, leaves or other organic material.”
4. The Oklahoma State University extension office advises that October and November are the ideal times to plant bulbs before the ground gets hard. You can also plant pansies, ornamental kale, ornamental cabbage, and other cool-season annuals.
5. Pull weeds from the lawn after a rain so they’ll be easier to remove by the roots. They’ll be less likely to crop up again in the spring.

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Who wants to make an investment that doesn’t yield a return? Certainly not real estate investors. They have formulas to assure their success as much as possible. One favorite is the one percent rule.

Rocketmortgage.com explains that the one percent rule “measures the price of the investment property against the gross income it will generate.” That means that an investment must generate at least 1% or more in rental income based on the original purchase price. The rule continues as the investment property appreciates in value, which means the potential for profit in the form of higher rent is even greater.

To find a property that will be profitable, multiply the purchase price of the property by 1%. Another way to calculate it is to move the “comma in the purchase price to the left two spaces.” The result should be the minimum you charge in monthly rent. If the property requires any repairs, you’ll also want to factor them into the equation by adding them to the purchase price, then multiplying the total by 1%.

If you want to buy an investment home for $300,000, you should be able to collect $3,000 in rent. Ask your Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices network agent to provide a comparative market analysis of nearby similar properties so you can compare purchase prices and rental prices for those properties.

For greater accuracy, include the costs to renovate and repair the property, and to bring it up to modern building codes for safe habitation.

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From rooftop gardens to planned community developments, neighborhood farming is having a moment. Agrihoods, or urban farms, have growing appeal, pardon the pun, for foodies who want farm-fresh produce no matter where they live. The beauty of the concept is that it combines the best of urban and rural lifestyles.

The benefits for individuals, communities and city planners are numerous. By coming together, residents of an apartment building, a neighborhood, or a town can grow free or low-cost food in containers, raised backyard beds, or in designated community gardens. Agrihoods promote healthy outdoor activity, improved health and sustainable land use. They help foster new friendships and a stronger sense of community. Community gardens teach both children and adults skills they can use for a lifetime.

While many agrihoods are started by local non-profit organizations and community volunteers, you can organize your own co-op by contacting neighbors, family and friends and choosing the best gardening opportunity for all. Once the food is harvested, it’s easy to split evenly among the participants.

Architects, builders and developers are paying attention to the trend and they report that existing single-family homes in agrihoods have a resale value as much as 28 percent higher than comparable houses in traditional suburban neighborhoods. For many developers, golf courses are expensive to design and maintain while agrihoods can be developed at one-fifth of the cost. Some are large enough to employ farm managers who do the actual farming and manage livestock, in case you don’t have a green thumb.

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Credit scores from FICO and VantageScore, the two most prominent U.S. credit scoring companies, rely on calculations based on a range of data, including payment history (35%), amounts owed (30%), length of credit history (15%), new credit (10%) and credit mix (10%).

The total amount you owe, the number and types of accounts you have, and the amount of money owed compared to how much credit you have available compose the “amounts owed” ratio. One of the ways this figure is calculated is through credit utilization, a measure of how much available credit you’re using as it applies to revolving credit accounts, including credit cards, personal lines of credit and home equity lines of credit. These accounts are separate from mortgages or car loans which have fixed terms for repayment.

Most sources say that no revolving line of credit should be utilized more than 30% at a time, so if you have a credit line limit on a bank card of $5,000, having a balance due above $1,500 on that card will lower your credit scores. New loans that don’t have a payment history can also lower your scores, while small balances or balances that were paid off over time can raise your scores.

To calculate your credit utilization ratio, add up all the balances and then the credit limits you have on all your accounts. Then divide the total of the balances by the total of your credit limits. Multiply the result by 100 to see your percentage.

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The pandemic that began in 2020 was life-changing in all aspects, including home design. As workers stayed home to work remotely, they began to appreciate what a difference more space could make. Before long, the hottest housing market ever emerged as households sought larger homes with more creature comforts.

What many found were homes that had been designed and built for busy dual-income families featuring a large bright “open kitchen.” Instead of separating the cook from the action in the den or living room, open floor plans allow cooking, eating, TV watching, working and socializing to take place in one large contiguous space. This was embraced as a liberating innovation that promoted connectivity for overscheduled families to see more of each other, but the result was more noise, more messes to look at, and a more chaotic environment.

For luxury homeowners who value privacy, relaxation, and comfort, the open kitchen plan has had its day. Room differentiation makes a huge difference in creating an elevated lifestyle. One way to do that is to be more intentional with interior design, wall placement, and traffic flow. Good wall placement helps establish the desired ambiance for each space. The den is a family retreat again, the living room welcomes visitors and clients, and the kitchen is no longer party central. Explains MansionGlobal.com, separating rooms makes each one feel properly proportioned and easier to furnish. An open plan must be more cohesive, while defined rooms can have their own personalities and colorways.

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Would you be happier if your outdoor space was remodeled with a fireplace, a swimming pool, or a new wood deck? In the 2023 Remodeling Impact Report: Outdoor Features, the National Association of REALTORS® found that nearly all homeowners reported increased happiness with their completed outdoor projects – 9.7 out of a possible “Joy Score” of 10.

Using Census data for the average-sized U.S. home – 2,500 sq. ft., built after 1978, and situated on a 14,000 sq. ft. lot – NAR collaborated with the National Association of Landscape Professionals to learn the results of 11 landscaping projects, plus their costs, estimated return on investment for homeowners, and homeowner happiness.

Among the outdoor projects included were: fire feature ($9,000), in-ground pool addition ($90,000), irrigation system installation ($6,000), landscape lighting ($6,800), landscape maintenance ($4,800), new patio ($10,500), new wood deck ($16,900), outdoor kitchen ($15,000), overall landscape upgrade ($9,000), tree care ($2,875) and standard lawn care service ($415).

Interestingly, homeowner happiness was not tied to the highest cost recovery. Homeowners reported the highest Joy Scores for in-ground pool additions (10), landscape lighting (10), and new patios (9.9). Standard lawn care service, the least expensive of the 11 projects, had the highest cost recovery (217%), followed by landscape maintenance (104%), an overall landscape upgrade (100%) and an outdoor kitchen (100%).

Consumers remodel to add features, improve livability, upgrade worn-out materials, or simply to make a change. Another benefit to outdoor remodeling is curb appeal, which is important to homebuyers, says 97% of NAR members.

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As we celebrate Memorial Day and the kick-off to summer, I just want to stop and remember that this day commemorates all the men and women who have died in the U.S. military service.  As a child of a veteran, this day makes me appreciate all those that did not come home and missed out on holidays just so we can celebrate with our families.  So please join me in taking a moment to Remember & Honor those who paid the ultimate sacrifice for their nation.

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Between 20%-26% of the nation live in multigenerational homes with two or more adult generations or grandparents and grandchildren younger than 25. According to Homes.com, there are numerous benefits—multigen households save money and share responsibilities to improve wellbeing for all members. Children have fewer behavioral problems, grandparents are happier and less lonely, and their adult children have more financial and emotional support.

Younger adults can improve their credit, reduce debt, and save for a down payment on their own home one day. Family members can combine their credit and cash to borrow bigger mortgage and remodeling loans to buy better homes, improve lifestyles and increase privacy.

To make shared living successful, multigen households should establish some ground rules, advises Betterup.com.

1. Create both common areas and separate spaces. All household members need privacy. Homes with dual owner’s suites, kitchenettes, private baths and separate entrances make it easy to live together and have privacy, too.
2. Set boundaries. Establish everyone’s needs, expectations and personal preferences openly. Respect each other’s privacy, possessions and time.
3. Do your part. Pay your fair share as agreed. Do your chores on time. Offer help when needed.
4. Create opportunities for caregivers to recharge. Date nights and weekend getaways away from the house can be refreshing for parents or caregivers of aging parents.
5. Create playtime for the whole family. Everyone can look forward to board game night, family vacations, trips to the park, school plays, or tickets to sporting and musical events.

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