Does your house have the comfortable feel of an old shoe? Are you embarrassed to have people over? Or if you do, are you constantly apologizing and wondering what your guests think? Susie thinks: “check!” “check!” and “check!” A little known technique to re-invent your house is to do what real estate agents do when…
Home improvement website Houzz surveyed released a 2024 survey of home improvements home owners are making this year. #1 on the list is a “return to open spaces.” “Creating separation naturally became more popular during the COVID pandemic, with only 38% of homeowners opening up their kitchens to other interior spaces in 2022 versus 53%…
On a recent trip to Mexico, the sound of the ocean crashed with the sounds of building. Everywhere! Beautiful, modern condos in Puerto Vallarta had caught my eye on Airbnb. So I wondered: Is it really safe to buy a condo pre-construction in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico? How do you know the quality and that you’re…
What if you could make not-too-expensive updates to the house you’ve loved for so many years to make it easier for you, and / or your loved ones, to age in place with accessible, safe features? AARP has put together what they call a “HomeFit” Guide to help you do just that. It’s a very…
You’re living your dream life with passive income, minimizing taxes by offsetting income with expenses. Yet you can’t get a home loan! The article Jay Voorhees from JVM Lending wrote about “When the Ultra-Wealthy Don’t Qualify For Mortgages” really hit home. Jay offered to share some options for how affluent borrowers with great credit and…
Ikea kitchen planners can help you design a kitchen in 3D and choose your cabinet, counter, hardware…all the materials for your shiny new modern kitchen. You can also pay for an Ikea kitchen designer to come to your house (now $79) to make sure all of your kitchen measurements are accurate. The Ikea kitchen I…
{Set up your Airbnb rental with my referral link and ask me for feedback!} Beyond Pricing analyzed the best places to invest in short-term rentals, based on occupancy and nightly price. Surprised that the most popular cities for short-term rentals are in coastal cities — along with Washington D.C.? When you look at the Airbnb…
Building ADUs on a property with a single-family home or multi-family building has become the most popular way to think about multi-generational living or generating income during retirement. (The New York Times reports on the popularity of ADUs — although ignore the very low prices per square foot quoted!) But what if it turns out…
Murals on walls inside houses has been a time-honored tradition through the ages. In Berkeley, the murals adorning the walls of Pauline Kael’s house in Berkeley became legend. More rare is seeing murals, or little “spot” paintings, on the exterior of houses. There’s nothing I love more than seeing houses that reflect the passions and…
Who doesn’t love a trend report? It’s so much fun seeing what materials, colors, textures, and decorating styles the experts and purveyors are calling “it.” So what to do when Pantone names “Viva Magenta” their 2023 Color of the Year? Paint the town pink?! The thing to remember as a home owner is: It’s up…