2013 Home Trend Predictions

Today's builders, architect, designers and housing analysts have made their home trend predictions for 2013 and beyond.  Here's a look at their predictions:

Outdoor Kitchens
We've seen this trend for a couple years now. Homeowners are adding large glass doors in their kitchen that open to outdoor kitchens.  The first really great one I saw in this area was a few years ago when the Canyon Woods development was launched with a Home-A-Rama.  

Secondary Suites
Some homebuyers are opting for attached secondary suites. At some point, the private suite may be used by older relatives or adult children. Also great for au pairs or just visitors.  Sometimes the present homeonwers may eventually move into the suite and encourage younger relatives to take the larger portion of the home. Wasn't this popular years and years ago??

For those that are building now, it may be too costly to add a secondary suite now. But think about having wiring and plumbing added so that an in-law suite is easier and less expensive to build later.

Technology
The latest technology can help you mange lighting, heating and security and can help you bring your utility costs down.  The new location-based security systems are worth checking out too.

Source:  Excerpted from The Plain Dealer, 2/9/13

If a Meteor Hits Your Home, Who Pays?

If your house is hit by a space object -- such as the remnants of the meteor that stunned people in the Urals region of western Siberia -- it won't be a major hit to your bank account.

 

"Your insurance covers falling objects," said Robert Hartwig, president of the Insurance Information Institute.

Meteorites -- which are rocks formed after a meteor burns in the earth's atmosphere -- have crashed through roofs rarely over the years. But when they do, insurers paid for the damage if people had homeowners' policies, according to Hartwig.
                        
A more common problem is "blue ice," the frozen sewage that occasionally falls from planes. That is also covered if it falls on your house, said Hartwig.

The event in Russia was the most serious one in many years, a once-in-a-century event, according to Laurie Leshin, a former NASA scientist and Director of the Center for Meteorites Studies at Arizona State University. It injured more than 700 people and damaged nearly 300 buildings, according to the state-run RIA Novosti news agency.                                    

Space objects rain down on earth all the time, but rarely do they injure people or damage property, according to Leshin, who is now Dean of Sciences at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
"The earth is pelted with 40 tons of space debris a year," she said. "Most of that is in teeny dust particles."

To do real damage, a meteor usually has to be bigger than a Volkswagen when it enters the atmosphere, she said.

"There was a case where a meteor(ite) crashed through a roof, bounced off a sofa and hit somebody in the leg," said Leshin. "But I know of no cases in which anyone was killed."
Russia seems to attract meteors. A 1908 explosion over Siberia was the largest impact event in recorded history, with estimates of the energy released from the blast equivalent to as much as 1,000 times that of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima.

                                     

It devastated an area nearly the size of Rhode Island. If that happened in even a sparsely populatedpart of the United States, it would be cataclysmic, said Hartwig.                                       

"That would be an extraordinarily expensive event for the insurance industry," he said.

Source: CNN Money

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First Published: February 15, 2013: 11:38 AM ET

Curb Appeal...Buyer's First Impression

A recent article in Realtor Magazine pointed out that buyers will decide if your home is well cared for just by seeing the outside. In real estate, we call it the "drive by" showing.  Just by looking at the external aspects of your house--walkway, landscaping, house numbers, mailbox--they'll have an instant impression that is hard to change.

In addition to landscaping, Lisa Grant Valil, author of Creating Curb Appeal, advises sellers to take a look at these items:

Front door - Make sure this focal point is in top condition - both its paint or exterior finish and hardware.

Windows - Wash them inside and out

Garage - Do doors need paint or repair?

Driveway  - Check for cracks and oil stains

Twilight - Look at evening lighting and consider portable outdoor lamps, solar lights, and putting outdoor lights on a timer for nighttime showings. 

A special note for this time of the year: Having the driveway, sidewalk and front walkway neatly shoveled is not just a safety issue! These paths help draw the eye to the front door. A neat and thorough shoveling job actually makes buyers want to come in and see your house.