The Salary you must earn to buy a home in Los Angeles

Los Angeles: $85,964.88

Mortgage rate: 4.52 percent

• Quarterly change: +0.06 percent

Home price: $406,200

• Quarterly change: -3.99 percent
• YOY change: +17.6 percent

Monthly payment: $2,005.85

Salary: $85,964.88

• Quarterly change: -$2,424.18

The state of California is one of the most interesting real estate markets in the country currently, mainly because demand is as hot as ever. Despite home prices that would be out of reach for most in this country, Los Angeles had the second-best improvement in required salary (behind Sacramento, of course).

The salary you must earn to buy a home in San Francisco

San Francisco: $137,129.55

Mortgage rate: 4.39 percent (jumbo rate)

• Quarterly change: no change

Home price: $679,800

• Quarterly change: -0.38 percent
• YOY change: +14.5 percent

Monthly payment: $3,199.69

Salary: $137,129.55

• Quarterly change: -$447.58

If it seems odd that the San Francisco metro area, the king of unaffordable housing, has the lowest mortgage rates on our list two quarters in a row, it’s for good reason. The mortgage rate you see here is a jumbo mortgage rate. The jumbo market is so competitive in California that jumbo mortgage rates have actually helped to offset some of those higher costs.  

Is Stainless Steel Passé?

One day back in the 70s, thousands of homeowners looked at their avocado green appliances and thought, with complete conviction, that such a lovely color would never go out of style. In the 80s, they questioned how they ever had such a silly thought as they marveled at the sophisticated beauty of their black appliances. That trend lasted until the 90s when white appliances become the flavor of the decade.

Are you starting to notice a pattern? As the decades change, so too do our preferences in appliance colors. Considering this, it is somewhat surprising that stainless steel has been in vogue as long as it has: 14 years and counting. If history is our guide, it’s only a matter of time before we’ll look at stainless steel the same way we do as avocado green.

Or will we?

Not surprisingly, folks tend to have pretty strong opinions when it comes to appliance design. Those who love stainless maintain that it creates a clean, timeless, and future-proof look that can accommodate nearly any kitchen design. It’s functional, lightens up the room, and is massively popular. No wonder it’s held on as long as it has.

Future House Prices: A Look into the Crystal Ball

Today, many real estate conversations center on housing prices and where they may be headed. That is why we like the Home Price Expectation Survey. Every quarter, Pulsenomics surveys a nationwide panel of over one hundred economists, real estate experts and investment & market strategists about where prices are headed over the next five years. They then average the projections of all 100+ experts into a single number.

The results of their latest survey

• Home values will appreciate by 4.4% in 2014.
• The cumulative appreciation will be 19.5% by 2018.
• That means the average annual appreciation will be 3.6% over the next 5 years.
• Even the experts making up the most bearish quartile of the survey still are projecting a cumulative appreciation of 9.4% by 2018.

Individual opinions make headlines. We believe the survey is a fairer depiction of future values.

Designing Your Outdoor Landscape Lighting

Outdoor lighting isn't just about safety and security. There's no reason the curb appeal of your home should be limited to the daytime. The tree you've also loved, the garden you've worked hard to cultivate, the pond you bought with your hard-earned money, and all the other landscape features you've painstakingly chosen for your home can achieve some of their best effects at night with good outdoor landscape lighting.

Low Voltage Outdoor Lighting
The electricity running into your home holds a potentially dangerous 120 volts. To create low voltage outdoor lighting you'll need to install one or more transformers. This will reduce the voltage of your outdoor landscape lighting to a tame 12 volts. If your wiring gets exposed by inclement weather and the abuse of the elements, this voltage poses no danger to you, your family members, or your pets.

The downside to the low voltage outdoor lighting is that light fixtures become dimmer the further away they are from the transformer. If this becomes a problem, there are a number of easy solutions. You can upgrade to a higher-rated transformer or a heavier-gauge cable. You can use multiple transformers. You can also simply reduce the number or the wattage of your light fixtures. Moving the transformer and/or rearranging the layout of the lighting system can reduce the cable length to each fixture, minimizing the dimming path. You might also consider using the dimming as an intentional effect. This is popular in path lighting, where each light fixture gets stronger as you move closer to your home.

Outdoor Landscape Lighting: Design and Installation
Deciding what you want your lighting to do is the first step when choosing and designing your lighting system. Additional convenience and safety entering your home at night, adding nighttime curb appeal to your home, and simply creating a romantic mood are all common goals for outdoor landscape lighting. There are three main categories of lighting but many outdoor lighting designs use some combination of the three.

Path Lighting—Uses fixtures that focus light onto your paths and walkways. Primarily for safety, this lighting still creates aesthetically pleasing lighting effects for your outdoor landscape.

Accent Lighting—Still focuses light onto a specific object or landscape feature, but allows for more peripheral lighting and dim illumination of surrounding areas. Creates curb appeal but emphasizes individual areas like a tree or a garden.

Spread Lighting—Just as the name suggests, spreads light amongst your outdoor landscape and creates a more general mood. Certain areas will still be emphasized but generally isn't



Read more: http://www.homeadvisor.com/article.show.Designing-Your-Outdoor-Landscape-Lighting.14319.html#ixzz31VaakAL5

3 Reasons to Sell Your Home this Spring

Many sellers are still hesitant about putting their house up for sale. Where are prices headed? Where are interest rates headed? These are all valid questions. However, there are several reasons to sell your home sooner rather than later. Here are three of those reasons.

1. Demand is about to skyrocket

Most people realize that the housing market is hottest from April through June. The most serious buyers are well aware of this and, for that reason, come out in early spring in order to beat the heavy competition. We also have a pent-up demand as many buyers pushed off their home search this winter because of extreme weather. Sellers in markets where seasonal weather is never an issue must realize that buyers relocating to their region will increase dramatically this spring as these purchasers finally decide to escape the freezing temperatures of the winters in the north.

These buyers are ready, willing and able to buy…and are in the market right now!

2. There Is Less Competition - For Now

Housing supply always grows from the spring through the early summer. Also, there has been a growing desire for many homeowners to move as they were unable to sell over the last few years because of a negative equity situation. Homeowners have seen a return to positive equity as prices increased over the last eighteen months. Many of these homes will be coming to the market in the near future.

The choices buyers have will continue to increase over the next few months. Don’t wait until all the other potential sellers in your market put their homes up for sale.

3. There Will Never Be a Better Time to Move-Up

If you are moving up to a larger, more expensive home, consider doing it now. Prices are projected to appreciate by approximately 4% this year and 8% by the end of 2015. If you are moving to a higher priced home, it will wind-up costing you more in raw dollars (both in down payment and mortgage payment) if you wait. You can also lock-in your 30 year housing expense with an interest rate at about 4.5% right now. Freddie Mac projects rates to be 5.1% by this time next year and 5.7% by the fourth quarter of 2015.

Moving up to a new home will be less expensive this spring than later this year or next year.

Think you should sell For Sale By Owner? Think again