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Posts Tagged ‘home values’
Home renovation: Are you covered in warts?
July 8th, 2009
I love walking around Bozeman, MT. The old neighborhoods around campus are so calming with their large old trees and well manicured houses. There is something so inviting about those neighborhoods – they just draw you in.
When I come home to rural South Dakota, I see a lot of the same thing. Many homes have been preserved and updated nicely. The additions match the original style of the home and blend nearly seamlessly together. These places make me want to park my car and stroll through the neighborhood. They get me thinking about how I would love to live there and eventually raise a family.
But, I unfortunately see a lot of homes that are covered in warts. Whether it is peeling paint, a sinking
porch, a “faceless addition” or one too many lean-to’s nailed to the side, these warts turn me away. I start to wonder what else these people do not care about, since they obviously are not interested in maintaining a pleasing home and neighborhood. I often then attach these negative perceptions to the whole community.
I feel, as a member of Gen Y and future architect, that appearance plays a large role in the perception of the character of those living in wart-covered houses. I believe home owners can greatly diminish their warts by not spending more, but by spending smarter. Here are a few resources I’ve found to help you start spending smarter and making your home wart-free.
- Here you will find a link to the Pattern Book the city of West Des Moines put together with the Central Iowa Architects as part of the American Institute of Architects Initiative, AIA 150 Blueprint for America. This book gives great visuals on the best way to add onto common home styles (i.e. Ranch, Cape Cod, etc.), as well as the best ways to change common floor plans.
- Let’sRenovate.com helps you figure out the financial objectives of your home renovation. It helps you understand what kind of renovation you should do based on your income, neighborhood, home style, current housing market, etc. It also has tools for generating remodeling ideas, sketching your plans, finding a contractor, arranging your financing and managing the project.
- The National Home Builders Association is here to help! They have stories and tips from many experts on how to remodel a home with handicap accessibility, how to hire a professional remodeler, green building and energy efficiency, financing, floor plans, and much more.
- This Old House brings you information and videos on common household how-to projects from installing a toilet to building a three-season porch.
I know of several additions that have been accomplished by parking a trailer next to the house and opening the doors between the two. What kind of portrait does that paint to someone who comes into your community? By putting more thought into additions and exteriors, we can create communities and neighborhoods that look more inviting. Without an inviting housing market, a community can never grow. Rural is not a place of desolation and worn out spaces. It is a place of vibrant communities and resourceful people. If too many homeowners do not start to understand the importance of design, not only will their homes and those around them lose value, but the community will be less inviting to those looking to move in.
These photographs portray neighborhoods or homes I would want to own or walk through. The landscaping looks nice, the home looks cared for, and the area looks friendly.
Photo Credits:
Far upper right, Eric Allix Rogers, Flickr
Photo Strip left to right, Richard Eriksson, Matthew Rutledge, and Lukas Bergstrom, all from Flickr.
Tags: Gen Y, home renovation, home values, housing rehab, national home builders assocation, remodeling, rural housing
Posted in Community Engagement, Housing, Quality of Life, Rural, Training and Events | Comments (0)
Housing crisis catches up to rural
May 13th, 2009
The Wall Street Journal recently put a face on the housing foreclosure problems confronting rural residents in Minnesota. Nestled into this human interest story are some interesting (and unfortunate) statistics that suggest more attention to this crisis in rural places is warranted.
For instance, foreclosures outside of the Minnesota/St. Paul region of Minnesota have increased by 232% since 2005.
Also, home values in rural communities have dropped 13% since their peak. Although this decline is less severe than urban/suburban areas (23%), one must consider another compelling statistic: rural values only increased 45% from 2000-2006, while urban home values increased a whopping 84%.
Get a feel for the reasons rural residents are losing their home by reading this story, titled “Foreclosure Trouble Spreads to Those Who Bet the Farm“.
Tags: foreclosures, home values, Minnesota, rural housing, wall street journal
Posted in Housing, In the News, Rural | Comments (0)
The Future of Rural Home Values
January 23rd, 2009
The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City recently issued a “good news, bad news” report concerning the future of rural housing. Titled “Is Rural America Facing a Home Price Bust?“, the report tells us that there’s a good chance home values will drop in rural areas in the near future, but those drops should not be as severe as in urban areas.
If you want to understand the issues surrounding the future of rural housing values, I’d highly recommend going to the report. If you don’t have time, you might want to check out a few of the bulleted summary points listed below:
- Housing values in rural areas have been pretty stable. The only rural region experiencing significant decline in home values over the past two years has been the Pacific census region.
- Home prices rose at a higher rate than per capita income in both urban and rural areas. The divide between the two, however, was much more dramatic in urban areas. Consequently, decreases in home values are expected to be much worse in urban areas, but rural areas will not escape the trend altogether. (There’s a nice map showing these ratios in the report.)
- While money flowed freely in urban areas during the housing bubble, lending practices in rural regions were more conservative. Because of this it’s unlikely that future declines in home values will be as severe.
- Rural regions have experienced a sizeable decrease in the new home construction, which may help keep the prices for existing homes more stable.
- Continued decreases in agricultural commodities and energy prices in 2009 may cause home values to decrease at a faster rate.
Tags: Federal Reserve, home values, rural housing
Posted in Housing, In the News, Rural | Comments (0)