In this new era of accumulating inventory and slower sales, home builders are turning to a tried-and-true strategy:
Incentives.
These might be almost anything short of giving the house away. Some builders offer adjustable loans through their mortgage subsidiaries, with teaser rates as low as 2.99 percent the first year.
If you want to buy but can’t sell your current house, some builders will lock in a 30-year fixed rate on the new house and pay the mortgage on it until you sell the old one — up to six months.
Some offer down-payment savings plans. Some extend delivery dates of the new place until you’ve sold the old one. Others will reimburse you the amount of the commission you paid your listing agent.
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What makes a home eclectic? Surely, there’s no label of interior design that’s misused more often. Not to worry, Phoenix Suns’ basketball legend Alvan Adams and his wife Sarah are on hand to show the real deal. With their indisputably warm, inviting – and thoroughly eclectic – Paradise Valley home, the Adamses have hoisted the design term onto a pedestal of exquisite taste.
Alvan and Sarah began their home-building project eight years ago, in a neighborhood that allows only traditionally designed houses. True to the rule, their 5,000-square-foot Territorial looks like it’s been there for a long, long time. The effect is intentional. “We lived in Encanto from 1976 through 1996, and we loved the older architecture in that neighborhood,” Alvan said. “That’s one of the reasons we decided to build where we did.” (more…)
More than 150 years ago, Edgar Allan Poe, who knew a thing or two about ravens, decided to offer his insights on interior design too.
In “The Philosophy of Furniture,” Poe wrote: “The soul of the apartment is the carpet. From it are deduced not only the hues but the forms of all objects incumbent. A judge at common law may be an ordinary man; a good judge of a carpet must be a genius.”
That’s pretty high praise for something we’ll spend most of our time walking on, vacuuming or cleaning spills out of. But carpets — or rugs — say a lot about the people who live inside a home. (more…)
At a time when many people her age are pulling up stakes and traveling the world, Amber Nussbaum is spending her Saturdays at home, cleaning and arranging her 1,000-sq.-ft. house. The recent college graduate scours yard sales for mid-century modern furniture. She regularly visits design websites for new ideas.
Ms. Nussbaum is one of the many Americans who have made “nesting” a top priority in recent years. Whether it’s a reaction to feelings of insecurity brought on by the war against terrorism or the lure of low-interest loans to upgrade the kitchen, Americans spent $155 billion on home improvement projects in the past year, according to the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. (more…)
