Forget the Open Floor Plan--It's Time to Bring Back Walls

  Rapidly rising rents recently nudged   Dan Raymond   and   Casey Juntila  to wonder if they should try to buy a house instead. “We looked around and realized [rent was] the same as a mortgage, even with the inflated rates and higher home prices,” Raymond recalls. The couple, who are engaged, work as researchers at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and wanted to live in the suburbs. Yet while they could swing a monthly mortgage payment, they hadn’t amassed much savings to put toward a down payment or   closing costs . As a result, their house hunt dragged on for three months with no affordable prospects in sight. That’s when their real estate agent,   Charo Ledon   of The Home Buyer’s Agent of Ann Arbor, suggested they consider an option that they presumed was beyond their financial reach: a brand-new house. Intrigued, Raymond and Juntila, both 28, started shopping for   new construction —and were surprised to find one they loved that ...

  Are you looking for a way to remodel your landscape but aren’t quite ready to rip everything out? Maybe you  don’t have the budget for a complete overhaul?   With warm-weather months on the horizon, you also might not want your entire yard off-limits. A phased landscape design might be your answer. Breaking the remodel down into phases allows you to get started with a master plan and  work on one landscape section at a time.  This approach calls for lower startup costs and allows you to continue to enjoy portions of your outdoor space. If this sounds like a strategy that might work for you, keep reading to find out more about a phased landscape remodel and how to get started. TM GRADY BUILDERS Advantages of a Phased Landscape Design Lower upfront costs.  If your budget is limited, doing your landscape remodel in stages allows you to get started on key areas and leave other projects for when your budget allows. Less disruption.  Phased remodels reduce...