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

A  new study  tracked the location of power couples from 2008 to 2014, when the back-to-the-city movement kicked into high gear. The study sheds important new light on the geography of power couples by comparing three kinds of couples: full power couples, in which both spouses have a college degree; couples where only one spouse has a college degree; and couples where neither spouse has a college degree. (The study looks at native-born, male–female married couples only.) Costa and Kahn used even more detailed data on these couples from the Census’s American Community Survey (ACS), covering more than 300 metros for the period 2008 to 2014. Not surprisingly, full power couples are significantly more likely to live in large, highly educated cities or metro areas than other types of couples. More than 40 percent (42 percent) of these couples are found in large cities, compared to about 30 percent of couples where just the husband (32 percent) or just the wife (31 percent) gradu...

Homeowners spend a lot time in their kitchens. As a result, product manufacturers and kitchen designers have rolled out some new kitchen innovations, in the  House Beautiful Whole Home project, that will make cooking healthier and easier. The following features may seem a little far-fetched now, but they have the possibility of making it to the mainstream later. 1. Grow Room  – In-kitchen grow rooms are the new wine fridges. Grow all your greens and herbs without having to worry about space for an outdoor garden. If you've got them in your kitchen, you're more likely to actually eat them. 2. Larder  – You can keep healthy choices right within arm's reach when you have a cold larder. This glammed-up preservation room can store your fruits and veggies at the ideal temperature of 58 degrees. Bonus: You can also use this to store red wine. 3. Smart Sink  – Toss your measuring cups—this smart faucet from  American Standard  is all you need. The Beale Meas...

It may be okay to play with color inside the home, but dramatic exterior colors may have a drastic impact on whether or not a home sells. The four worst colors to paint the outside of a home: 1. Off-white or eggshell Shades of white might seem like a safe bet when you’re at the home improvement store, but they aren’t guaranteed to be a big hit with buyers. Homes with off-white or eggshell kitchens sold for $82 less than Zillow estimated they would. Instead, people loved kitchens with a coat of wheat yellow paint on the walls, which boosted a home’s selling price by $1,360. 2. Dark brown Dark brown walls didn’t resonate with buyers in Zillow’s study. Bedrooms painted dark brown sold for $236 less than expected, while using the same shade in a bathroom lowered the selling price by $469. The color is so disliked by some people that the Australian government considered using it on cigarette packaging to make smoking less appealing, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. (They went ...

According to a Realtor.com survey, 49% of prospective home buyers said they would not consider a haunted house under any circumstances, regardless of price cuts or added perks. However, 18% of respondents said the perception of a house being haunted  wouldn’t  factor into their decision-making, nor would they need a concession in order to buy. The rest said they’d need some type of perk—a lower price, a larger kitchen, or a better neighborhood. “Haunted” houses are considered “stigmatized,” an official designation that, though it means there’s no material defect with the house, still elicits an emotional response—usually the heebie-jeebies. Murders, suicides, drug manufacturing, general criminal activity, devil worshiping, extreme hoarding, and other unseemly practices, occurrences, and presences tend to scare off buyers who would otherwise be interested in a house, presenting realtors with the challenge of getting market value for what is otherwise a perfectly fine structu...

New trends have emerged in housing that may impact homeowner associations soon, and they'll likely impact the financial well-being and the investments of property owners too. Drones:  Drones can cause headaches for condo boards when they snap photos of windows, said Marvin Nodiff, a community association attorney in  St. Louis  and a member of the College of Community Associations. Some residents, he said, have sued their boards for that reason. Safety and privacy are concerns for all communities. Boards should adopt rules regulating, controlling and monitoring who can use a drone and when. Fines should be spelled out in the rules for any violations. And association boards — and their property managers — should consult their insurance agent to make sure there is adequate coverage should a drone fall and damage property or injure a person. Copyright:  Copyright doesn’t seem like an obvious HOA issue. But the potential for copyright infringement issues and huge ...

A new start up is buying homes directly from homeowners and selling them to buyers, reports  HousingWire 's Ben Lane. Ribbon, which is currently operating in the Carolinas, offers a novel concept. The company works with homebuyers and their real estate agents to provide home sellers with a guaranteed sale, providing sellers with an all-cash offer regardless of where the buyer is in the mortgage process. Basically, if a homebuyer can’t close on their mortgage in time, instead of losing out on the house of their dreams, Ribbon will buy and reserve the home on their behalf. The buyer then rents the home from Ribbon until they get their financing in order. Lane says the deal offers benefits for those on both sides. Sellers get a guaranteed cash offer and buyers don’t have to worry about losing the house they want because their funding is slowed for whatever reason. The company currently only operates in a few markets in North and  South Carolina , but recently raised $225...