Top Kitchen Design Trends to Consider for Your Renovation

Renovating is a time when the excitement of having a new kitchen space becomes heavy with choices and long-term decisions.

With so many options to choose from, the process can feel like more of a burden than a joy. But it doesn't have to be that way. By keeping up with the latest kitchen design trends, you can make sure your renovation is both stylish and practical. Here are some of the top kitchen design trends to consider for your next project.

Two-Tone Cabinetry
One of the hottest trends in kitchen design regardless of the overall design theme is two-tone cabinetry. This trend allows you to mix and match different colors and finishes to create a unique look for your kitchen. For example, you could pair white upper cabinets with dark lower cabinets or vice versa. Or, you could opt for a more dramatic look by pairing a bright color with a neutral shade.

Modern Looks
It's been years since modern kitchen design made a fiery comeback, and it's still going strong. Often marked by minimalism and a bit of an industrial edge, this style is perfect for those who want a clean and sleek space. This type of kitchen will typically feature very basic cabinetry, often replacing upper cabinets for custom shelving. Simple, easy-to-clean backsplash tiles and stone countertops give the space a no-fuss feel. These kitchens work best for those who don't need a lot of extra storage space and do relatively simple cooking.

Farmhouse Style
This kitchen design is perfect for those who love the rustic look. Often featuring shaker-style cabinetry and plenty of wood, farmhouse kitchens are warm and inviting. They exude a well-used vibe that gently conveys that we're all family here, and we're not going to sweat that you dropped that egg on the floor. If you're not fortunate enough to have an old beautiful farmhouse, don't fret, you can still get the look with custom cabinets made by craftsmen who know exactly how to get new cabinets to look like old cabinets.

Appliance Garage 
This is a great way to keep your small appliances hidden when they're not in use, but still easily accessible. It's perfect for those who like the aesthetic of purely decorative counter space, but still want the convenience of pulling out the toaster, coffee maker, or pressure cooker without digging for it.

Drawer Microwave 
This is a space-saving dream come true. The drawer microwave frees up counter space and can be placed at various heights, making it easier to use for everyone in the family.

Cabinet Pull-Outs 
Gone are the days when odd, narrow spaces were simply capped off with wood trim. Cabinet makers have invented ways of using every morsel of space in a kitchen by creating decorative pullout cabinets that craftily store bakeware, tall and narrow pantry items, and spices.

Under-Cabinet Lighting 
This is a must-have for any kitchen, as it not only looks great, but it's also functional. Under-cabinet lighting makes it easy to see what you're working on, no matter the time of day.

The above are just some trendy kitchen ideas that you can incorporate into your home renovation. While this list is just the beginning, it can help jumpstart your creative thinking and give your renovation team a base to build from.

Learn more on RISMedia.

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Is Pet Insurance Right for You?

Jean Chatzky from Her Money walks through why she chose pet insurance + the steps she took.

We were driving from our home in the New York suburbs to the Jersey Shore when Teddy, our 3-year-old cockapoo, started to shake. At first, I thought he was just scared – he shook when we went to the vet or to the groomer.  In fact, he had such a canny sense of direction that he would start to shake when we made a left out of our development toward either of those places.  It took about 30 seconds for me to realize this shaking was different.  “Can you pull over?” I asked my husband, Eliot.  “Something is wrong with him.”

“Something” turned out to be a seizure – the first of many in our beloved pup’s 16-year-long life.  It wasn’t life threatening.  We didn’t even put him on medication. Our vet said one of the side effects might be to shorten his life.  Instead, we just watched him, keeping him away from the stairs whenever one started and (despite advice to the contrary to keep our hands off him when one started in case this gentle creature chomped down) holding and comforting him through them.  

That was the moment I decided: The next time I get a puppy, I’m buying pet insurance.  

Why didn’t I buy it then, you might wonder?  Very good question.  I knew that pre-existing conditions wouldn’t be covered and figured — probably incorrectly — that because Teddy already had one it wasn’t worth getting a policy.  We got lucky, aside from a dislocated hip at age 15 (which after a month in a brace of sorts, we treated with acupuncture – really, it works!) he really had no major medical issues.  But thinking back, I should have done more research.  If Teddy had needed chemo or major surgery, I would have paid for it.  Why?  Because he wasn’t just a dog.  He was family.  Insurance – even a policy that excluded his seizure disorder — would have been the way to go. 

Fast forward a decade and a half and the pet-owning world has come a long way, thanks in no small part to “COVID puppies.”  Seventy percent of US households have pets, according to the 2021-2022 Pet Owners Survey, up from 67% in 2019 – 69% have dogs, 45% cats (yes, there’s clearly overlap), 10% have birds and about 6% have some other small animal.  The pet insurance market is growing fast, too – at a rate of about 24% a year from 2016 through 2020.   Most of those policies were for dogs, where annual premiums in 2020 averaged $595 for coverage of both accidents and illnesses and $218 for accidents only, according to the North American Pet Health Insurance Association.

As of a couple of months ago, I hold one of these newly acquired pets.  Norman came into our lives as a 9-week-old, 6-pound snuggle bug.  Yes, he’s another cockapoo, although larger and floppier than Teddy.  (The floppy part may be puppyhood.  As for the large, I’m not so sure.  We were told he’d be small enough to fit in an under-the-seat airline carrier.  At 23-lbs-and-growing, that ship has sailed.  Perhaps we should have named him Clifford.)

Because I’ve spent years as a personal finance reporter, I’ve figured out how to shop for – and evaluate – pretty much everything from credit cards to warrantees to, yes, insurance policies.  As the pet insurance landscape is a crowded one, I thought it might help you to know how I made my final choice.  Here are the steps I took. 

• Check Eligibility. Some companies have both minimum age requirements (typically around 8 weeks) at enrollment and maximum ones (around a dozen years). Also, as I mentioned before, you want your pet to be relatively healthy when you enroll. Too many excluded conditions and a policy may not make sense. As a pup who’d only been to the vet for well visits and shots, these weren’t issues for Norman.

• Look at coverage limits. Most insurers cap the amount they’ll pay at anywhere from $2,500 a year and up. That wasn’t enough for me. I wasn’t buying this in case Norman – like Teddy before him – was susceptible to frequent ear infections. At $160 a pop (vet bills and medicine combined) they were annoying, but weren’t going to derail my ability to max out my 401(k). I was insuring against a cancer diagnosis that could cost $10,000 or more to treat.

• Understand what you’re getting – and what you’re not. In general, pet insurance policies don’t cover well visits, spaying or neutering or — with an exception or two — dental care. (Regularly brushing your pet’s teeth is a highly worthwhile financial exercise. Not only does a teeth cleaning often require anesthesia and cost hundreds of dollars, but neglecting oral care can cause multitudes of other health issues.) Some policies cover hereditary and congenital conditions and others don’t. And some that do cover these conditions mandate a waiting period before this coverage kicks in. Compare apples-to-apples.

• Price it out. Once you’ve figured out what you’re looking for in greater detail, it’s time to compare companies. I found most insurers have helpful websites that enable you to type in a few details about your new pet which will result in a quick quote. You’ll have to choose a deductible (typically it resets annually) and a reimbursement rate (generally, 60% to 90%) of covered services. The higher your deductible and lower your reimbursement rate, the lower your monthly premium will be. (Pro tip: One thing not to do? Type your information into a pet insurance finder that will get you a quote from multiple insurers. Months later, I’m still deleting emails about Norman.)

Finally, if you’re like me, you’ve got friends who are also pet owners.  Ask them if they have insurance, which company they use and whether they’re happy.  That’s how I heard about Sadie, the pandemic pup my friends Debi and Marc brought home in late 2020.  Poor Sadie happened upon a pack of Trident gum, which she proceeded not to chew, but to eat – wrappers and all.  Gastrointestinal distress ensued – the official diagnosis was Xylitol poisoning — two three-day stints in the hospital followed and although she’s now pretty much back to normal, she’ll be on liver medication for the rest of her life.  The total bill? $5,428.  But, Debi told me their insurer, Healthy Paws, paid $4,636 of it, no questions asked.  “Now [our daughters] can still go to college,” she said, not really kidding.

Get more tips like this.

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Americans Who Can’t Afford Homes Are Moving to Europe Instead

Prohibitive housing prices, a strong dollar and political rancor have contributed to a wave of Americans relocating to Europe.

More Americans are relocating to Europe, driven across the Atlantic by the rising cost of living, inflated house prices, a surging dollar and political rancor at home.

Italy, Portugal, Spain, Greece and France are among the most popular destinations. Sotheby’s International Realty said requests from Americans looking to move to Greece rose 40% in the April-to-June period compared to a year earlier. In France and Italy, US demand is the highest it’s been in at least three years, according to Knight Frank real estate specialist Jack Harris. And Americans made up 12% of Sotheby’s Italian revenue in the first quarter, compared to just 5% in the same period a year ago. 

Retirees and the wealthy have traditionally been the prime American buyers of real estate in Europe. But relatively cheap housing — particularly in smaller cities and towns — and the rise of remote work have made the continent alluring to a wider range of people, including those who are younger and find themselves priced out of the housing market at home. Growing crime rates in some US cities and political divisions have also led Americans to look across the pond for a quieter lifestyle, buoyed by a euro that just dropped to parity with the US dollar for the first time in more than 20 years.

The average price of a home in Atlanta reached $404,575 as of June 30, up 19% from the previous year, whereas an 800-square foot property in the Palermo region of Sicily cost 86,560 euros on average, according to real estate platforms Zillow and Idealista. 

“The rising cost of living has made it more expensive to live in any major US city than in European cities,” said Michael Witkowski, vice president of US-based expat consultancy ECA international. “Expensive home prices as well as a strong US dollar and political tensions are all contributing factors to the growing allure of Europe.”

Retire at 50

To be sure, it's not always easy to pick up and move to another country. There are visa requirements, and the tax situation can be complicated and costly. The US taxes all its citizens regardless of where they live, and working remotely for an American company while in another country can create tax headaches for you and your employer.

To address some of these issues, Italy will begin offering a remote-worker visa for foreigners later this year, which Synclair is hoping to get.  The government also introduced a program in 2019 to sell one-euro homes in rural areas to foreign buyers who would pay for renovations and boost the local economy. 

Initially lured in by the one-euro homes, Miami-based Cathlyn Kirk, 47, ended up buying a three-bedroom, three-story home in Mussomeli, the same village as Synclair’s, for 37,000 euros last November. Planning to retire in two years, the officer with Homeland Security wanted to move to a country where she would be able to live comfortably on a public pension.

“I'm able to retire at 50 and still live a good life, filled with traveling and eating well,” Kirk said. “Not a lot of people can do that.”

Cost and Safety

The Iberian Peninsula has also become a popular destination. The number of Americans residing in Portugal rose 45% in 2021 from the previous year, according to government data. In Spain, which has the largest American population in Europe, the number of US-born residents rose 13% between 2019 and 2021 and demand has continued to rise this year, according to Alejandra Vanoli, managing director of Spanish real estate agency Viva.

To attract foreign buyers, Portugal and Spain both offer so-called “golden visas,” programs which give residency rights based on an initial investment of 350,000 euros and 500,000 euros, respectively. 

Keep reading on Bloomberg.

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The Top Up-and-Coming Real Estate Markets Now Have This One Crucial Thing in Common

With the cost of everything from gas at the pump to a box of cereal surging, Americans are desperately looking for a break.

And with rising mortgage interest rates now making it even more expensive to purchase a home, many buyers are looking for real estate deals further off the beaten path.

Many of the up-and-coming housing markets of the summer were smaller cities far from the coasts that boasted more affordable home prices, according to the Wall Street Journal/Realtor.com® Emerging Housing Markets Index. Seven of the top 10 had median list prices that were below the national median of $450,000 in June.

The top emerging housing market was Elkhart, IN, which is no stranger to this list. Prices in the small, Midwestern metropolitan area, about 30 minutes east of the University of Notre Dame and South Bend, IN, and roughly two hours from Chicago, have soared. They rose 17.2%, to a median $279,450 in June, from the same time a year ago, according to the most recent median list prices from Realtor.com.\

“With home prices at record highs and interest rates pushing the mortgage payment of a typical house 60% higher than last year, buyers are attracted to markets which offer more for their money,” says George Ratiu, manager of economic research for Realtor.com.

The index identified the top markets for both buyers and investors out of the 300 largest metropolitan areas. The quarterly index looks at metropolitan areas with strong housing demand and rising prices combined with robust economies, lots of well-paying jobs, a good quality of life, and desirable amenities such as lots of small businesses and reasonable commutes to work. (Metros include the main city and surrounding suburbs, smaller towns, and urban areas.)

“In addition, today’s top emerging markets offer the benefits of a strong local economy,” says Ratiu. “The top 10 metros tend to be home to a good mix of private industries, health care, higher education, along with government agencies and institutions. With low unemployment rates, these locales also offer slightly higher wages.”

Elkhart is a recreational vehicle manufacturing powerhouse with an unemployment rate of just 1.8% in May—about half of the national average. Most of the area’s buyers are from nearby South Bend as well as Chicago. About 44% of the area’s buyers are from outside of Indiana, according to Realtor.com.

The area is particularly appealing because it’s so affordable. Those buying a home in the Elkhart metro area are looking at a roughly $1,275 monthly mortgage payment for a median-priced home, according to Realtor.com data. That’s significantly lower than the national median of $2,100 a month.

“Our market this last year has been extremely strong. Inventory’s been low, and demand’s been extremely high,” says local real estate agent Toni Bontrager, of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices. However, that’s beginning to wind down. Two local RV manufacturing plants are shutting down this fall, and the national economy has become a bit shakier.

“Everything’s slowing down right now,” says Bontrager. “It’s been a seller’s market. I think we’re slowly transitioning into a buyer’s market.”

Homes priced below $200,000 are still going fast—often with multiple offers, says Bontrager. But most homes priced above that are now taking longer to go under contract as bidding wars are no longer as common for them.

Despite the shift in the local real estate market, Elkhart is likely to remain popular with buyers, particularly those looking for deals.

“People make good money here,” says Bontrager. “Homes here that are $400,000 or $500,000 would be over $1 million in California. … We have lakes and rivers, and it’s an absolutely a beautiful place to call home.”

Top 10 emerging real estate markets of summer 2022

1. Elkhart, IN, $279,450*

2. Burlington, NC, $380,150

3. Johnson City, TN, $350,000

4. Fort Wayne, IN, $286,400

5. Billings, MT, $544,000

6. Raleigh, NC, $499,950

7. Rapid City, SD, $409,900

8. North Port, FL, $598,500

9. Topeka, KS, $225,000

10. Visalia, CA, $415,995

* Median list prices for the metro area in June from Realtor.com

Keep reading.

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If there is a home that you would like more information about, if you are considering selling a property, or if you have questions about the housing market in your neighborhood, please reach out. We’re here to help.

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Buying a Mobile Home: What You Need to Know

Most first-time home buyers only consider traditional single-family homes, but have you considered buying a mobile home or manufactured home?

Mobile and manufactured homes, while not as popular, have one big advantage: They typically offer more space or amenities for the money.

In today’s high-priced housing market, mobile homes have caught the eye of younger millennial homebuyers since they’re a much more affordable alternative to traditional houses. Plus, some reports suggest that their values have been rising faster than single-family residences as well.

Today’s companies manufacture homes at many price points, with options from economy to high-end. You can even purchase a home that  looks as if it had been built on site.

How to buy a mobile home—plus the hidden costs of buying a mobile home

Buying and financing a mobile or manufactured home is very different from traditional home buying and getting a mortgage. If you are thinking about buying a mobile or manufactured home, here is what you need to know, from the hidden costs of buying a mobile home to the ins and outs of buying a trailer home.

Types of mobile homes

Typically, mobile or manufactured homes give you the option of buying either single-wide or double-wide units. Some companies build triple-wide new homes, as well.

Companies manufacture single-wide mobile homes with a narrower frame. Inside, they manufacture rooms that are usually connected to each other rather than separated by hallways.

With a double-wide mobile home, the width is roughly equal to two single-wide units attached to each other, so that the mobile home tends to look more like a stick-built single-family residence.

When you buy a new mobile home, you also must buy or rent real estate where you can place your new home.

According to William Golightly, an associate with Poole Realty Inc. in Live Oak, FL, real estate sales and options to rent or lease vary by area.

In more rural areas, lenders commonly use “a land-home package” deal. This bundles private real estate with the purchase of your mobile home, so you make monthly payments on one mortgage.

In urban areas, many mobile-home owners rent or lease lots in mobile-home parks.

How to finance a mobile home purchase

If you decide to finance the cost of your mobile or manufactured home or your land, the rules are a little different from those for financing standard single-family homes.

For a new single-wide mobile home, Golightly says financing is practically impossible through a larger private lender. However, you may be able to find finance through the mobile home sales company or through a credit union.

For double-wide homes, financing rules depend on the type of loan you choose.

For conventional loans, “Quite a few lenders have a self-imposed 15-year-old rule,” according to Golightly. This means that you may not qualify for a conventional loan if you’re considering buying a used mobile home that is more than 15 years old.

For government-backed loans, the mobile or manufactured home you are considering must be “original set.”

According to Golightly, when you buy a mobile home, it cannot “have been set up somewhere else and then later broken down, moved, and set up again somewhere else.”

The lender will also “require a foundational inspection from an engineer to make sure that [the mobile home] was set up to [Housing and Urban Development] specifications.”

Costs and insurance for buying a trailer home

For would-be homeowners who are tired of paying rent, purchasing mobile homes or manufactured homes can seem like an opportunity for home ownership at a price they can afford.

If they can’t afford their own lot, they can at least own their own home, while they pay lot rent to a park owner. They can generally afford a newer, more energy-efficient model in a mobile or manufactured home than any house they might find at a comparable price.

Since it generally costs less to buy a mobile or manufactured home than to buy or build a traditional single-family home, a mobile or manufactured home loan may also come with a lower down payment.

Many conventional loan programs have a minimum down payment of 5%, according to Golightly. Some government-backed programs may require even less.

For example, Golightly says, if you live in a rural area, with the “USDA Rural Development program, you could end up with 100% mortgage and have very little out-of-pocket expenses.”

However, your interest rate may be higher than other single-family home rates, since many lenders see mobile or manufactured homes as a higher risk.

How to buy a mobile home

If you get a mortgage on your mobile home, your lender is likely to require you to carry mobile-home insurance for as long as you have the loan. Similar to traditional homeowner insurance, this insurance protects you, and the mortgage holder, in case of natural disasters, damage from fire or loss from theft.

When you’re considering the cost of a mobile or manufactured home, don’t forget to factor in depreciation as an expense. Every type of home depreciates over time, but in the past, housing that was priced separately from land did not hold its value well.

Manufacturer standards improved post-1976, however, and new home buyers should expect the future value of their home investment to depend largely on its location, whether renting or with a home on its own lot, just like other real estate investments.

Get more tips like this on Realtor.com

Related Links

• Should You Buy a Home with Inflation This High?

• Millennials would give up TikTok and alcohol for a dream home

• 4 Questions To Ask Your Partner Before Buying a House Together By Daniel Bortz

If there is a home that you would like more information about, if you are considering selling a property, or if you have questions about the housing market in your neighborhood, please reach out. We’re here to help.

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