As people continue to spend more of their time at home, many are looking for new ways to enhance their outdoor spaces. Just like with interior design, garden and outdoor design, trends are always changing and offering new opportunities to express yourself. If you’re looking for some inspiration for outdoor decorating, here are some popular trends to help.

Colorful Paint

Colors are making a comeback where neutrals and natural finishes have held popularity for a long time. Painted fences, wooden trellises, benches and even custom pool decks are becoming more prevalent in gardens and outdoor spaces. The colors are anything but subtle, too—think pink, orange, aqua or bright red to make a dramatic and fun contrast to the greenery of the garden.

Rattan

Rattan furniture and accessories have been popular in interior design for many years but are increasingly popular outside, as well. Rattan is both eco-friendly and durable, making it a brilliant choice for integrating into a natural aesthetic. It’s also lightweight and easy to move around, so you can be spontaneous and change your layout as needed.

Fire Pits

Fire pits have become so popular that for a time it was common for major retailers to sell out of them. Countless DIY methods for building fire pits became popular among homeowners as well. Fire pits are perfect for bringing people together for conversation, celebration or relaxation. They are a source of light and warmth and a timeless addition to any outdoor space.

Broken-Plan Layouts

After ages of open floor plan layouts, the broken-plan layout has come to the fore in interior and outdoor design. A broken-plan layout uses smaller dividing elements like benches, low partitions or even hedges to break up a larger space without restricting the view. This maintains the well-loved airy feel of an open floor plan but also gives some structure to previously “empty” spots. Try using this trend in your gardening with planter gardens and low trellises.

Yellow

Yellow is one of the bright colors trending in garden and patio design. Accents like yellow outdoor cushions, tables or even smaller accessories like watering cans and plant stands have been spreading a bit of sunshine around gardens all over. Yellow is a color that inspires energy and optimism and is perfect for any time of the year. To get the most out of this trend, take it a step further and use yellow in your planting decisions. Try sunflowers, daisies, yellow pansies and daffodils to cheer up the entire space.

If you need somewhere to start in your next outdoor redecorating project, these trends will give your garden, patio or yard new life.

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If you’re looking for a design style to guide your next bedroom makeover, consider seeking inspiration from boho chic interiors. The boho chic style is fun, cozy and inviting—perfect for a bedroom. Besides, it’s easy to take the basic elements of the style and apply your own unique twist. Here are some things you’ll want in your boho bedroom:

Rugs

A good rug is essential in every boho style room. You’ll find that a rug is one of the easiest ways to transform the look and feel of an entire space in a single step. No matter what type of floor you have in your bedroom, go for at least one large rug under your bed. Placing your rug at an angle will feel more casual and spontaneous while still being cozy. If you’re not sure what style of rug is best, opt for Persian or Moroccan style over-dyed rugs. Anything with good texture or pattern will make a bold statement and start your boho design off right.

Drapes

Similarly to rugs, drapes and curtains are a must-have for a boho bedroom. Even if you don’t intend to use curtains, hanging them for the decorative appeal can make the room feel softer and enhance the boho vibe. This is another place where you can go bold with color and pattern or instead opt for airy neutrals like white and cream. Gauzy, sheer and flowing curtains are perfect for adding style while still keeping the design light and comfortable rather than overwhelming. If you’re looking for additional ways to style curtains, try using ornate tie-backs with tassels, pom-poms or beads.

Mismatched Furniture

If you have a matching bedroom set, there’s no reason you can’t still have a boho chic design. However, mismatched furniture adds a casual and eclectic feel. If you want to add some character to your furniture, add decorative accents and accessories like books, lanterns and even draped fabric. For the bed, you have options for achieving an excellent boho design. One is to go for a low platform bed, either with or without a headboard. A fun DIY option is to use painted wooden palettes as a platform for your mattress. Four-poster and canopy beds also make excellent choices for boho bedrooms because they provide even more opportunity to hang curtains, string lights and even trailing plants around your bed.

Plants

Plants are always nice to have in a bedroom for the touch of greenery and air-purifying qualities. However, they’re also a way to add instant boho style. The type of plants doesn’t matter, but the more you have, the better. Try arranging them on floating shelves or hanging them with oven macrame holders. Trailing vines and other dangling plants will look great hanging down bookcases, in windows or over your bed. If you don’t want to use real plants, artificial plants work just as well for aesthetic and don’t require any care other than occasional dusting.

These four tips will give you a head start in designing your own boho chic bedroom sanctuary. The best thing about boho chic as a style is that there are really no rules as long as you keep the elements casual, inviting and fun.

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Once you have checked your credit and had all of your paperwork in order to get a mortgage on a home, you’ll be excited to get the process started finally. Buying a home is an emotional process. You shouldn’t let your emotions get in the way of the practical things in your life like your budget. It can be easy to overspend on anything when your emotions are high.  

You certainly don’t want to go into debt before you apply for a home loan. The lender takes a look at your income and debt-to-income ratio. This will help them to determine how much you can spend on a house. Many people may be surprised at how much they can spend on a home. 

If a bank is willing to lend you a certain amount of money, does that mean that you should spend that amount on a home? The short answer is probably not. Although it can be hard to resist buying a big, beautiful California dream home when you have been approved for a large amount, you have to consider many more aspects of your life other than your monthly mortgage payment. Below, you’ll find some other factors that you should consider before you decide to max out your budget on a California home. 

The Lender Doesn’t Live With You

While you feel as though the lender is digging through all of your finances, they really aren’t. When you apply for a mortgage, no one is looking at your monthly auto insurance payments, how much you spend on groceries, health insurance, and extras like entertainment. These expenses prove the reality is that you should probably pay less for a home than you think you can afford in order to keep your financial picture in good standing. 

Things Break

You need to have some sort of a financial cushion in case repairs need to be made in your home. Anything could need to be replaced with the dishwasher to the roof. You don’t want your budget to be stretched so thin that you have no cash leftover for anything that needs to be addressed in your house.

You’ll Be Able To Do More With Your Money

Your dollars need to stretch far past your mortgage payments. You’ll need to save for things like retirement, an emergency fund, and more. It’s not a bad idea to have a bit of extra money for things like vacations or other entertainment. Don’t neglect your future just because you fall in love with a home.

The post Should You Max Out Your Budget To Buy A California Home? appeared first on Shelly Eshelman Realty.

However, an appraisal is a subjective tool to determine a rough estimate. Furthermore, there are a number of things you can’t learn from an appraisal–such as how convenient the home would be for your work commute.

In this article, we’re going to help you, the homebuyer, determine the true value of a home as it would mean to you in your everyday life. Read on for tips on finding out the value of that home you’ve been dreaming of and deciding whether it’s really the best home for your budget.  

Appraisals are a baseline

When lenders are in the process of approving your home loan, they’ll want to decide whether the home you’re buying is worth the amount you’re paying. To achieve this, they’ll typically hire a third-party appraiser.

Find out from your lender which appraiser they use and read their online reviews. This will ensure that they’re a trustworthy source of information. Also be sure to check that the appraiser is certified and that they work with a diverse range of clientele (not just your lender!).

Since you’ll likely be paying the appraisal fee as part of your closing costs, make sure you’re happy with the appraisal and appraiser.

Key appraisal factors

After the appraisal, consider getting a second opinion or inspection of any of the key components of your home that may impact the appraisal. Some of these factors include:

• The roof, HVAC system, and septic systems

• The energy-efficiency of the home

• The current market value in the area

• The general upkeep of the home–a few cosmetic problems shouldn’t affect the home value much, but serious neglect can cause long-lasting and expensive issues like mold, water damage, pest invasion, and more

What an appraisal can’t tell you

Now that we’ve discussed the nuts and bolts of home value, we have to venture into what value means to you and your family. You’ll need to ask yourself a series of questions, and some of them won’t have a cut-and-dry answer.

First, how well does this home fit into the work life of you and your spouse? Will it mean a shorter commute, and therefore lower transportation costs and more free time? Putting a dollar value on an extra thirty minutes not spent in traffic can be difficult, but it’s a worthwhile exercise to take part in.

Furthermore, does the house have features that will make it a better asset in years to come? Energy-efficiency, proximity to in-demand schools, businesses, etc., can all be selling points for future buyers that are willing to pay more for your home.

Using a combination of a certified appraisal and some introspection, you should be able to come to a confident conclusion as to the value of the home as it means to you and your family.

The post Buying a Home? Here’s How to Use Appraisals and Self-Assessment to Determine the Right Price appeared first on Shelly Eshelman Realty.

Lawn moss is often described as an irritation for many homeowners. But what if it was more than an annoyance? What if the moss growing among your lawn grasses was simply a message your lawn was trying to get to you? What could it possibly be saying? And how can homeowners decipher these messages?

Here are a few things to consider when it comes to moss in your lawn:

Soil pH

Encroaching moss can be a sign of acidic soil or soil pH levels that have dropped too far. A soil test can measure your pH levels and tell you exactly which direction to go in when treating your lawn. You may also find the areas that your soil has nutritional deficiencies.

Drainage

Moss growth may also indicate that your soil isn’t draining properly. Poor drainage can lead to a plethora of problems, such as root rot. If you notice your lawn has an excess of moss growth, and you’re confident the pH levels are right where they should be, you may need to break up the problematic patches.

Compacted soil

Poor drainage could also be linked to compacted soil, which moss truly seems to love. To break up the soil, try core aeration, which roots plugs of grass – also known as cores – from your lawn to give it more room to breathe and grow.

This method greatly reduces compacted soil patches and has been touted as one of the best places to start when searching for a solution to a cramped lawn.

Excessive shade

Lawn moss also shows up if there’s simply too much shade. By giving overhanging trees and excessive brush cover a good trim, you can help create perfect light penetration conditions to help your grass lawn thrive while keeping the moss growth down.

If your lawn seems to have contracted a moss problem, try any of these solutions before jumping into a full lawn overhaul. If you’re still concerned about your lawn, hiring a landscaping professional or lawn expert may help set you on the path to a happy, healthy lawn.

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We’ve all gone over most of the regular work from home tips, such as taking breaks, setting the correct work hours, maintaining a morning routine, etc. But occasionally, we’re left wondering how to keep a work-life balance while staying on top of home life, home maintenance, video call schedules and keeping the mess to a minimum.

Here are a few simple life hacks for maintaining an efficient, clutter-free personal life while working remotely:

Keep it organized

Just as you have working hours, your working utensils should also have hours of operations. For example, if you have a notebook or laptop that you normally keep out for quick notes or impromptu meetings, be sure to pack them up at the end of your meeting schedules or day.

Keeping things put away during nonworking hours is an excellent way to keep the clutter down while setting clear expectations for both you and your household.

If you don’t have a bag or place to keep your work items, try a small cubby in your home office or work area. This can either be a 4×4 cubed space, or a custom piece built during a weekend DIY project. Just make sure the space isn’t too small, or it could have the opposite effect.

Get a few breaks in

It’s imperative to take breaks while working from home because of how easy it is to get sucked into your work. Your environment is familiar, you’re focused and ready to tackle your day. However, once in that cycle, it’s often difficult to break out of it.

Set constant reminders for yourself to take a break. If you don’t think you’ll be able to pull yourself away from your work, try adding a task list to that break. For example, take a fifteen-minute break and get some fresh air. While you’re outside, try tidying a cluttered garden nook or sweep away any dead foliage or debris from your doorstep.

Keeping a short task list of things to be done around the house can force you to give your mind a breather while keeping your weekend chore load light. It’s also a fantastic way to keep clutter down.

Maintain a routine

Keeping the same routine is a great way to figure out exactly what you need throughout your day. You’ll know which dishes you need to keep at the forefront, wash times for your dish load, space needed for your work items and items used during your lunch break and a host of other conveniences to keep your day running smoothly.

You may also be able to keep your schedule’s clutter down by making phone calls for home repairs or maintenance that may have been overlooked after working hours have concluded. After all, once work is done, many don’t want to turn immediately to their to-do list after a hectic day.

These are just a few work from home tips to keep your home free of clutter while you stay productive. Try incorporating other chores into your daily work routine and break schedule to find out what other home duties you can accomplish without scheduling extra time to do them.

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PMI, or private mortgage insurance, is a necessity most times. If your down payment is less than 20% of the purchase price of the home, then you’ll need to pay for this additional insurance in order to secure a loan for the home. This policy protects the lender if the borrower cannot pay the loan installments. This way, the lender knows they will not lose money in the event of default. 

Private mortgage insurance is also required if you refinance your home when it has accrued to less than 20% equity.

Here are a few other key points to remember about PMI.

Fees

The fees involved with private mortgage insurance can range based on a few factors, including the actual size of the down payment and your credit score. You can expect the cost of the insurance to be somewhere between 0.3% and 1.5% of the loan amount per year. Homebuyers can pay PMI premiums either monthly or as a large payment up front, though some policies may require the borrower to pay installments versus a lump sum.

You Can Cancel PMI

The lender will automatically cancel your PMI once the loan drops to 78% of the home’s value. For this reason, you’ll want to keep track of your payments to see how close you are to paying off your loan. When you’ve paid your loan down to 80% of the home’s original value, you may ask your lender to discontinue the insurance premium payments.

What Is The Loan-To-Value Ratio?

This ratio is the amount of mortgage debt as a percentage based on how much the home is worth. It’s calculated by the following formula:

Amount owed on the mortgage/Appraised value

If a home is worth $100,000 and the buyer owes $80,000 on the home, the loan-to-value ratio is 80%. This means the borrower can request the lender cancel the insurance.

FHA Loans Have Different Requirements

If you secure an FHA loan, they require the payment of PMI premiums for the entire life of the loan. You can’t cancel these insurance payments, but you can refinance the loan in order to get rid of the insurance. This means that you will no longer have an FHA loan.

Private mortgage insurance can be confusing, but, as a first-time homebuyer with little capital, the fees may be worth it when you’re able to secure your first home.

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If you’re considering adding an outdoor deck to your renovation to-do list, one of the first steps is to choose your building materials. With so many options available, making the best choice for your outdoor living space might seem like a daunting task.

Here is a basic guide of the most popular deck materials to help you get started:

Cedar

Cedar is commonly regarded as one of the most high-quality building materials for outdoor decks. It’s an excellent choice for DIY enthusiasts interested in building their own deck, as it’s lightweight and easy to work with.

While it does require regular refinishing, this dense and weather-resistant wood is naturally impervious to pests and decay.

Hardwoods

Other natural wood options include exotic hardwoods like Ipe. Similarly to cedar, these decking options have natural defense against pests like termites and damage from rot.

The density of hardwood makes it extremely long-lasting, though it is heavier and more expensive than other materials.

Pressure-treated wood

Pressure-treated wood, or PT wood, is the most common outdoor deck material. Pressure-treated lumber is infused with chemicals that improve its resistance to pests and rot. These chemicals help preserve the natural aspect and durability while keeping the cost down.

PT wood is widely available, affordable and can be easily stained to match your specific color preferences.

Composite wood decking

Composite decking is made of multiple materials combined to form an affordable and easy-care decking material. While it’s not technically wood, most composite materials mimic the appearance of real wood decking to achieve the same natural aesthetic.

Composite material has some great advantages, such as being weather-resistant and long-lasting. With practically no maintenance, some composite wooden decks can last up to 25 years or more.

However, quality and appearance can vary from one brand to the next. Price can also vary depending on manufacturer. So, it’s important to research your options and make sure you’re getting the best deck for your buck.

The best choice for your outdoor space

These are the most commonly used outdoor decking materials. While each has their advantages and disadvantages, the choice of what to use for your deck design depends on your personal preference.

No matter what materials you choose, you can add in features like built-in seating, a hot tub, swimming pool, fire pit and potted plants. Whether you want your deck to be an outdoor dining area, a cozy gathering space for guests or a personal outdoor oasis, knowing the material options will help you make the best decision.

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Your home’s curb appeal refers to how attractive it looks from the street. Curb appeal can have a big impact on how quickly a home sells and how much it’s worth. When your home looks its best, this can add value to your property so that you’re able to expect a higher amount from buyers. Whether you’re going to sell your home soon or just want to improve its appearance overall, there are several ways to boost its curb appeal. The following home remodeling projects can make your home look as impressive as possible.

Get a New Front Door

Getting a new front door is a simple remodeling project that can instantly improve your home’s appearance. If you have a front door with an outdated style or a door that’s showing signs of wear and tear, consider replacing it with a new one. Your new front door can bump up your home’s curb appeal while also increasing its value, whether you get a traditional wood door or a more contemporary metal one. If you already have a newer door that’s in good shape, consider repainting it to freshen it up.

Choose New Light Fixtures

Light fixtures might not seem important for curb appeal during the day, but they’re essential for enhancing your home at night. Consider replacing older or plain light fixtures on the exterior of your home, such as your front porch, with decorative ones. You might also want to look into installing light fixtures that draw attention to certain architectural features, such as uplights or downlights. You can also add light fixtures along the sides of walkways or in your front garden.

Replace House Numbers

When you’re looking for a simple and cost-effective way to boost your home’s curb appeal, consider replacing the house numbers. If your house numbers have a faded look or if they’re older and outdated, replace them with new, stylish ones. These new house numbers can make it easier for buyers to find your home when it’s on the market while also improving your home’s look overall. Make sure your house numbers are visible at night by adding a light fixture nearby if needed.

Paint the Exterior

The exterior of your home is a major factor in whether your home makes a good first impression on people. Your siding can become discolored or develop a faded look when aged and covered in dust and other debris. While you can power wash the exterior to remove this coating, also consider giving your siding some fresh paint. Painting the exterior can have a major impact on the way your home looks. You can paint the exterior using the same color as it is now, or choose a different tone to spruce up its appearance.

Replace the Roof

A roof that’s in excellent condition is an important part of having excellent curb appeal. If your roof is showing its age with damage or discoloration, consider a roof replacement. While this is a costly remodeling project, keep in mind that you should recoup at least part of the cost when you decide to sell your home. You’ll also have a brand new roof that enhances your home while protecting the interior from wind and rain.

The post Which Home Boosters Bump Up Your Curb Appeal? appeared first on Shelly Eshelman Realty.

Now, let’s take a look at three tips to help you get ready for a home inspection.

1. Hire an Expert Home Inspector

Not all home inspectors are created equal. And if you make a poor home inspector selection, you risk missing out on potential problems that may result in costly, time-intensive home repairs down the line.

When it comes to finding the right home inspector, it pays to be diligent. As such, it is crucial to allocate time and resources to conduct an extensive search for an expert house inspector. Because if you have a qualified home inspector at your side, you can get the support you need to perform an in-depth property evaluation.

Ask a home inspector for client referrals before you make your final decision. That way, you can find out what past clients have to say about a home inspector and determine if this professional is the right choice for you.

2. Attend Your Home Inspection

Although you are not required to attend your home inspection, it generally is a good idea to walk through a property with a professional inspector. By doing so, you may be able to gain insights that won’t necessarily appear in your house inspection report.

You may want to take notes during your home inspection as well. If you remain diligent throughout your home inspection, you can understand a house’s strengths and weaknesses. And as a result, you’ll be better equipped than ever before to decide whether to move forward with a home purchase.

3. Ask Questions

There is no need to leave anything to chance, especially when you buy a house. Thus, if you have concerns or questions during a home inspection, address them immediately.

Remember, a home inspector is happy to respond to any of your property concerns or questions. He or she can provide honest, unbiased responses to your queries and help you make an informed decision about a house purchase.

As you prepare for a home inspection, you may want to consult with a real estate agent too. This housing market professional can offer recommendations and suggestions to help you get ready for a home inspection and put you in touch with the top home inspectors in your area. Plus, a real estate agent will help you review a house inspection report so you can determine whether to proceed with a home purchase.

For those who want to get the most out of a house inspection, you may want to prepare as much as possible. Thanks to the aforementioned tips, you can streamline the home inspection preparation process. Then, you can enter a home inspection with a plan in hand and use this evaluation to decide if a house will be able to serve you well both now and in the future.

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