The COVID-19 global pandemic has put a spin on the way people look at their home’s space.  The stay-at-home-orders shifted a home’s space to serve more purposes than ever before. Before the pandemic, home was a place where we returned from work, school and any daily activities but now it has become the place where we work, go to school and live out our days. Builders have now changed the way they are designing homes to incorporate these changes into the floor plans. Here are five ways home designs are changing.

Every room needs to serve multiple purposes

Working from home or remote learning demands a quiet space. According to Jennifer Pyatt of Indianapolis-based Pyatt Builders, she is seeing the use of barn or pocket sliding doors.  This feature allows for privacy in an open concept floor plan where space is still needed. Zillow design expert Kerrie Kelly believes that the whole home will be used in multi-purpose ways such as a guest room turned into a wellness studio or a dining room becoming a game room.

No home office? No thanks

If you work from home and are a parent this can be really challenging.  Parents need a dedicated space for work that is separate from their children. Zillow did a survey that revealed that two-thirds of those surveyed are working from home from an area that is not a dedicated home office space and a dedicated space is on the top of their wish list.

Designing for health and cleanliness

Now more than ever everyone is conscious of germs because of the spread of COVID-19. As of now, builders are integrating touchless faucets and self-cleaning toilets into their building plans but this is just the tip of the iceberg. “Just wait until the floor tile takes your temperature and the bathroom mirror checks your vitals,”  says Kelly.

Builders are already coming up with ways to build mudrooms with sinks off the garages so that before anyone enters they can get clean.  Other ways are by building more en suite bathrooms, using easy-clean flooring and building larger foyers for space to take off shoes before entering the home. Air quality is also a must: “Air cleaned by a UV light system in the HVAC can help minimize the risk of spreading germs,” notes Joe Klusnick, marketing director at Blue Mountain Communities in Northern California.

Yards need to be useable year-round

The previous year has been tough with having to stay at home 24/7.  Getting outdoors and enjoying nature is a great way to improve wellness. A good way to go about this is to turn part of your backyard into a functional room. Building an outdoor kitchen, a covered patio or a play area are all great ways to use your outdoor space for play, entertaining and cooking. Todd Pyatt, President of Pyatt Homes, agrees. “Motorized, retractable screens, heaters and fans, now considered luxury options, will become more essential because they allow families the freedom to be outside across the seasons.”

When everything happens at home, there’s more to store

Everyone staying at home has caused more of a footprint.  When you are eating every meal at home, your pantry space becomes a bigger issue. Builders are incorporating larger pantries in new homes. Closets can now serve as multi-purposes throughout the day. They can work as a home office, gym and even a classroom.

To make sure you find the right home that fits your wish list for a fair price, contact a Realtor in your area.

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We might have had a rough 2020 with the COVID-19 pandemic and strict stay-at-home orders but the housing market showed no sign of slowing down. The National Association of Home Builders reported a great ending to 2020 for Single-Family Permits. According to the United States Census Building Permits Survey, a total of 977,863 single-family permits were issued year-to-date in the country in 2020. This is a 14.5% increase on a year-over-year basis from December 2019 which reported 854,158.

The chart shows the amounts for each region. The South had the strongest with a 16.9% increase, Midwest followed with a 13.1% increase,

the Northwest had an 11.6% increase and the West showed a 10.5% increase for 2020. Muli-family numbers were all on the decline in all four regions. The worst was the Northeast with a -11.1% decline, followed by the South with a -9.2% decline, the West declined -8.2% and the Midwest -1.2%.

Vermont had the highest rate of growth in single-family permits from 882 in 2019 to 1,285 in 2020. This was a 45.7% increase YTD. Forty-five states all showed an increase while the District of Columbia and five states showed a decline. The top 10 states accounted for 61.5% of the total single-family permits issued in 2020.

At the local level, below are top 10 metro areas that issued the highest number of single-family permits.

Metropolitan Statistical Area	Single-family Permits: Dec (Units #YTD, NSA)
Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX	48,208
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX	43,884
Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ	31,724
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA	28,057
Austin-Round Rock, TX	21,653
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC	17,807
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL	16,028
Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL	15,523
Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, TN	14,125
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	13,594

For multifamily permits, below are the top 10 local areas that issued the highest number of permits:

Metropolitan Statistical Area	Multifamily Permits: Dec (Units #YTD, NSA)
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA	42,739
Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX	20,207
Austin-Round Rock, TX	19,222
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	17,494
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX	16,178
Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ	14,894
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	14,752
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL	14,034
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	11,515
Nashville-Davidson–Murfreesboro–Franklin, TN	11,404

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Buying a home is an exciting yet stressful life event. The current housing market is definitely a seller’s market with tons of buyers and limited inventory.

“Buyers walk in a home and say, ‘This is it!’ Then, they see all the business cards [from other agents] on the table and start panicking,” says Georgia Stevens, president of the Seattle King County Realtors and managing broker of the Compass Washington agency.

If you are a first-time home buyer have no fear about the competition. Here are five tips to follow when shopping for your first house.

Start with an authentic budget

You will want to know how much home you can afford before you start house shopping. Get on solid financial ground from the beginning. Decide what your price range will be by looking at how much you can borrow and what your monthly budget will be.

A mortgage lender will be one of your first contacts during the home buying process. A mortgage lender can give you a preapproval letter. Getting preapproved on a mortgage will allow you and your realtor to get a gauge on what exactly you can afford. In this day in age with the current housing market, you have to have a preapproval letter from a lender to show real estate agents and sellers that you are a serious buyer.

“I always caution borrowers not to stretch for a home, and to establish a realistic budget that will afford a financial cushion for the future,” Scott Lindner, national sales director for mortgage lending at TD Bank, said in an email. “This is even more important in the current uncertain environment.”

Learn what to expect before you shop

An experienced real estate agent can help you with the process step by step along with verbiage you might not be familiar with. It is best to be familiar with the process before you start.

“Right now, the emotion is lowest and logic is highest,” Alicia Holdaway, president of the Salt Lake Board of Realtors in Utah and an agent with Summit Sotheby’s International Realty. says. “As soon as we look at homes, those are going to swap.”

Emotions can take over and logic can go out the door. A Realtor will be your logic no matter how much you love a home. Holdaway says she will not take a buyer to see a home without first discussing what a real estate contract says and what terms can be put in place along with negotiations. A Realtor can stay grounded through this roller coaster of a ride.

Be firm on your needs, flexible on the rest

Make a list of the features you need in a home versus those amenities that would be nice to have. Spend a good bit of time thinking about the reasons you want to purchase a home to help distinguish between needs and wants.

Once you have your list you want to stick to those must-have items. You might love a home but it has only one full bathroom. You do not want to settle for something that does not tick off your must-have items.

There is a difference in compromising on cosmetic characteristics and amenities that you do not need in a home. A kitchen might have your must-haves but you hate the paint color. This is something that should not detour you from purchasing a home. Paint color can be easy and fairly budget-friendly to change.

“A house may not be HGTV-ready, but it can be something that can be improved over time,” says Stephen Medeiros, president-elect of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors and an associate broker at Keller Williams Realty in Dartmouth.

Don’t let negative emotions get the upper hand

Searching for a home, especially in a hot market, can be frustrating. You find a home you like and before you can even discuss it or think about an offer, it is already under contract.

According to Josh Harris, a certified financial planner and lecturer in finance at Clemson University, you do not want anxiety to make you rush into a bad decision. Before you get too worked up, take a break and think about why you are so anxious. He says to get a reality check from your real estate agent.

Holdaway says a good way to prevent this frustration is to not look at too many homes. First-time homebuyers are making this mistake a lot she confides. Doing this will lead to exhaustion and wears you down making you just want to make a decision to get the process over with. “They’re sick of looking, and they say, ‘I’ll make it work. I just need a house,'” Holdaway says.

Stick to your price range and priorities

Buyers want to please a seller so they can seal the deal but this is not always the wisest way to go about the process. In a hot market, buyers are under pressure to make these concessions. Before you make any concessions make sure you completely understand the risks.

Many homes in the current market are in bidding wars. Potential homebuyers must compete with their offer to win the war. A good example is to offer above the listing price. Before doing this, make sure you can afford the higher price and still be comfortable financially.

“You don’t want to live for your home,” Medeiros says.

“There’s always another great house,” Stevens says. “This isn’t the only one.”

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