Rainwater Collection Ideas
I’ve been researching some ways to “green” up an existing home, in case we end up purchasing a “fixer-upper”. Some of these ideas are less inexpensive, like losing the lawn and planting drought-tolerant plants in a semi-arid region, others are more expensive like installing solar panels and running a portion of your household energy off of it, then reselling the excess to your utility company (a sweet deal!). But an idea I researched a while back, and the recent...
Read MoreRanch Style Houses as Far as the Eye Can See…
Reminiscing about my first obsession with residential architecture, I remember the copious details I added in the exterior of a house I drew on my chalkboard. Drawing with colored chalk was half the fun, but the house itself best identified with a ranch-style layout: it was horizontally long as opposed to vertical in height, I added a brick trim to the base of the house, and large windows to the front. The reason this was the house I decided to draw was based on my reality, all the houses in my...
Read MoreDilapidated Houses..oh my!
This weekend my husband and I decided to drive past a couple of houses that were in our price range: between $190,000 – $250,000. What we saw was very depressing. The first house we drove past was one right up the street from us. I had a feeling it needed a lot of work based on the low price of $190,000. We like the street its located on, so we stopped and took a closer look. All I can say is, “Wow,” you don’t get very much for $190,000 here in suburban Los Angeles....
Read MoreNeighborhood Comparisions…or Why We Don’t Own a Home Yet!
The other day my husband was discussing our progress of saving for a down payment with his mother, my mother-in-law. Now, my mother-in-law holds a PhD in Business Management, specifically International Student Affairs, or something like that. She is quite knowledgable, or I would assume so based on all of her education. She was concerned about our progress on our down payment. However, my husband explained that saving 20% of $250,000 is difficult and takes a while. Her comment went something...
Read MoreHousing Trends Over the Past 10 Years
I remember when my parents purchased their first house in 1978 in Granada Hills. They bought a 3-bedroom, 2-bath fixer-upper for $68,000. I was 7 and very excited to have neighbors with small children to play with. My parents spent the first few months replanting the lawn and garden, tearing out old bushes and planting new flowers. Over the next few years, they lost a little steam, adding brick to the front of the house, but then only painting the front a grayish-blue and leaving the sides and...
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