Whitney Minnich Real Estate and Community Updates

Don’t Underestimate the Importance of the Garage to Buyers February 15, 2019 Luxuries like pools and lavish living spaces may not be as enticing to home buyers as a garage, finds a new poll by Zolo Realty, a Canadian online real estate marketplace. Zolo Realty surveyed more than 1,800 North American respondents to discover buyer behavior and desires. Male and female home buyers gave the highest marks to properties with a garage; an en suite, main-floor bathroom; or a newer furnace or A/C unit. Fifty-one percent of women and 41 percent of men ranked a garage a must-have when buying a home. © Zolo “Buyers aren’t foolish,” says Mustafa Abbasi, president of Zolo Realty. “Updating a kitchen and removing walls is a lot of work, but these updates are not as hard or as costly as trying to carve out a bathroom for a master bedroom or building a garage from scratch.” The ideal home to both men and women surveyed was: A 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom home with a m...

5 Easy DIY Weekend Projects Under $300 By:  John Riha Published: May 24, 2012 Just another weekend? Not if you take advantage with one or more of these 5 great projects you can easily pull off for under $300. Most of the cost of these DIY weekend projects is in the materials. The labor — that’s you — is free. All you need now are the hours. But, hey, you’ve got two full days — plenty of time to be a superhero weekend warrior and grab some R&R. Project #1: Add a Garden Arbor Entry The setup:  Install an eye-catching portal to your garden with a freestanding arbor. It’ll look great at the end of a garden path or framing a grassy area between planting beds. Specs and cost:  Garden arbors can be priced up to thousands of dollars, but you can find nice-looking kits in redwood, cedar, and vinyl at your local home improvement or garden center for $200 to $300. Typical sizes are about 7 feet high and 3 to 4 feet wide. You’ll have to assemble the k...