Kyle Carlson's Top Five to Spruce up Your Home for Spring

Spring, a time of renewal, added daylight and spring cleaning. OWN's "Home Take Over" guru of all things wooden, Kyle Carlson, offers some practical tips for Westside homeowners who want to celebrate the season in a homey way.

By Amy Sommer  |  April 11, 2011

Kyle Carlson of 'Home Take Over' on the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN)

Kyle Carlson, who along with his equally tasty twin, Lane modeled for leading designers, including Calvin Klein, Giorgio Armani and Abercrombie & Fitch -- has left his blazer behind and now dons a tool belt. In addition to running a construction business in Los Angeles, Carlson has appeared as the wonder of wood (aka a hunky carpenter) on shows such as "Mobile Home Disaster" (WB), "Deserving Design" and "Out Door Room" (HGTV). Soon, Carlson will be featured on OWN's "Home Take Over" but in the mean time, Westside Today talked with his "Homey Hotness" to get some tips for readers who may be tempted to take spring cleaning too far.


1. KNOWLEDGE IS POWER:
Know where all the shut off valves for your utilities -- gas, water, electric -- are located in your home. You may need to turn them off quickly in the event of a disaster.

2. AN ONCE OF PREVENTION... SAVES A LOT OF CASH FOR THE CURE
Homeowners should check furnace filters and chimney flus yearly. And, while you're hunting around for those utility shut offs (or just looking around for your reading glasses) you should also check for any leaks (sprinkler, gas, water) which may be costing you a little money now but could result in major damage if left unchecked. Homeowners should also make sure that they have sufficient flipping breakers so that the use of a blow dryer doesn't darken the whole house.

3. HOME BEAUTY CAN BE SKIN DEEP
A coat of paint -- on the wall or on a piece of furniture -- is a great way to change the look of your environment. Updating light fixtures, adding or replacing a ceiling fan is also a great way to change your space without drilling ditches in your wallet.

4. A PENNY SAVED IS A PENNY EARNED
Install energy saving items; florescent bulbs; timers on sprinklers and lighting systems; solar powered exterior lights. You'll be glad you did when your next energy bill comes around. Further, there are some tax advantages to doing this too -- given that April 15th (Tax Day) and April 22nd (Earth Day) are right around the corner, now is a good time to think about going greener for the Earth and your pocketbook.

Southern California Edison has a savings possibilities at:

http://www.sce.com/residential/rebates-savings/rebates-savings.htm

LA DWP's savings possibilities can be found at:

http://www.ladwp.com/ladwp/cms/ladwp000478.jsp

5. DIGGING IN FOR GOOD
Changing or revamping your landscape design will improve your home's curb appeal. Make sure that you pitch the land away from your home so that water is prevented from coming in or pool in or around the foundation.

2011 housing market will be pancake flate

2011 housing market will be pancake flat

By Les Christie, staff writerJanuary 26, 2011: 12:43 PM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Housing markets will remain flat, flat, flat in 2011, according to forecasts from the Mortgage Bankers Association.

The organization, which represents more than 80% of the nation's mortgage business, predicts that overall home sales will inch down 0.1% during the year. Sales of existing homes will fall 1% to 4.82 million, and new home sale will rise 10% to 358,000.

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The MBA attributes the sales decline mostly to slow economic recovery and high unemployment. Until hiring picks up, the market will continue to struggle.

The MBA has also reduced its forecast due to recent credit liability issues affecting banks, according to its chief economist, Jay Brinkmann.

12 cities: Where to rent vs. buy

Investors in mortgage backed securities have started demanding that lenders repurchase loans that are in default. The threat of having to repurchase these loans has made banks reluctant to lend, especially, Brinkmann said, to borrowers without the highest qualifications.

"That will hold down originations, on the edges, until the issue is resolved," he said.

Rising interest rate will also remove some potential home purchasers from the market, although not many. Rates, according to the MBA forecast, will rise very little in 2011, to an average of 5.3% from 4.7% in 2009.

Still, that increase adds more than $36 a month to mortgage payments for every $100,000 borrowed.

All these factors will contribute to a whopping 36% decline in mortgage origination dollar volume in 2011, to $966 billion.

The biggest culprit will be a nosedive in mortgage refinancing. During 2010, refis accounted for about 69% of all mortgages issued. In 2011, the MBA expects that to drop to 36%.

With rates at or near historic lows during 2010 -- near 4% for the benchmark 30-year fixed-rate loan -- most borrowers who could refi higher interest loans have already done so. And with rates set to top 5% this year, the number of borrowers who would benefit from a refi will drop.

With home sales slow and inventories still high, the MBA does not anticipate much movement in home prices. It forecasts the median existing home price to decline $200 in 2011 to $172,800. Prices for new homes will drop 1.3% to $214,600.

The organization does not expect a strong recovery in 2012 either. It anticipates a median home price of $174,900 that year, a 1.2% rise compared with 2011, for existing homes. For new homes, it sees a 1.7% increase to $218,400.

Sales volume believes sales volume will jump 16.4% to more than 6 million homes sold in 2012, but that's still a far cry from the boom years, when more than 8 million homes were sold at the peak.  

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