People love to dole out unsolicited advice. Some of it is actually useful. Other tips you hear, though, may do more harm than good—particularly when it comes to your credit score.
Establishing credit and maintaining a good credit score (also known as a FICO score) is essential if you hope to get a mortgage to buy a home someday.
“Good credit proves to lenders that you’re a reliable and trustworthy person who will pay back the money you owe,” says Ace Watanasuparp, national director of strategic sales at Citizens Home Mortgage.
Having good credit helps you not only get a mortgage, but one with a low interest rate, which will lower your monthly payments and the overall amount you pay for the home. And even if your credit score isn’t stellar right now, Watanasuparp says it’s never too late to start repairing it.
Yet this is where bad advice from uninformed yet well-meaning friends and family could lead you astray. Want some guidance separating fact from fiction? Here’s a look at some of the worst credit-building advice floating around out there that actually isn’t true.
1. To build credit, you’ve got to use credit—lots of it!
Many may insist that the only way to establish good credit is to use it—liberally. While it’s true that utilizing some level of credit is important, more is definitely not better.
“Carrying a high balance on your credit card has the potential to hurt your score,” says Stephen Rosen, head of sales at the mortgage company Better. “And on top of that, you will end up paying more each month, due to interest.”
Credit utilization, or the amount of credit you’re using, makes up 30% of your FICO score. The higher your credit card balance, the higher your utilization rate, which hurts your credit score. So pay as much as you can on your credit card bill each month.
That said, keeping a modest credit card balance can help, Watanasuparp says. A good rule is to use only 30% to 40% of your maximum credit line. So, for a credit card with a $10,000 limit, keep the balance to no more than $3,000 or $4,000.
2. Close your credit cards once you pay them off
Closing a credit card once you’ve paid it off may seem like a logical thing to do—that way, no more debt! Yet in reality, closing cards is a bad idea.
“Closing recently paid off accounts can shorten your credit history, especially if it’s one of your oldest accounts to date,” Rosen says.
Credit history, or how long you’ve had credit accounts, makes up about 15% of your credit score.
Instead of closing the cards, Watanasuparp suggests keeping them open and using them from time to time—and always paying off the balance whenever possible.
3. The occasional late or missed payment is no big deal
Late or missing bill payments happen to just about everyone, and therefore may seem like NBD. On the contrary! Paying your bills on time has a huge effect on your credit, accounting for 35% of your FICO score.
It doesn’t matter how much credit you have, as long as you can manage it, meaning you have enough money to pay your bills and that you’re paying them on time, Watanasuparp says.
“It becomes a problem when you are not able to responsibly manage these lines of credit, and you start falling behind on payments, and you no longer have the funds to back your credit,” he says.
Consistently paying late or not at all suggests that you might not be able to make your mortgage payments either, so it could be tough to get a home loan. Setting up automatic payments or calendar reminders will help you avoid missing payments.
4. You can boost your credit score by adding your spouse to your accounts
If your spouse has excellent credit—but yours is subpar—you may have heard that adding your upstanding partner to your own credit accounts will help raise your own score. Sorry, but it’s not that simple.
Credit scores are unique to each individual, Rosen says, so merging accounts won’t boost your credit. However, there is one way a high-scoring partner does work in your favor.
“When it comes to applying for new credit with your partner, such as filling out a joint application for a mortgage, each partner’s credit score is taken into consideration by the lenders,” he says.
Lenders will often average out a couple’s scores to determine your overall creditworthiness as a team. So in this sense, your partner could help you get a loan with good terms.
Once you’ve got a loan together—and if it gets paid on time—this will start reflecting positively on both your credit reports. This takes time, however, so don’t expect any miracles overnight.
5. You should constantly check your credit report
These days, sites like CreditKarma.com make it easy (and free) to check your credit score and report on a daily basis. But that doesn’t mean you should.
Watanasuparp says you only need to check your credit score and report once a year—or every three to six months before getting a mortgage—to make sure there are no errors or late payments that you’re not aware of.
6. Getting a credit report will lower your score
The good news is that checking your credit yourself through an official report from one of the primary reporting agencies is a soft inquiry, which won’t affect your credit score.
However, loan applications for new credit cards or mortgages are considered hard inquiries, and will show up and stay on the report for up to two years, briefly lowering your score.
“My advice is to avoid loan applications for at least six months before you apply for a mortgage. This will ensure your best possible credit score is on file,” Rosen says.
Then, you can shop around with multiple lenders to find the one offering the best rate.
7. You need to hire a credit repair agency to clean up your credit
Credit repair agencies promise to repair your credit for a fee, by checking your credit report for errors and disputing them for you. However, it’s usually unnecessary.
You can dispute information on your credit report yourself for free, using AnnualCreditReport.com, a federally authorized site.
Furthermore, no one can remove accurate information, such as a history of late payments, from the report, Rosen says.
“There’s nothing that a credit repair company can do for you that you can’t do yourself,” he says. “The only legitimate way to enhance your credit score is to practice good credit management.”
For this and related articles, please visit Realtor.com
Explore the themes of the book through events and discussions. Check the events calendar for information. From January to March, 2025 you can attend events surrounding the book and its themes.
Everybody Reads will conclude with “An Evening with Javier Zamora” on Tuesday, March 11, 2025 at 7:30 pm at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. Tickets are available from Literary Arts.
About the book
Solito is an account of Zamora’s 3,000-mile journey from El Salvador to the United States when he was nine years old. His crossing involved perilous boat trips and relentless desert treks during two life-altering months alongside a group of strangers who became an unexpected family.
He traveled unaccompanied by boat, bus, and foot. After a coyote abandoned his group in Oaxaca, Javier managed to make it to Arizona with the aid of other migrants.
About the author
Javier Zamora was born in La Herradura, El Salvador in 1990. When he was a year old, his father fled El Salvador due to the US-funded Salvadoran Civil War (1980-1992). His mother followed her husband in 1995 when Javier was about to turn five. Zamora was left in the care of his grandparents who raised him until he migrated to the US when he was nine. His first poetry collection, Unaccompanied, explores some of these themes.
Everybody Reads 2025, a community reading project of Multnomah County Library, is made possible by gifts to The Library Foundation with the author’s appearance made possible by Literary Arts.
For this and other local library news, please visit multcolib.org
Linn-Benton Community College is finding ways to teach math in more applied ways, so that students can pick up those skills and get into the workplace.
It’s 7:15 on a cold gray Monday morning in May at Linn-Benton Community College. Math professor Michael Lopez, in a hoodie and jeans, a tape measure on his belt, paces in front of the 14 students in his “math for welders” class.
“I’m your OSHA inspector,” he says. “Three sixteenths of an inch difference, you’re in violation. You’re going to get a fine.”
Linn-Benton Community College math professor Michael Lopez helps a student work through an algorithm for calculating ladder rung placement in his math for welders class.
Jan Sonnenmair for The Hechinger Report
He’s just given them a project they might have to do on the job: figure out the rung spacing on an external steel ladder that attaches to a wall. Thousands of dollars are at stake in such builds, and they’re complicated: Some clients want the fewest possible rungs to save money, others a specific distance between steps. To pass inspection, rungs must be evenly spaced to within one sixteenth of an inch, the top rung exactly flush with the top of the wall.
The exercise could be an algebra problem, but Lopez gives them a six-step algorithm that doesn’t use algebraic letters and symbols. Instead, they get real-world industry variables: tolerances, basic rung spacing, wall height.
Lopez breaks the class into five teams. Each team is assigned different wall heights and client specs, and they get to work calculating where to place the rungs. Lopez will inspect each team’s work and pass or fail the job.
Math is a giant hurdle for most community college students pursuing welding and other career and technical degrees. About a dozen years ago, Linn-Benton’s administration looked at their data and found that many students in career and technical education, or CTE, were getting most of the way toward a degree but were stopped by a math course, said the college’s president, Lisa Avery. That’s not unusual: Up to 60 percent of students entering community college are unprepared for college-level work, and the subject they most often need help with is math.
The college asked the math department to design courses tailored to those students, starting with its welding, culinary arts and criminal justice programs. The first of those, math for welders, rolled out in 2013.
More than a decade later, welding department instructors say that math for welders has had a huge impact on student performance. Since 2017, 93% of students taking it have passed, and 83% have achieved all the course’s learning goals, including the ability to use arithmetic, geometry, algebra and trigonometry to solve welding problems, school data show. Two years ago, Linn-Benton asked Lopez to design a similar course for its automotive technology program; they began to offer that course last fall.
Robert Van Etta, a student in Linn-Benton Community College’s math for welders class, marks out the spacing for ladder rungs, part of a lesson in using algebraic concepts to solve real-world challenges.
Jan Sonnenmair for The Hechinger Report
Math for welders changed student Zane Azmane’s view of what he could do.
“I absolutely hated math in high school. It didn’t apply to anything I needed at the moment,” said Azmane, 20, who failed several semesters of math early in high school but last year got a B in the Linn-Benton course. “We actually learned equations I’m going to use, like setting ladder rungs,” he said.
Linn-Benton’s aim is to change how students pursuing technical degrees learn math by making it directly applicable to their technical specialties.
Some researchers think these small-scale efforts to teach math in context could transform how it’s taught more broadly.
Among strategies to help college students who struggle with math, giving them contextual curriculums seems to have “the strongest theoretical base and perhaps the strongest empirical support,” according to a 2011 paper by Columbia University Teachers College researcher Dolores Perin. (The Hechinger Report is an independent unit of Teachers College.)
Perin’s paper echoed the results of a 2006 study of math in CTE involving 131 CTE high school teachers and almost 3,000 students. Students in the study who were taught math through an applied approach performed significantly better on two of three standardized tests than those taught math in a more traditional way. (The applied math students also performed better on the third test, though the results didn’t reach the statistical significance threshold.)
So far, there haven’t been systematic studies of math in CTE at the college level, said James Stone, director of the National Research Center for Career and Technical Education at the Southern Regional Education Board, who ran the 2006 study.
Keith Perkins, right, works through an algorithm for calculating ladder rung spacing in Linn-Benton Community College’s math for welders class.
Jan Sonnenmair for The Hechinger Report
Stone explained how math in context works. Students start with a practical problem and learn a math principle for solving it. Next, they use the principle to solve a similar practical problem, to see that it applies generally. Finally, they apply the principle on paper, in say, a standardized test.
“I like to say math is just like a wrench: It’s another tool in the toolbox to solve a workplace problem,” said Stone. “People learn almost anything better in context because then it has meaning.”
Linn-Benton dean Steve Schilling offers an example. Carpenters use a well-known 3-4-5 rule to get a square corner — lay out two boards at a square angle and mark one board at 3 feet and the other at 4 feet. Now a straight line joining the two marks should measure exactly 5 feet — if it doesn’t, the boards are out of square.
The rule is based on the Pythagorean theorem, a method for calculating the lengths of a right triangle’s sides: a2 + b2 = c2. When explaining to students why the theorem describes the rule, the instructor uses math terms — “adjacent side,” “opposite side,” “hypotenuse” — that they’ll need to use on a math test, said Schilling. When using practical skills like the 3-4-5 rule on a project, “at first, they don’t even realize they’re doing math,” he said.
Oregon appears to be one of the few places where this approach is spreading, if slowly.
Three hours south of Linn-Benton, Doug Gardner, an instructor in the Rogue Community College math department (he is now its chair), had long struggled with a persistent question from students: “Why do we need to know this?”
The answer couldn’t just be that they needed it for their next, higher-level math class, Gardner said. “It became my life’s work to have an answer to that question.”
Meanwhile, Algebra I was a huge barrier for many Rogue Community College students. About a third of those taking the course or a lower-level math course failed or withdrew. That meant they had to retake the class and likely stay another term to graduate; since many were older students with families and obligations, hundreds dropped out, school administrators said.
For those who stayed, lack of math knowledge hurt their job skills. Pipe fitters, for example, are among the higher-paid welders, said welding department chair Todd Giesbrecht, but they need a solid understanding of the math involved.
“Whether they’re making elbows, whether they’re making dump truck bodies, they’re installing steam pipe, all of those things involve math,” he said.
So, in 2010, Gardner applied for and got a National Science Foundation grant to create two new applied algebra courses. Instead of abstract formulas, students would learn practical ones: how to calculate the volume of a wheelbarrow of gravel and the number of wheelbarrows needed to cover an area, or how much a beam of a certain size and type will bend under a certain load.
Math proficiency is critical to jobs in welding and other technical fields, but a huge hurdle for most community college students pursuing career and technical degrees. Some colleges have succeeded in improving math learning by tailoring instruction to those technical fields.
Jan Sonnenmair for The Hechinger Report
Since then, the pass rate in the applied algebra class has averaged 73 percent while that of the traditional course has continued to hover around 59 percent, according to Gardner. Even modest gains like that are hard to achieve, said Navarro Chandler, a dean at the college.
“Any move over 2%, we call that a win,” he said.
One day in May, math professor Kathleen Foster was teaching applied algebra in a sun-drenched classroom on Rogue’s wooded campus and launched into a lesson about the Pythagorean theorem and why it’s an essential tool for building home interiors and steel structures.
She presented the formula, then jumped to illustrated exercises: What’s the right length for diagonal braces in a lookout tower to ensure that the structure will hold? What length does the diagonal top plate for a stair wall need to be to ensure that the wall’s corners are perfectly square?
James Butler-Kyniston, 30, who is pursuing a degree as a machinist, said that the exercises covered in Foster’s class are directly applicable to his future career. One exercise had them calculate how large a metal sheet you would need to manufacture a certain number of parts at one time, a skill he’s used in the lab.
“Algebraic formulas apply to a lot of things, but since you don’t have any examples to tie them to, you end up thinking they’re useless,” he said.
Unlike at Linn-Benton, students at Rogue in any degree field can take this course, so some of the applied examples don’t work for everyone. Butler-Kyniston said he thinks applied math works better if it’s tailored to a specific set of majors.
Still, Foster’s class could rescue the college plans of at least one student. Kayla LeMaster, 41, is on her second try at a two-year degree. She had to drop out in 2012 after getting injured in a house fire. She’s going for a degree that will let her transfer to the University of Oregon to major in psychology; she hopes to eventually work as a school counselor or in some other job supporting kids.
But her graduation from Rogue hangs by a thread because she needs a math credit. She struggled in the traditional algebra class and had to withdraw, and the same happened in a statistics course. Applied algebra is her last chance.
“When you add the alphabet to math, it doesn’t make sense,” she said. By contrast, in the examples in Foster’s class, “you get into that work mode, a job site somewhere, and you can see the problem in your head.” She got an A on her first test. “I’m getting it,” she said.
Gardner worries about the consequences of the traditional abstract approach to teaching math. When he was in college, “nobody ever showed me one formula that calculated anything really interesting,” he said. “I just think we’re doing a terrible job. Applied math is so fun.”
Oregon’s leaders appear to see merit in teaching math in context. In 2021, state legislators passed a law requiring all four-year colleges to accept an applied math community-college course called Math in Society as satisfying the math requirement for a four-year degree. In that course, instead of studying theoretical algebra, students learn how to use probability and statistics to interpret the results in scientific papers and how political rules like apportionment and gerrymandering affect elections, said Kathy Smith, a math professor at Central Oregon Community College.
“If I had my way, this is how algebra would be taught to every student, the applied version,” said Gardner. “And then if a student says, ‘This is great, but I want to go further,’ then you sign up for the theoretical version.”
At the level of individual schools, lack of money and time constrain the spread of applied math. Stone’s team works with high schools around the country to design contextual math courses for career and technical students. They tried to work with a few community colleges, but their CTE faculty, many of whom are part-timers on contract, didn’t have time to partner with their math departments to come up with a new curriculum, a yearlong process, Stone said.
Linn-Benton was able to invest the time and money because its math department was big enough to take on the task, said Avery. And both Linn-Benton and Rogue may be outliers because they have math faculty with technical backgrounds: Lopez worked as a carpenter and sheriff’s deputy and served three tours as a machine gunner in Iraq, and Gardner was a construction contractor who still designs houses.
“I have up to 16 house plans in the works during construction season,” he said.
Back in Lopez’s class, on a sunny Wednesday, students are done calculating where their ladder rungs should go and now must mark them on the wall. One team struggles. “I don’t understand any of this,” says Keith Perkins, 40, who’s going for a welding degree and wants to get into the local pipe fitters union.
“I know, but you’re not doing the steps in the right order,” says Lopez. “Walk me through it. Tell me what you did, starting with step 1.”
As teams finish up, Lopez inspects their work. “That’s one thirty-second shy. But I wouldn’t worry too much about it,” he tells one group. “OSHA’s not going to knock you down for that.”
Three teams pass, two fail — but this is the place to make mistakes, not out on the job, Lopez tells them.
“This stuff is hard,” said Perkins. “I hated math in school. Still hate it. But we use it every day.”
https://www.altpdx.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/logo-horizontal.png00altpdxhttps://www.altpdx.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/logo-horizontal.pngaltpdx2024-10-28 21:45:172024-10-02 21:46:55Math ends the education journeys of thousands of community college students. An Oregon college is among those trying something new
The former Los Angeles residence of Marilyn Monroe has been saved from the wrecking ball.
The abode of the Hollywood legend was added to a list of local historical landmarks by the Los Angeles City Council, which voted unanimously to preserve it, the New York Post reported.
Located in the Brentwood neighborhood, the home was the site of her untimely death in 1962 at age 36.
“There is no other person or place in the city of Los Angeles as iconic as Marilyn Monroe and her Brentwood home,” said council member Traci Park, who introduced the landmark proposal. “To lose this piece of history, the only home that Marilyn Monroe ever owned, would be a devastating blow for historic preservation and for a city where less than 3% of historic designations are associated with women’s heritage.”
Marilyn Monroe’s former L.A. home has been designated a landmark.
(Realtor.com)
Preservation in dispute
The homeowners are real estate heiress Brinah Milstein and her husband, Roy Bank, a reality TV producer. They reportedly bought the property last August for about $8,350,000.
Milstein and Bank also own the property next door and planned to expand their adjacent home onto the grounds of the Monroe home. The city had approved their demolition permit—until it was temporarily halted while the home’s landmark status was considered.
The homeowners filed a lawsuit to stop the designation, claiming “illegal and unconstitutional conduct” by the city “with respect to the house where Marilyn Monroe occasionally lived for a mere six months before she tragically committed suicide 61 years ago.”
The suit claims the home has been “substantially altered” since Monroe’s death. “There is not a single piece of the house that includes any physical evidence that Ms. Monroe ever spent a day at the house, not a piece of furniture, not a paint chip, not a carpet, nothing,” the lawsuit said.
As a topper, the lawsuit adds the home is a nuisance as it draws throngs of looky-loos and tour buses.
Hollywood history
Monroe is said to have purchased the home for $77,000 in February 1962, about six months before her death.
She furnished it with items picked up in Mexico, including tiles and textiles. She called her casa a “fortress where I can feel safe from the world.”
The hacienda-style exterior has remained relatively unchanged over the years. The 2,600-square-foot, four-bedroom, three-bath abode dates to 1929 and sits behind a privacy wall.
Original details include beamed ceilings, terra-cotta tile floors, and casement windows. The half-acre lot includes a pool and citrus orchard.
For this and similar articles, please visit Realtor.com
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If you’re waiting for mortgage rates to subside a bit before you buy a house, there’s plenty you can do in the meantime to prepare—starting with cleaning up your credit score.
In fact, a good credit score can play a critical role in helping you get a mortgage with the best possible rate and other favorable terms. That’s pretty darn important right now, with mortgage rates at near 20-year highs.
Plus, boosting your credit score can take time and can’t be pulled off overnight. Most credit-boosting tactics will take many months to kick in, so it’s best to start sooner rather than later.
So if you’re holding off on homebuying, it’s the perfect moment to polish your credit rating. Here’s how you can use this time wisely so that you’re in the best possible shape once you do decide to dive into home shopping.
Why your credit score matters when buying a home
Your credit score is basically a crystal ball for predicting how likely you are to pay back a loan on time. Credit-reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) dig through your debt history to see how much debt you took on, whether your payments were on time, and how often you may have missed payments.
Using debt responsibly and paying it back on time will give you a better score than someone who racks up big bills on several fronts and pays late or skips payments altogether.
As such, the first step to improving your credit score is to know what it is.
You can easily check your score online at sites such as CreditKarma.com. Typically, a score of 629 or lower is considered bad; 630 to 689 is fair; 690 to 719 is good; and 720 to 850 (the top score) is excellent.
How does a credit score affect a mortgage?
The higher your credit score, the better the interest rate and terms will be on your mortgage. For example, the difference between a 625 (bad) credit score and a 750 (excellent) score can add as much as a half-percentage point to your loan’s rate. While an extra half-percentage point might not seem like much, if you multiply that extra fee over the term of 360 months to account for the life of your loan, it can amount to thousands of dollars.
Few of us want to flush money away, so let’s look at how you can make your credit score the very best it can be. Here are some strategies to explore.
Review your credit file
In addition to knowing your score, you’ll want to pore through your credit report. Here’s what you’re looking for: loans or credit cards listed that you never opened (it can happen due to an error or identity theft), misspelled names, or items looking as if they are in collection when you actually paid off the debt long ago.
If you find any glitches, dispute it with both the consumer credit-reporting agency and whoever supplied the bad information. You can also dispute information on your credit report yourself for free, using AnnualCreditReport.com, a federally authorized site.
Keep tabs on your score
Whether your credit history checks out or you find errors that you need to resolve, it’s a good idea to keep tabs on your credit score. This can also serve as motivation when you see your hard work pay off when your score goes up!
You can set up credit-monitoring alerts, says Andrea Woroch, a family finance and budgeting expert.
“You can get automated updates using sites like Credit Karma,” she explains.
Dump high-interest debt
Not all debt is created equal. As you look to lower your debt and raise your credit score, zoom in on the high-interest debt. Typically, this is credit card debt. Since interest rates on credit cards can go well into the double digits, make it job No. 1 to pay that down as best as you can.
On the other hand, for debt like federal student loans, which might have a fixed interest rate in the low single digits, it’s fine to pay just the bare minimum and take your time.
Look at your credit utilization rate
Also, be more aware of how much of your credit limit you’re spending when using your credit cards. Keeping your balance at no more than 10% of your available credit (known as your credit utilization rate) can vastly improve your credit score, says Anthony Marti, CEO and founder of Choice Mutual.
In other words, if your credit limit is $20,000 on your card, that is not license to go out and spend that much. Instead, you want to be tapping only about a 10th of that amount. Some financial experts say you can let that figure rise to 20% or even 30% of your limit, but certainly try hard not to exceed that amount.
Don’t ignore privately held student debt
If you have student loans that are privately held, take a look at whether they are at fixed or variable rates.
“In this climate, your interest rates will rise everywhere possible,” says Michael Jeffcoat, founder of The Jeffcoat Firm. “Private loans don’t qualify for the same payment pause that public loans do.”
While high-interest credit card debt takes precedence in terms of what to pay down, private student loan rates can sometimes be equally problematic, with rates raging into the double digits.
Be careful with new credit
You know when you set foot in a store and they say if you sign up for their credit card, they’ll give you a huge discount or major freebie? It might seem like a smart move, but signing up for new lines of credit can send your credit score drifting downward.
Here’s why: According to the experts at FICO, a major credit-scoring service, research reveals that opening a few new credit accounts in quick succession represents a greater risk of having problems with debt. This is especially true for people who don’t have a long credit history.
It’s better to use fewer lines of credit, pay on time, and keep that credit utilization rate low.
Understand the downside of a skinny credit file
In credit lingo, there’s something called a “thin file.” This means you don’t have much history tapping debt and repaying it. Perhaps you are young or new to the workforce or are just the kind of person who prefers to pay with cash whenever possible, and haven’t used credit cards much or taken out a car loan. This might mean you have a minimal credit file.
This can be problematic since when the reporting agencies look at it, there is little or no track record that you’ve repaid your debts well. This, in turn, can drag your score downward.
If you’re in this situation, it takes time to pad out that credit file. You might start by applying for a secured credit card, which means you put down a deposit (possibly as little as $50), which acts as your credit line. Because you’re securing the credit line with your own money, credit card issuers are more likely to issue these to folks with little credit history. When the issuer reports your payments to credit-reporting companies, your score should rise.
Just remember to keep the balances low and pay on time (maybe even early). Another word of warning: Prepaid and debit cards do not function in the same way and probably won’t pump up your score.
Get a boost from a buddy
There is one time that getting an additional card can help.
“Become an authorized user on a trusted friend or family member’s credit card account,” Woroch advises, provided they have a top-notch credit history. “You will benefit from their positive money management, low balance, and on-time payments.”
Obviously, this isn’t a request to make or be granted lightly. If you are going to, say, ride on your brother’s credit coattails, you need to know he’s not lugging around a big wad of debt, and you have to be beyond responsible about using his credit.
For this and similar articles, please visit Realtor.com
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When it comes time to sell your home, some renovation projects can provide a bigger price bump than others.
Using a statistical analysis of listings on Realtor.com®, our economic research team identified the price premium associated with certain renovation-related keywords while controlling for other key factors.
Perhaps surprisingly, the phrase “new landscape” was associated with the biggest bump in listing price of any renovation-related keywords. Listings referencing a new landscape were 8.1% higher than those of similar homes, equaling a $34,794 bump for the median-priced home.
A home’s curb appeal is critical when it comes time to sell, explains real estate expert Terry Haas, a team leader at 32 South Properties in Charleston, SC, and former regular on HGTV’s hit series “Designed to Sell.”
“If the front of your home isn’t inviting, buyers may not even take the time to explore inside,” says Haas. “Curb appeal is everything, and a clean, well-kept exterior can be the deciding factor in whether a buyer even considers the rest of your home.”
The second highest bump came with the words “renovated kitchen,” which boosted listings 7%, or $29,891 for the median-priced home. Notably, the similar term “remodeled kitchen” had a smaller impact, boosting the listing just 4%. The divergence may reflect differences in how real estate agents use the respective terms in listing descriptions, although traditionally “remodeling” implies larger fundamental changes than “renovating.”
Our analysis also found that the terms “remodeled bathroom” and “new bath” both boosted listing prices by about 3%. Updated kitchens and bathrooms are where buyers’ eyes go first once they enter a home, according to Haas.
Depending on the market, a complete kitchen renovation may or may not be cost-effective, but updates to key elements can provide strong returns to sellers, says Haas.
“Repainting or refinishing cabinets, swapping out old fixtures, and upgrading countertops can make a big impact without breaking the bank,” says Haas. “Even smaller updates like new cabinet hardware or modern lighting can give these spaces a fresh, updated feel.”
The words ‘renovated kitchen’ boosted listings 7%, or $29,891 for the median-priced home.
(Getty Images)
In general, the Realtor.com analysis found that the most visible updates—exterior improvements and updates to kitchens and bathrooms—provided bigger boosts than renovations that were more functional in nature.
“Buyers are willing to pay a premium for things they can see and experience during a tour,” Haas explains. “While important, hidden updates like plumbing, foundation work, or a new HVAC system aren’t what usually ‘wow’ buyers. If you’re trying to maximize visual impact, invest in the areas that catch their eye.”
For example, the phrase “new roof” was associated with a listing bump of just 1.1%, or $4,585 for the median-priced home. That’s less than half the $9,500 national average cost to replace a home’s roof, according to HomeAdvisor.
The full cost of most home renovations is rarely recouped when it comes time to sell. And some renovations can potentially lower a home’s value, such as layout changes that reduce the number of bedrooms. But ideally for sellers, a decent share of the cost of recent renovations will be reflected in their home’s sale price.
“What’s most notable to me is just how high the premium is on new landscape, but it makes intuitive sense,” says Realtor.com senior economist Ralph McLaughlin, who conducted the analysis. “After all, the land surrounding a home is also usable space that buyers value and it is often the first characteristic of home that they see when making a home buying decision.
“What’s more, the cost of landscaping projects can add up. Landscaping is not just grass, shrubs, and flowers but also paving, decking, irrigation, etc., that can drive landscaping costs upwards. So certainly a part of the large premium association with new landscaping is due to the high costs of the project itself.”
To determine the listing premiums associated with several home renovations, we tested whether there is an effect of specific listing description terms on listing prices, using a hedonic pricing model. First, we looked at all of the single-family homes listed for sale on Realtor.com in the U.S. on Aug. 30, 2024, and identified which ones were described with the words “New Roof,” “New HVAC,” “New Windows,” “New Floors,” “Renovated Kitchen,” “New Bath,” “Remodeled Kitchen,” “Remodeled Bathroom,” “New Landscape,” “New Driveway,” “New Deck,” “New Appliances,” and “Updated Lighting.”
We then estimated a hedonic model to determine the effect of these terms on the home’s listing price while controlling for the number of bedrooms, number of bathrooms, square feet, lot size, age, and ZIP code of each property. This allowed us to estimate how much of a discount properties with such terms were listed for, on average, than similar properties within the same metro without such a term. We used a 5% level for statistical significance for interpreting the listing term coefficient.
Impact of Renovation Key Words on Listing Price
How much will your renovation boost your listing? Using prices on Realtor.com, we determined the listing price premiums associated with a number of renovation-related keywords in listing descriptions.
Table with 3 columns and 13 rows.
1
New Landscape
8.1%
$34,794
2
Renovated Kitchen
7%
$29,891
3
New Driveway
5.9%
$25,366
4
Remodeled Kitchen
4.2%
$18,244
5
New Appliances
3.6%
$15,551
6
New Deck
3.6%
$15,358
7
Remodeled Bathroom
3%
$12,891
8
New Bath
3%
$12,836
9
New HVAC
2.3%
$9,897
10
Updated Lighting
2.2%
$9,589
11
New Roof
1.1%
$4,585
12
New Floors
0.6%
$2,749
13
New Windows
0.6%
$2,439
For this and related articles, please visit Realtor.com
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Your front door sets the first impression for your home – it’s the gateway to your personal sanctuary but also speaks volumes about who lives beyond the threshold. Do you stand out from the crowd with a statement color? Match with your landscaping? Keep it classic with neutrals? A lot is hinging on this (door humor, you’re welcome). To help you make the right choice, we’ve turned to the stars to help you find the ideal front door color according to your zodiac sign.
Leos, this is not just a front door. This is the entrance to your kingdom. Take your color cue from your astral king of the jungle and opt for a regal—nay—royal purple. For an extra lavish touch, pair with brass hardware – maybe this fierce knocker, too?
It’s always Vir-go-go-go for you! Take a breath, slow down, and find your peace. Bring a nature-inspired touch of calm to your doorway with a deep pine green. It’s a clean, elegant choice that never goes out of style.
Between your contagious life-of-the-party energy and distaste for conformity, there is only one color for you, Libras: Yellow! While sometimes divisive, this happy shade is guaranteed to brighten up your home, soak up the sun, and stand out from the crowd.
You don’t have a flair for the dramatic; the dramatic has a flair for you. There’s nobody better suited to a dark and moody burgundy than you (or rather, your door). Like the velvet curtains of the theater, everybody will know that something exciting lies behind the red.
Curiosity has always led you to unexpected places! As a natural traveler with a wandering spirit, this is your sign to use your adventures to inspire your home design. A glassy, tropical teal is a great place to start…
Capricorns shine brightest in the realms of discipline and self-control. Poised and practical, you don’t need to be loud to be heard. A cool stormy gray will bring a refined feel to your door, like donning a perfectly tailored suit.
Just because Aquarius is an air sign doesn’t mean you’re a stranger to navigating changing tides. Don’t swim against the current of your creativity and self-expression. Instead, dive headfirst into the depths of a deep, playful indigo!
There is no confusion amongst the stars for you, Fish! You’re a relentless optimist and a romantic, and you’ve always looked great in pastels. Your door color is lavender. This cool hue radiates positivity and good vibes, just like you. For those who prefer a warmer tone, try a pinker shade!
As the first of the zodiac signs, you Aries are natural-born leaders. You are known for charging headfirst into everything you do (like a ram, some might say). Excess noise has no place in your world, and your home reflects that. For your entryway, try a classic, versatile blue – no mess, no fuss.
When it comes to your personality, people gravitate toward your patience, soothed by your consistency and calm demeanor. When it comes to your door, an equally calming mauve or earthy pink will suit you perfectly.
Hi Gemini! Ready to have a great day every day? Stay true to your most main-character self and paint the door to your dream house a joyous, plastic-fantastic pink. (Bonus perk: your door will look fabulous with a fresh tan!)
Stay zen. Avoid getting crabby. (Get it?) It’s okay to lean into your emotions, but in this case, make sure they’re the positive ones! Uplift your entryway just in time for Autumn with a burnt and cheerful orange.
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Portland’s long-brewing plan to turn the area surrounding the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry into a bustling neighborhood is coming into focus.
At a Portland City Council meeting Wednesday, commissioners unanimously advanced an agreement that solidifies the path forward in the nearly decade-old plan to bring more housing, people and activity to the south end of Portland’s Central Eastside. They agreed to spend more than $15 million in public dollars to kick off the plan.
Plans for the OMSI District Master Plan are shown, in this rendering, supplied in February 2023. The design for the proposed district will add up to three million square feet of new mixed-use buildings, up to 1,200 units of new housing, with at least 20% designated for low-income families, and collaborations with Tribal governments and Indigenous communities to restore riverfront areas, programming and public green space.
Courtesy of Gard Communications
“This is a significant day for Portland,” said Commissioner Mingus Mapps. “The legislation before us today is about more than infrastructure. It’s about transforming the OMSI district into a vibrant hub for education, innovation and community life.”
The plan, funded by a combination of private and public funds, is expected to cost around $90 million. Construction is expected to begin by early 2026.
The plan includes 24-acres public and privately-owned property surrounding OMSI in the Central Eastside. It promises a new waterfront park with science programming and partnerships with Indigenous communities, habitat restoration, outdoor plazas and up to 1,200 new housing units. At least a third of these units will be affordable to lower-income tenants.
The plan was first put into motion by OMSI in 2017, who proposed redeveloping the area around the museum as part of the city’s 20-year land use plan for the city’s urban core. The idea was to turn the industrial district into an “innovation district” with commercial and residential buildings and new outdoor public spaces, all centered around OMSI.
The city incorporated this proposal into its new land use plan in 2020, sending both OMSI and Prosper Portland – the city’s development bureau – into planning mode. In the years since, both parties have floated ideas for the new district. But the exact details of the plan have remained relatively hazy – until now.
The plan, or “term sheet,” agreed on by council, breaks the project into three phases.
The first includes building a new street, which planners are calling “new” Southeast Water Avenue, that will focus on expediting traffic – ranging from heavier freight from nearby industrial businesses to bicycle traffic. This will be built alongside the current Southeast Water Avenue, which will still be an active street. The city will pitch in $11 million from area tax-increment finance revenue and is seeking $6 million in state grants to fund the street project. This construction is anticipated to wrap by June 2027. During this phase, which the city says may last up to a decade, OMSI will also begin developing new housing in the district with private money.
Plans for the area were first put into motion by OMSI in 2017, who proposed redeveloping the area around the museum into an “innovation district” with commercial and residential buildings and new outdoor public spaces, all centered around OMSI.
Courtesy of Gard Communications
Phase two brings in the Portland House Bureau to build more affordable housing. In total, the plan aims to ensure that at least 300 of its 1,200 planned residential units are affordable to people making below 80% of the region’s median income, which is $94,000 annually for a family of four. The parties will also begin construction on a new waterfront park, and start planning for educational programming and signage for that area. OMSI will partner with the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission to design this new park.
“It’ll be centered in Indigenous culture and offer free learning opportunities related to ecological and cultural knowledge,” said Aja DeCoteau, the executive director of Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission. “This includes native plants, invasive species, river health and culture, placemaking opportunities that foster a sense of place for people such as demonstration of traditional native fishing practices.
The third phase will focus on construction and tying up loose ends – like adding more affordable housing, infrastructure, parking or other private investments in the region.
In all, OMSI estimates the project will create 11,000 jobs – both temporary construction positions and long-term jobs at anticipated new businesses. OMSI Director Erin Graham said analysts have also projected the project generating more than $1 billion in private investment over the next two decades.
“It is important because it helps to guarantee the growth and sustainability of our city and really important because it also helps to sustain OMSI and the critical mission-based work that we do,” she said.
With the council vote, the city pledged nearly $16 million in public dollars to fund the first phase of the project, including an additional $500,000 from the Portland Bureau of Transportation and $4 million from Portland Parks and Recreation.
The project has tapped into other public dollars. Metro regional government has already given $7 million to help establish the new waterfront park, and $750,000 to support Indigenous leaders tasked with advising OMSI on waterfront development. The state has also forked over $11 million to help with the street redesign.
The parties need to identify more financing before any work begins. With the agreement, both OMSI and the city committed to pursue new funding streams, like federal or state grants.
If they can land more funds, construction could start in early 2026. As Mayor Ted Wheeler pointed out, the total project will take more than a decade to fully fund and complete.
“But I think you’ll find that this city council and the next and the one after that…and it sounds like two or three after that…will continue to be supportive of this vision,” he said.
For this and other local news, please visit opb.org
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Growing up in New York, I had never even encountered an HOA. Yet after moving to the Midwest, I learned that basically all homes belong to one. It was a club I had to join.
At first, I didn’t think that was a problem. But now I know better.
The two-bedroom condo I bought three years ago in Indianapolis was in my budget, and while the homeowners association fees were an unwelcome added cost, they seemed no worse than anywhere else. The home also had a covered porch and a deck overlooking lovely green space.
I was sold. But as my real estate agent and I were leaving after our tour, she casually gestured toward the concrete beneath my feet.
“Something was dripping here,” she observed. “See the watermarks? I’m not sure…”
Those watermarks barely registered at the time, and I figured a good scrubbing would take care of them.
The author and her dog on her porch
(Christina Vercelletto)
The pros and cons of HOAs
According to 2023 data from the U.S. Census Bureau, 81% of single-family, new-build homes sold belong to HOAs. I’d come to learn that the Northeast—where I was from—was the last bastion of the country where they have yet to take hold, hence my cluelessness.
I soon learned that HOAs are groups of homeowners who create rules—legally enforceable rules—about what community residents can and cannot do with their property. If you don’t pay your dues, you will quickly find a lien attached to your home, if not a foreclosure.
HOAs also oversee the maintenance of common areas and manage the budget and finances. They’re run by volunteers who typically devote considerable energy to carrying out their duties. It would stand to reason, then, that HOA boards would attract those in the community who, for whatever reason, have lots of time on their hands.
Putting such a demographic in charge comes with pros and cons, naturally. But it is the cons that get the most attention. The stereotypical HOA board member is a busybody who patrols the community, sometimes on foot, wielding a tape measure and taking photos of where visitors park their cars.
Still, I had no concerns about moving into an HOA. Yes, there was a lady who reminded me that garbage cans shouldn’t sit out for more than 24 hours a week, but she was nice about it. I got with the program and pushed my emptied bins into the garage the second I got home from work on trash day.
Come fall, I received my first reminder in the mail that holiday decorations couldn’t stay up outside the prescribed window of 28 days before to 14 days after. Works for me! I couldn’t stand it when houses in my former neighborhood were festooned with Christmas lights well into February. Another notice warned against “leaving clothes to dry on bushes, even briefly.” Umm, no problem. If this was the worst an HOA could dish out, clearly its diabolical nature had been way overblown.
When HOAs turn a blind eye to problems
Then, not long after I had settled in, it rained all afternoon—hard. When it let up, I had to walk my dog, a low-to-the-ground floof of delicate sensibilities. I opened my front door to find nearly half my porch, including the area from the door to the sidewalk, covered in water so deep that my dog refused to wade through it. I carried her in and out.
That pool of water took three days to fully evaporate. It was then that I remembered my real estate agent’s puzzlement over the watermarks on the porch.
This scenario repeated itself every time it rained for longer than an hour or two. I could leave via my back deck, but then I’d have to walk through wet grass to get to my driveway. I also resorted to using a push broom to remove the water from the porch.
Since the HOA was responsible for repairs and maintenance outside my home, I asked the board what could be done about the standing water on my porch. It said it would look into it.
It took a year for the HOA to come by, during which time I discovered that the issue was also a hazard in the winter. The water froze, turning my porch into a sheet of ice. I had to gingerly tread on it, often carrying a Pomeranian. I worried about Amazon and other delivery people, especially in the run-up to Christmas when I’d be getting packages. What if one of them slipped and sued?
Eventually, the HOA determined that the perimeter of my porch needed to be ground down so that when it rained, the water would run off instead of pool. The HOA said it would see if it could find a company to do it.
A second year passed of my push-brooming the water, salting the ice, and holding my breath every time I got a delivery. When the HOA leaders accepted that I was not giving up, they finally explained that they could not find a cement company willing to come out for such a small job. It would be willing to build a new porch, sure, but that would be “way too expensive.”
I had never asked for a new porch, but the idea was not outlandish considering the issue of the pooling water had left it cracked and worse for wear. Plus, I was unable to fully enjoy it. I couldn’t put down a pretty outdoor rug, set up another chair and maybe a small table, for fear of the rain.
Even more frustrating? One of my neighbors was able and willing to grind down my porch for a reasonable fee. But no—because there is a rule against homeowners doing any paid work for the HOA.
The challenges of owning a home with an HOA
I entered HOA life thinking it was simple: A homeowner pays X a month; the HOA will do Y. But the reality seems to be that the homeowner pays X, and the HOA might do Y—if you prod it enough and it isn’t too expensive. In sum, what will be done for you and when is entirely up to the HOA.
An acquaintance who is a lawyer soberly advised me, “Don’t even bother to sue. You won’t win, period. Others have tried.”
Not that I have the wherewithal or desire to sue over my porch, it was still sobering to realize it would be pointless anyway. I’m still trying to wrap my head around the apparent imbalance of power. How is this OK?
A growing number of homeowners have decided it’s not OK, in fact. In Florida, land of 50,000 HOAs, new laws have cracked down on the power of HOAs to enact unreasonable laws or issue exorbitant fines.
Some experts predict that other states could follow suit.
As aggravated as I am about the porch situation, I’m still not sorry I moved in. Generally speaking, the upkeep of the homes is good, and the landscaping is beautiful. The location is convenient, and my neighbors are warm and friendly.
Despite the reputation that HOAs have, 89% of Americans who live in such communities rate their overall experience as very good, good, or neutral, according to a 2022 study by the Foundation for Community Association Research. HOA rules enhance property values, 68% say.
I tend to agree. After living in my community for three years now, I see how the HOA rules help protect property values and make our neighborhood a pleasant place to live.
No matter where you live, you’re going to have rules, unspoken or otherwise, to follow if you want to stay on the good side with your neighbors. I’m leaning on the side of the pros outweighing the cons, all things considered—push brooms included.
For this and similar articles, please visit Realtor.com
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His wildly expressive paintings reveal tales from his past
Almost every dayOrlando Almanza takes a break from painting, grabs a chai, and wanders through his neighborhood art supply store. The abundance of paint, brushes and canvas still thrills him, two years after moving to Portland from Havana, Cuba. “It may be hard for people to understand,” he says, “but where I come from there is none of this stuff!”
Almanza was born in Amancio Rodriguez Las Tunas, a small rural town in the eastern part of Cuba, nearly 400 miles from Havana. Growing up, “there was no TV, no radio, no cell phones,” so Almanza spent his time swimming in the river and sitting by his grandfather’s side, listening to elaborate Cuban myths and stories.
When he moved to Havana for art school in 2009, he tried to leave his rural past behind and blend into the urban art scene. His professors showed him the work of the great European masters, “and as a young student, you want to be like them, you want to copy them.” But he soon realized that wasn’t his path. Those European masters had “already told their story.” Almanza had his own important story to tell.
Orlando Almanza, “Amanecer en el Río Yáquimo / Sunrise on the Yáquimo River,” 2024, oil on canvas.
Courtesy of the artist
Today, his large, colorful paintings reveal characters and scenes from his childhood in a wildly expressive style. Fish fly through the air and giant flowers burst from the horizon. “We’ve kind of lost the connection between nature and humans and the spiritual world.” Almanza’s work tries to repair that break.
Since moving to Portland, Almanza has found great success, with shows at galleries on both coasts. His current show at theFroelick Gallery, Gente de Rio, runs through Oct. 12, and he’ll be part of the Sitka Art Invitational at Oregon Contemporary starting Oct. 18.
Almanza hopes his paintings can bring viewers into his dreams, “into what’s inside my mind” and share those feelings like “beauty, pain, loss. The most beautiful experience is when you see a painting and randomly feel that pain or it makes you cry or laugh or wonder. That kind of experience moves me a lot.”
Orlando Almanza, Gente de Rio, at theFroelick Gallery, 714 NW Davis St, Portland, through Oct. 12.
The 30th Anniversary Sitka Art Invitational will be Oct.18-20 at Oregon Contemporary, 8371 N Interstate, Portland. The exhibition features work from over 100 artists, including Almanza. See Almanza in conversation, Oct. 19, 1-3 pm.
To watch the interview and for more local news, please visit opb.org
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