Cheryl Bourland's blog

The home inspection is a valuable tool designed to discover defects with the house being sold before the buyer completes the sale. While most people already understand the importance of the inspection, they might not know what to expect to see once they open up the report. I recently wrote about some of the surprising issues that a home inspector might not be able to report on, but what about the opposite? Keep reading to learn about the most common defects found during a home inspection and how much it costs to fix them.

It had been more than a decade since U.S. home sellers netted a greater profit than they did in 2018, according to ATTOM Data Solutions' Year-End U.S. Home Sales Report. The average home sale last year gained a massive $61,000 since purchase, good for a 32.6% return on investment; both of those amounts were the largest since 2006. That year, homes sold for a net gain of $68,000, or 43.3% ROI, on average. By comparison, 2017's home sellers saw profits of only $50,000 (27% ROI).

Although it's usually not a wise move to chase trends during a remodel, knowing which styles are on the upswing or downswing can help you future-proof your home against looking dated. Perhaps nowhere is this more important than the kitchen, which has a median renovation cost of $11,000; the hefty price tag makes kitchens far too expensive for most homeowners to redo every few years. To get a feel for 2019's kitchen trends, home remodeling website Houzz surveyed over 1,300 homeowners to see which styles they chose for their recent or upcoming kitchen remodel. Keep reading to learn which design elements are rising above the competition!