Home Improvement News

Zillow Market Pulse: July 10, 2020

By Jean J. Brown 19 mins ago

The number of mortgages in forbearance fell. The price of homebuilding materials has risen sharply. And the Federal Reserve’s lending program for small businesses is struggling to gain momentum.

    • According to Black Knight, 435,000 fewer loans were receiving assistance last week than the week prior.
    • The decrease was driven in large part by the expiration of some deals struck in early April.
    • The price of lumber futures has risen more than 85% since early April.
    • Improved builder confidence, as well as increased interest in home improvement projects, is likely fueling a surge in demand.
    • Strict conditions for businesses and heightened levels of risk for banks has led to a slow roll-out.
    • Thousands of banks are eligible to participate as lenders, but only 300 had registered as of last week.

 So what?

The decline in mortgage forbearance participation offers both positive and negative signs for the housing market. The 435,000-loan week-over-week

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19 deals on desks, chairs, and accessories for your home office

By Jean J. Brown 13 hours ago
19 deals on desks, chairs, and accessories for your home office
19 deals on desks, chairs, and accessories for your home office

Believe it or not, we’re already in part two of 2020. If you’re one of the millions of Americans who traded a suit in for sweatpants earlier this year, you’re probably pretty used to working from home by now. You’re probably also pretty sick of your WFH setup. That’s why we’ve rounded up some of the best deals on the web to upgrade your home office setup.

From desks and chairs to fidget toys and mini-fridges, these deals can make your remote workspace even more productive than a typical office. All you need now is an office dog.

Desks

Quest 45″ Wide PC Gamer Computer Desk

This desk can help you get your head in the game by organizing your workspace. It features a cup holder, a headphone hook, two USB charging ports, three grounded outlet receptors, and a

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How HGTV’s ‘Property Brothers’ Plan to Go Back Into Production, But With Precautions (EXCLUSIVE)

By Jean J. Brown 2 days ago

Click here to read the full article.

As the fate of many Hollywood productions remains up in the air due to the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly as cases sharply rise, HGTV stars Jonathan and Drew Scott — aka the “Property Brothers” — are moving forward with new TV episodes for their vast home-improvement empire.

“The catalyst for us was that construction was never shut down,” Jonathan Scott says. “It was considered essential for obvious reasons, because we can’t have people displaced from their homes. But really, it was a challenge for us. Do we pause the shows and leave these houses as they are, or do we try and get these families back into their homes?”

More from Variety

That’s why the two, via their Scott Brothers Entertainment shingle, are about to complete Season 7 of their series “Brother vs. Brother,” and also beginning the casting process to find

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How to recreate the perfect coffee-shop experience at home

By Jean J. Brown 3 days ago
A woman reads a book and holds a mug of coffee - Getty Images Contributor/Sirinapa Wannapat / EyeEm
A woman reads a book and holds a mug of coffee – Getty Images Contributor/Sirinapa Wannapat / EyeEm

Britain’s coffee shops are in hot water. Pret A Manger looks likely to cut 1000 jobs, and other chains, similarly affected by the sudden removal of their regular footfall, will inevitably follow. Before March 23, millions of their customers visited daily. Then lockdown arrived, and many of those customers still won’t have returned.

It seems that a large number of Britons, unable to gratify their coffee shop habit, have attempted to recreate the experience at home. John Lewis reports that its coffee machine sales have increased by 24 per cent since lockdown began, and that its own-brand coffee grinder is selling twice as well as it had been. Its sister supermarket, Waitrose, says that sales of its barista-style alternative milks, which are designed to be frothed, have increased by 64 per

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