Lower Puna is one of the most affordable places to live in Hawaii, but the subdivisions were also built on an area long known to be under a lava hazard, The Wall Street Journal reports. So far, Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano has destroyed more than 80 houses and other structures and has forced hundreds of residents to evacuate since its eruption near residential neighborhoods on May 3.But some homeowners may have originally been willing to overlook
Homeowners in Texas are still rebuilding after Hurricane Harvey’s 130-mile-an-hour winds tore through communities, damaging and flooding homes and businesses in August 2017. And as the start of a new hurricane season looms on June 1, homeowners in Texas coastal cities are pondering how far they should go in building sturdier homes that can better withstand natural disasters. Some officials are urging for stiffer standards in the state, but othe
Online retail giant Amazon and homebuilder Lennar are teaming up to create “experience showrooms” that feature smart-home technology.“Amazon, Google, Apple—most of the technology-centric companies are starting to think about the home as a centerpiece for the way they think about the future of how their products work and how [users] interact with them,” Stuart Miller, executive chairman of Lennar, told CNBC. “Home automation is
Many house hunters are under the mistaken impression that new construction is flawless, a perception that may be challenging to wrestle with if your seller’s home is surrounded by brand-new development. In reality, there can be just as many inspection issues with new builds as there are with resale properties. If you’re working with clients who are interested in purchasing new, it’s important to manage their expectations and let them know
Townhouse construction continues making gains as buyers’ appetites once again increase for this type of single-family attached housing. Over the last four quarters, ending with the first quarter of 2018, townhouse starts were 7 percent higher than the prior four quarters. Townhouses accounted for 21,000 starts during the first quarter of 2018.The market share of new townhouses now stands at 12.3 percent of all single-family housing starts, ac
California will become the first state to require all new homes to have solar power. The new requirement, which was approved by a five-member California Energy Commission on Wednesday, will take effect in two years.“You can bet every state will be watching to see what happens,” Bob Raymer, senior engineer for the California Building Industry Association, said in the public comments prior to Wednesday’s vote.New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Wa
Lennar, the nation’s largest homebuilder, announced a deal with Amazon that will make voice-activated digital assistants a standard feature in its new homes, as well as other smart devices. The new homes will include built-in Wi-Fi, smart locks, doorbells, thermostats, and lights that can be controlled by Amazon’s voice-activated digital assistant, Alexa.“This will be the hallmark of why we buy a new home,” says David Kaiserman, president
Remodelers report that growing labor shortages are delaying projects and increasing the amount they have to charge homeowners, according to the National Association of Home Builder’s Remodeling Market Index survey for the third quarter of 2017. Those needing a carpenter may find the most trouble; 91 percent of remodelers reported shortages of labor in carpentry work.More than half of remodelers surveyed reported shortages in 12 of the 15 remode
California is on the brink of making solar standard on every new home built in the state. The California Energy Commission is set to vote on Wednesday on new energy standards that would require most new homes to have solar panels installed starting in 2020.If approved, solar installations will skyrocket in the state. Currently, just 15 to 20 percent of new single-family homes have solar facilities, Bob Raymer, technical director for the Californi
Builders saw more sales of newly built single-family homes last month, as the spring selling season got underway. New-home sales posted a 4 percent increase in March month over month, the U.S. Commerce Department reported Tuesday. New single-family homes reached a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 694,000 units in March, the second highest reading since the Great Recession. The West and South regions of the U.S. led to most of that uptick.“We
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