Photo courtesy of Havlicek Builders Inc. via Houzz

There’s a myriad of home trends coming and going these days—from the tiny-house movement to maximalist-style new construction.

And it can feel nearly impossible to keep up as a buyer. How can you determine when a home is a good long-term investment that will be desirable to future buyers, versus a decision you’ll come to regret?

The good news is that the ups and downs of trends don’t really matter when it comes to how well your home retains value. As for what does matter, we asked the experts what figures into a home standing the test of time vs. a home that will likely lose value. Here’s what they had to say.

1. Architectural prowess

Forget about the color of the front door, and hear this instead. Palm Beach, FL, real estate agent Baron Christopher Hanson says one of the top determining factors for value-retaining homes lies in how thoughtfully they were built.

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French country style is all about wrought iron, exposed beams, painted furniture, and other decorating designs rooted right where you’d expect—in the French countryside, specifically Provence.

While this style has existed for centuries in France, it took off in the United States in the mid-20th century, thanks to two influencers: the French company Pierre Deux, and former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy.

“Mrs. Kennedy decorated the White House with both fine French and country French pieces, and Pierre Deux made fabrics and furniture for the masses,” explains Joni Webb, an interior designer and Francophile blogger at Cote de Texas.

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Doom and gloom might be dominating real estate headlines these days, and many would-be homebuyers are feeling hopeless about their chances of getting a good deal in the wake of mortgage rate hikes, low housing inventory, and elevated home prices.

There’s no denying that the cost of buying a house has risen, but if you dig into the data, you’ll find that many homebuyers might actually be in the driver’s seat right now.

In October, home prices continued to drop from the record-high prices we saw in the summer, according to a recent report from Realtor.com®. Plus, the number of houses on the market is up nationally 33.5% year over year, according to our data. Houses are lingering on the market, too, for 51 days on average—which is 6 more days than last year. That shift means that sellers are more likely to price homes competitively.

Simply put, all of this adds up to a power shift in real estate. A year ago, sellers were calling all the shots and buyers were launching legendary bidding wars, waiving contingencies, and paying for homes in cash. But now, the shoe is on the other foot, and 92% of home sellers are accepting some buyer-friendly terms (frequently related to home inspections, financing, or appraisals), according to a Realtor.com survey.

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One of the first things home shoppers learn is that the price they see on real estate listings is nearly always negotiable. And that same flexibility exists when buying a newly built home, too, in the form of builder incentives.

Builder incentives are promotions offered by developers that, much like a coupon, cut the cost of purchasing property in that community. Incentives are increasingly common today to entice cash-strapped buyers to make an offer, yet these discounts aren’t always as simple as a straight price cut.

Here’s a guide to help homebuyers understand the various types of incentives, when and why they’re offered, and how to make the most of these deals today.

What are builder incentives, and when are they offered?

Many builder incentives are widely advertised on splashy billboards and online to capture the attention of buyers and reel them in. Examples might range from “For a limited time, get $5,000 in designer upgrades!” to “Purchase before X date, and we’ll pay all of your closing costs.”

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Halloween has come and gone, but the ghosts are sticking around at one historic Florida home.

On the market for $899,000, the Birger S. Axelson House in Pensacola dates to 1897 and is home to at least one friendly ghost.

“It’s not a scary ghost at all,” says listing agent Kathy Tanner, with Tanner Realty. “This family is known to have one or two.”

Even the agent wasn’t immune to paranormal activity. Tanner says she’s felt a tap and a tug on her scarf while she was talking about the ghosts to someone in the house.

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The question comes up more than you might think. Vinyl siding is a wildly popular exterior covering for a home for good reason: It’s inexpensive and durable, often coming with a lifetime warranty. So, vinyl siding lasts and lasts and lasts. Does this mean that you’re going to be stuck with the original siding color for the entire time you own your home? Vinyl siding comes in all sorts of colors—but what if you decide you want a different hue?

Relax. There’s no need to replace the exterior; painting the vinyl siding is a great alternative to installing new siding. You just need to know how to do it the right way. Here are the steps for painting vinyl.

Step 1: Pick the right paint

In the past, painting vinyl siding wasn’t possible because the paint wouldn’t fully adhere to the siding; even if some did, the vinyl would eventually crack and flake as the siding expanded and contracted because of weather changes. But no more.

  Today, there are plenty of acrylic latex paints (specifically, those containing urethane) deemed “vinyl safe,” so be sure to home in on this variety for your painting project and your vinyl siding should be in the clear.

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That twice-annual clothing swap is upon us! And sometimes it’s a dreaded chore.

Hauling apparel from one spot to another is something we often put off until the last possible minute—and when it occurs in the fall or early winter, you’re left literally shivering as you dig through your woolens.

However, swapping out your closet as the temperature changes is a smart move, organizationally speaking, says Katie McCann, a professional home and office organizer at Haven.

It can streamline your mornings. By having the correct clothing front and center, you won’t have to paw through lightweight summer items to find your suede jacket and faux fur muffler.

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A secretary desk may seem old fashioned—with its fold-down writing surface and numerous cubbies—but it’s making a stealthy comeback.

“You’d think this clunky piece would be going out of style, but I’m seeing it more and more lately,” says Jamie Novak, author of “Keep This Toss That.” The reason? That fold-up front lets you hide the mess and keep your look streamlined, plus it offers varied storage in a single piece.

With more sleek laptops in today’s home offices, and fewer towers and megaprinters, a secretary can easily house your tech and paper needs. It’s pretty, to boot, sometimes made with inlays, carvings, and adorable drawers and cubbies for secret treasures.

If you’re thinking of adding a secretary to your decor, here’s what you need to know about its history—and where in your home it looks best.

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The sprawling mansion where the reality TV show “Being Bobby Brown” was filmed is on the market in Alpharetta, GA, for $1.9 million.

Singers Bobby Brown and Whitney Houston purchased the 7,734-square-foot home in 2003 for $1.39 million. In 2007, the celebrity couple sold the designer five-bedroom home to the Chevalier family for $1.19 million.

“When we bought the house, we were looking for a home in the Country Club of the South,” says homeowner Danielle Chevalier. The gated country club community boasts 745 homes and a golf course, among other residential amenities.

“At the time, Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown’s house was on the market—and we thought it had really good bones,” adds Chevalier.

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On their new series “Fixer Upper: The Castle,” Chip and Joanna Gaines are nearly done renovating a 1913 stone mansion in Waco, TX. And while it’s looking magnificent so far, the devil’s clearly in the finishing details: How can Chip and Joanna strike that perfect balance of making this home feel historic, but in a modern, updated way?

In the episode “Old Is New Again,” they repurpose a lot of older materials to give the building an authentically aged feel. They also incorporate modern touches with clever hacks to make them feel original. Last but not least, they must hide one very modern eyesore in a way that looks natural, as if it were always part of the house.

Do they pull it off? Check out these photos and lessons that could apply to any home, even your own—old, new, or anywhere in between.

Bring in flooring materials with history

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Reese Witherspoon has not only phenomenal acting chops (ahem, she’s an Oscar winner), but also a savvy head for real estate.

Witness her latest home sale, which made her a sweet profit of $3.5 million, according to Dirt.

Yup—this Nashville, TN, abode recently traded hands in an off-market deal for $7.3 million, which is almost double the $3.7 million that Witherspoon paid in 2018.

The palatial, Colonial-style estate is located in the upscale neighborhood of Belle Meade, has six bedrooms and eight baths, and extends over nearly 8,400 square feet.

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For people looking to interact online with their neighbors, one of the most popular platforms is Nextdoor. The neighborhood networking app allows people who live in the same area to post local updates, share business recommendations, and buy and sell goods. Since its founding in 2008, Nextdoor has evolved into a sort of hybrid app: part Facebook, part Yelp, part Craigslist. In the U.S., a staggering 1 in 3 households uses it.

But Nextdoor isn’t all business reviews and neighborhood cheer, though. Like many other social networking platforms, Nextdoor has attracted a subset of users who live to broadcast their opinions and insights within the online community—whether the community wants them or not.

The company says it’s committed to curtailing toxic content and even created an algorithm that prompts users with a “kindness reminder” if their post reads overly argumentative. Today, Nextdoor reports that less than 1.5% of content on the site can be considered “harmful and hurtful.”

So while a majority of the posts on Nextdoor are harmless, the platform is notorious for being a digital bulletin board for hilariously awkward content posted by passionate citizens with a propensity to overshare. Whether they’re reporting a noise disturbance, posting about a local election, or asking their neighbors to help identify a swarm of bugs inside their home (yes, this is an actual post we’ve seen), here are the most common types of users you’ll meet on Nextdoor.

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In the simplest terms, it’s a graphic depiction of a property, much like a map, outlining its legal boundaries and other features. While land surveys typically aren’t required during real estate transactions, they’re extremely useful tools that can clear up a whole lot of confusion. Here’s what you need to know about land surveys and how they can come in handy.

How are land surveys made?

Surveyors lay out the exact dimensions of a property by using your home’s deed, which should include a description or map of your property line. Unfortunately, these descriptions can be hazy and might use outdated landmarks such as trees that have long since disappeared. For that reason, a surveyor will physically measure the land as well.

“GPS is one of the possible tools we use when completing a survey,” says Robert Sandlin, a land surveyor in Missouri and Kansas with Shafer, Kline & Warren. But the individual survey will dictate the appropriate tool. An altimeter, for instance, would be used to measure a property’s elevation.

Once the property’s boundaries are determined, each state has a minimum standard for so-called monumentation that a surveyor is required to follow.

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Since home prices shot into the stratosphere, many first-time buyers have prayed for them to fall so that they could afford to become homeowners. Their wishes appear to have been granted—and yet, they’re caught in a paradox: Even as prices have begun to dip, the cost of purchasing a home has risen. A lot.

The reason for the contradiction: soaring mortgage interest rates.

Most folks are still laser-focused on a property’s price tag. In fact, this kind of list price obsession is deeply ingrained in the American psyche. But, of course, purchasing a home is very different from buying products from a brick-and-mortar store or shopping online. Unless home shoppers are buying with all cash, they will be taking out a long-term loan to fund their purchase. And there’s a hefty cost to borrow that money—which increases when mortgage rates go up.

Nationally, the median mortgage payment is now about 77% higher* than a year ago. The bulk of that increase is due to the higher rates, which shot up from the low 3% range to hover around 7% for 30-year fixed-rate loans. And that has entirely upended the affordability equation.

While a home equity loan and a home equity line of credit (HELOC) may seem interchangeable, they’re actually different from one another.

With the home equity loan, you must decide how much you want to borrow at closing and then make monthly payments, similar to a mortgage.

On the other hand, the HELOC offers you borrowing potential. More like a credit card, a HELOC allows you to borrow up to a certain amount and then carry the debt, or pay it off and re-borrow as you need.

If you’re considering a home equity loan, make sure you know the pros and cons before you sign on the dotted line.

Advantages of a home equity loan

Here are reasons to get a home equity loan:

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For people with low to moderate incomes, subsidized housing can alleviate housing costs and help keep a roof over their head. The U.S. government has a number of housing programs to assist people of limited economic means find an affordable place to live. These programs are usually administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

What to know about subsidized housing

Government-subsidized housing in the U.S. began during the Great Depression, and has been overseen by HUD since 1965, when the department was created. The two most common forms of subsidized housing are Section 8 housing choice vouchers and public housing complexes.

Section 8 housing choice vouchers

Section 8 vouchers are specifically for the elderly, the disabled, and those who qualify as low income. Approximately 3.3 million households are currently receiving this type of assistance.

“Housing choice vouchers are the government’s most common means of helping low-income families and other recipients obtain affordable housing,” says Tony Guerra, a real estate education instructor.

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Short for cooperative housing, these housing units will have you living in a place with other residents, but instead of owning your unit, you own shares in the whole complex.

No, it’s not something from a teen novel’s dystopia. For some homebuyers, particularly in New York and parts of the Midwest, cooperative living is a way of life.

What it means

A “housing cooperative” (or “co-op”) is the legal term for a housing unit that is owned and controlled jointly by a group of individuals who have equal shares, membership, and/or occupancy rights to the housing.

A co-op is essentially a nonprofit corporation, complete with a board of directors, and each resident is a shareholder. This means the co-op owner does not actually own his or her unit, but instead owns shares of the co-op relative to the size and desirability of the unit.

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Sometimes called bachelor apartments, efficiency apartments, or studio flats, these self-contained living units consist of a bedroom, living room, and kitchen all in a single open space.

What is a studio apartment?

This type of apartment allows (or requires) you to live, dine, and sleep in a single room with no barrier walls. It’s a one-room arrangement, similar to a hotel room. Instead of being behind a wall, the kitchen and sleeping area are in your main room.

If you find an L-shaped studio, it may give you more of a feel of a separate living room or kitchen, without the expense of a larger apartment. Likewise, a high ceiling can give you a feeling of spaciousness, without adding to your square feet.

You don’t have to do absolutely everything in the same room. A studio should have a separate room with a door for the bathroom. An apartment that doesn’t have an in-unit, separate bathroom might be illegal to rent in some states.

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Often spotted on real estate contracts or rental leases (along with its kissing cousin, “broom swept” condition), anyone who’s moving out might wonder what it really means. In other words, how clean should you leave your place for the new inhabitants? More important, what happens if you don’t bother?

While it has no exact legal definition (and certainly does not mean you must use an actual broom), the term does come with certain expectations—and consequences—that vary based on whether you rent or own your home. Here’s what you need to know.

What it means for renters

The rules for vacating a rental are quite strict: Broom clean means you should leave the place in the same condition as when you moved in, minus reasonable wear and tear. So once you’ve removed your belongings,  break out a vacuum, broom, Swiffer, or other cleaning weapon of choice and go to town.

“It’s important for a tenant to clean the place thoroughly,” says Mike Vraa, managing attorney for HOME Line, a tenant hotline in Minneapolis.

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If you own a home, you can borrow money based on its value to pay other expenses such as home improvements or college tuition. You receive a lump sum upfront, then repay it in monthly installments—plus interest—over a period of time lasting typically from five to 15 years.

Home equity loans are a popular option for homeowners because their interest rates are much lower than those for other common forms of borrowing, such as personal loans or credit cards, says Tendayi Kapfidze, chief economist at Lending Tree. And since home equity rises alongside real estate values, they’re a boon to many homeowners.

“People have been gaining home equity at an extremely fast rate,” says Ryan Kelley, CEO at TheHomeLoanExpert.com. As a result, many homeowners are turning to home equity loans to pay for a variety of things.

“We’ve seen, in the last two years, an increasing demand for home equity loans,” says Jon Giles, head of home equity lending at TD Bank.