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The rent isn’t just too damn high—the apartment that you’re renting may well be getting too damn small, too.

In 2022, the average size of new apartments was 887 square feet, a drop of 54 square feet over the past 10 years as developers increasingly focused on putting up more studios and one-bedroom apartments. That’s according to a new report from RentCafe, which shows how the surging demand for rentals continues to play out across the nation.

Despite people clamoring for more square footage during the COVID-19 pandemic, 2022 had the biggest year-over-year decline in new apartment sizes—down 30 square feet, or 3.2%, from 2021.

“This goes to show just how different the 2022 rental market was compared to previous years,” says RentCafe writer Adina Dragos. It also demonstrates how the pandemic-era need for “more space” has given way to a need for “more apartments,” she adds.

Realtor.com

Paging Rapunzel: If you’re looking for a waterfront property in Newport, RI, where you could perhaps let down your hair, this fanciful penthouse (with its own turret!) could be for you.

It’s currently listed for $1,450,000.

While you won’t own every bit of the Gilded Age stone castle, known as Beechbound, you will be the proud owner of luxurious apartment No. 6. The space offers a private roof deck and a castle-style turret right out of a fairy tale. Get up there, and gaze upon breathtaking Newport Harbor.

This two-bedroom, two-bath condo is one of seven in the old manor house. The dwelling is situated on a 3.8-acre, waterfront lot.

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Erin and Ben Napier, the hosts of “Home Town,” have noticed one big problem with home renovations today: They often strip an old home of its character.

In the Season 7 episode “A Drop of Sunshine,” the Napiers help California couple Tony and Jennifer create their dream home in Laurel, MS. The couple have fallen in love with a three-bedroom, one-bathroom home listed for $140,000. But they can tell, immediately, that this 1955 house was recently flipped since it possesses very little of the structure’s original charm.

“When a house gets flipped, it’s like they go out of their way to disguise any tiny variation that would make it have character of any kind,” Erin laments.

Armed with a budget of $100,000, the Napiers work hard to add charming touches back to the architecture and fill the space with finishes that seem like they could be original to the home. Read on to learn how to spot a cheap flip—and fix it up.

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The numbers: U.S. existing-home sales fell 0.7% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4 million in January, the National Association of Realtors said Tuesday.

This is the 12th straight monthly decline in existing-home sales. The 12-month losing streak is the longest since NAR began tracking sales in 1999.

Economists polled by the Wall Street Journal were expecting existing-home sales to drop to 4.2 million.

The level of sales activity was lowest since October 2010.

Realtor.com

Within just weeks of landing on the market, a concrete house with Pacific Ocean views has found a buyer.

The 5,616-square-foot minimalist abode in Cardiff By The Sea, CA, is listed for $8,998,000—down from its initial $10 million ask in 2022.

The home is pending sale, according to Realtor.com®.

Jared Nelson Photography

Photo illustration by Realtor.com; Photo: Getty Images

Gone are the days of going from furniture store to furniture store to sit on, scrutinize, and (ultimately) buy a sofa. Now, with online shopping, you can browse thousands of sofas from hundreds of retailers and purchase your perfect piece of furniture with the press of a button.

Online shopping has made buying furniture more convenient, especially when it comes to larger items like couches. But buying a sofa sight unseen ups the potential for you to end up with a piece of furniture you’re not happy with.

Worst-case scenario: You have to deal with the hassle of returning the item.

To avoid a massive headache, take note of these common mistakes people make when ordering a sofa online.

Photo illustration by Realtor.com; Photos: Getty Images (2)

When you’re flicking through an endless succession of listing photos for pricey homes, the leap from touring open houses to opening your very own front door can seem impossible.

Yet millions of homes are sold every year, so there’s got to be a way to get to the closing table. And it turns out, there are many ways.

We asked real homeowners to share how they snagged the perfect house and gathered the top tips on how these once-hopeful house hunters became homeowners. Here’s a breakdown of their strategies, from saving early and considering houses that need work.

‘I bought a house that needed a renovation’

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Renting an apartment isn’t as easy as waltzing in and saying “I’ll take it!”—particularly in today’s competitive rental market. With many prospective tenants to choose from, landlords can be picky, and they will prioritize applicants with a track record of paying off debts and respecting their neighbors and community.

So how exactly do you prove you’re a tenant a landlord could trust? You should aim to ace your rental application—paperwork you fill out that tells a landlord (or management company) pertinent details about your life that can help size you up as a tenant.

If you’re determined to land your dream apartment, there are plenty of ways to help your rental application stand out. Here are some steps to take, based on what landlords look for and how you can prepare to make the best first impression.

1. Improve your credit score before your apartment search

Even if you’ve never rented an apartment before, landlords will want to see how responsible you are with your finances, and one of the main ways they do that is by sizing up your credit score.

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Talk about a quick turnaround!

British-born actress Thandiwe Newton, best known for her work on HBO’s “Westworld,” has quickly sold her rustic Topanga, CA, home in the heart of the Santa Monica mountains. She owned it for just four months.

Purchased in September 2022 for $2,625,000, the home quickly reentered the market for the exact same price. But it was sold for $2,750,000, so the savvy actress actually made some dough from the transaction.

The three-bedroom, 1.5-bath mountain home has more than 2,300 square feet of living space. It comes with a studio guest cottage and children’s playhouse.

Courtesy of Benjamin Moore

Spring is the quintessential time for cleaning and sprucing up your space. For many homeowners, that ritual includes refreshing tired walls with new paint.

But choosing a paint color you won’t regret can be tricky. You might be torn between two (or five!) shades. Or maybe you’re just looking for something a bit out of the norm.

The following paint colors are certainly bold, but we promise this: Stepping away from ho-hum white and gray hues is guaranteed to enliven your living space.

If you’re planning to remake your walls this spring, these are the au courant colors to consider. Our experts were happy to weigh in on the paint trends they’re seeing right now.

Photo-Illustration by Realtor.com; Photos: Getty Images ((3)

If the housing market of just a year ago still seemed to be moving at quantum speed, today it’s more akin to an interminable traffic jam—with no exit ramps or HOV lanes in sight.

As higher mortgage rates have made buying a home ever more expensive, the pool of buyers who can afford to purchase real estate has dried up. Nationally, the number of existing-home sales plummeted 36% in November compared with a year earlier, according to a Realtor.com® analysis of CoreLogic data. (The data did not include sales of new-construction homes.) There were 395,000 sales in November 2021 compared with 251,000 one year later.

So home sales have declined by a third across the U.S. But where are they down the most? The data team at Realtor.com found the parts of the country with the steepest declines in transactions.

These were often the COVID-19 pandemic hot spots, particularly in the Sun Belt stretching from California to Florida where buyers flocked to over the Past few years and bid up prices to unthinkable heights. Newtonian laws of real estate ultimately prevailed: Markets that went way up ultimately fell back down to earth, hard.

Realtor.com

A stacked-stone castle looks like it could be almost anywhere in Europe, but it’s actually in the hills overlooking Fayetteville, AR.

Dromborg Castle is more than 8,800 square feet of luxury, set on 40 acres with a pond. The house is listed for $4,999,000.

“’Drom’ means dream and ‘borg’ means big,” owner Joan Johnson explains of the castle’s name.

Indeed, it was a dreamy drive through the French countryside that inspired her and husband Bruce to build the home.

Realtor.com

Everything about the property at 271 Hunting Ridge Road in Stamford, CT, caters to the luxury-minded homebuyer.

A gated lot, wraparound terrace, and an indoor waterfall are just a few of the upscale features that ensure the next owners of this historic hunting lodge won’t want for much.

The Connecticut castle, set on more than three acres, is listed for $1,995,000—a more than $400,000 price drop from the property’s initial June 2022 listing.

Rock of love

Known as Chateau Rochamore, the home has a medieval-inspired facade that gives it a centuries-old aesthetic. It was built in 1906, though.

Realtor.com

On these cold and dreary winter days when the temperature is plunging, many of us begin to envy bears in the wild, who just take a long nap that lasts till spring. It’s a fine idea.

But since hibernation isn’t an option for humans, why not indulge in dreams of cozy log cabins, where weekends can even stretch to seven days long?

And since we’re fantasizing here, let’s throw in luxury features and fabulous locations, far enough from civilization to get away from it all, but close enough for you to get out when you’re in need of some company or recreation?

We’ve found five ultraluxe log cabins that fulfill these reveries. They’re all for sale, but many of them are also available for short-term rental, so you can try before you buy.

Photo-Illustration by Realtor.com; Photos: Getty Images (2)

The real estate game is at a stalemate that shows no signs of budging anytime soon, with neither buyers nor sellers willing to make the first move.

Buyers have little incentive to lead the way. According to Freddie Mac, they’re battling high home prices and climbing mortgage rates, which rose to 6.32% for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage in the week ending Feb. 16.

Meanwhile, home sellers—who, a mere year earlier, enjoyed packed open houses and bidding wars—are now battling to stand out from hordes of other sellers, as the pool of available homes soared 70% higher for the week ending Feb. 11 compared with the same period last year.

“The market’s abrupt adjustments over the last year have made it harder for all participants to determine their own boundaries, let alone figure out how to meet in the middle so that a transaction can take place,” says Realtor.com® Chief Economist Danielle Hale in her analysis of housing data for the week ending Feb.11.

HGTV

On her new show, “Christina in the Country,” Tennessee transplant Christina Hall doesn’t limit her design talents to cosmetic overhauls like revamping kitchens. In some cases, she tackles rebuilding from the ground up.

In the episode “Undoing the Damage,” Hall meets clients Kasey and JT, who lost their house in a fire.

“Their house actually caught fire and they’ve been displaced for a year,” Christina tells her husband, Josh Hall.

Kasey and JT have been living with their two daughters in a 40-foot travel trailer ever since. They’re hoping Christina can rebuild their house so it’s better than ever.

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Curious to learn more about how to make money in real estate? Are you itching to invest? We don’t blame you—real estate can be a solid investment as part of an overall portfolio, and a great way to ramp up cash flow.

But what’s the best way to invest in real estate—without too much risk? There are two main real estate investing strategies: Fix and flip, or buy and lease out your real estate purchases.

Real estate can be an exciting avenue to significant dividends. Hopeful landlords, though, should carefully evaluate front-end expenses and long-term work before deciding to invest. Let’s wade into the pros, cons, and money-making potential of each real estate investing option, to help you determine if they’re right for you, based on expense, income, and risk.

Do you have the chops to be a real estate investor? Real Estate Investing 101 starts now.

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Mortgage lenders went through a serious downturn last year, and many companies were forced to lay off staff in an effort to remain in business as interest rates jumped and buyers fled. Now the players are back and ready to fight for market share, trying out new promotions designed to attract home buyers.

Will these tactics work in boosting business? “If the economic backdrop is not favorable, we’ll see lower mortgage rates—but that may not be enough to spur lending activity,” Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate, said.

“It’s not just a function of what happens with rates … if the economy is on a very weak footing, that’s going to temper demand among many would-be homebuyers,” he added.

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Time to walk away. Yep, an Atlanta home once owned by late country crooner Kenny Rogers has been listed for $4,234,200.

The iconic balladeer’s former mansion has been on and off the market, at various asking prices, since 2019.

The six-bedroom, 12-bath, palatial abode has a fine musical pedigree, but it has garnered some recent notoriety.

According to multiple reports, the estate was the site of controversial dance parties that raged into the wee hours, leading to reported noise and traffic complaints in Atlanta’s upscale Buckhead suburb.

Photos by @kichlerlighting / @jyoungdesignhouse / @homeinheidelberg via Instagram

Rooms that are short on square footage are some of the hardest to decorate. There are only so many furniture configurations that’ll actually fit, and the lack of space means you have to stick to the bare minimum when it comes to decor.

In the case of a small living room, the goal is to make the space feel comfortable and uncluttered. But you don’t have to settle for an Ikea hack job. There are many creative ways to fill a tiny living room with tasteful necessities and a few extras, too.

This week, we scoured Instagram for the best living room design ideas that cater to those of us who live modestly. Here are five of our favorite small-living looks and a few tips on how to make them work in your own space.

1. Movable coffee table

“A movable coffee table isn’t just a practical solution for small living spaces; it’s a stylish and versatile decor option that can transform the look and feel of any room,” says designer Julio Arco, of Bark and Chase. “With its ability to be easily rearranged, this trend provides flexibility in how you use the space, allowing you to adapt easily to different occasions and activities.”