Getty Images / Realtor.com

Working up a sweat has been good business for Kevin Plank, founder of the sportswear company Under Armour.

As chairman of the business he founded in 1996, Plank has worked his way up from selling wick-away shirts in his grandmother’s basement to achieving a net worth exceeding $1 billion.

Along the way, the 50-year-old picked up some ritzy real estate in Park City, UT, which he’s now ready to trade to anyone who has $21,500,000.

Majestic in location and massive in scale, this five-bedroom, 6.5-bath mansion offers nearly 6,900 square feet of living space designed for members of the jet set who love to schuss.

Getty Images

There are two kinds of approaches to decorating for the holidays: Either you start pulling the lights out of storage before summer even turns into fall, or you deck the halls mere days—maybe hours—before Santa Claus arrives.

But regardless of how early you start decorating for Christmas, there’s a good chance you’re tired of looking at the same red and green plaid Christmas tree skirt year after year. (We know, because we are, too.)

There will always be room for those beloved decorations you pull out year after year. But if you’re ready for something new, we’re here to help. We’ve polled designers from coast to coast on the holiday decor trends that are out—and what’s taking their place.

Just make sure that whatever you do, you stay true to yourself.

Getty Images

As the housing market barrels toward the end of the year and all of its holiday trimmings, potential homebuyers are likely wondering what’s in store for the coming season.

Home shoppers looking for lower asking prices can officially check that off their wish list. November’s median home list price of $417,000 was much more wallet-friendly than June’s record high of $449,000, according to a recent report from Realtor.com®.

Yet the volatile real estate landscape is not quite ready to bring only glad tidings. High mortgage rates—which, as of Wednesday, hover at 6.58% for a 30-year fixed-rate loan—are a stark reminder that many buyers might still struggle on the affordability front.

“Even though prices are down month to month, they’re still up by double digits from a year ago,” says Danielle Hale, chief economist of Realtor.com.  “And with mortgage rates also up, buying a home is more expensive than last year.”

Realtor.com

A harmonious home built for musicians is on the market in Oberlin, OH. You can scoop it up for $1 million.

The spectacular style of the two-bedroom dwelling was the talk of the town when it was custom-built in 2004 for a married musician couple.

The eye-popping property has again created a buzz now that it has come up for sale.

Highlights include a magnificent open performance area, custom cabinetry from Ferrari, and the natural surroundings.

Realtor.com

For a buyer on the hunt for a divine dwelling, we’ve found an opportunity in upstate New York. This building on a corner lot in the small town of Guilford is simply heavenly.

The 1,784-square-foot structure began its life as a church, was then transformed into a restaurant, and is now a single-family home.

On the market for $359,000, the converted chapel awaits its next owner.

“This [building] replaced an old wooden 1800s church that sat on the same foundation and burned down in the 1920s,” explains listing agent Jonathan Dokuchitz, with Keller Williams. “They rebuilt this church in the 1930s out of stone, because they wanted this one to last.”

Realtor.com

A classic New England farmhouse in Union, CT, is the oldest property to hit the market this week on Realtor.com®.

The sprawling home on 10 acres could be used as a single-family residence or turned into a bed-and-breakfast. The four-bedroom home comes with a workshop and greenhouse, as well as a custom pool, hot tub, and barbecue area.

Other vintage gems on the market this week include an affordable saltbox in Connecticut, a well-preserved farmhouse in Maine, and a Spanish Colonial in Puerto Rico.

Scroll down for a full look at this week’s 10 oldest homes.

HGTV

Arkansas home renovators Dave and Jenny Marrs are back for Season 4 of “Fixer to Fabulous,” transforming ho-hum homes into one-of-a-kind gems.

In the season premiere episode, “Family Home With Aussie Flair,” the Marrses help Australian Olympic athlete Mike and his wife, Jennifer, convert a three-bedroom, three-bath 1980 home into a more modern residence that will serve their current and future needs.

After all, their three kids are not toddlers anymore, so their “playroom” requirements are a bit different. Meanwhile, the parents now want a suite of their own on the other side of the house from the kids, and Mike just needs a good space where he can prepare his cuppa (Aussie/British slang for a cup of tea).

As Dave and Jenny attempt to exceed expectations with a generous budget of $180,000, they come up with some pretty slick ideas, including one they claim they’ve never done before. Take a look for inspiration on what you might like to try around your own home, too.

SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images

The numbers: U.S. pending home sales fell 4.6% in October, the fifth straight monthly decline, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday.

Economists polled by the Wall Street Journal expected pending home sales to fall 5.5%.

The index captures transactions where a contract has been signed, but the home sale has not yet closed.

Key details: On a year-on-year basis, pending home sales were down a sharp 37%.

Getty Images / Realtor.com

A 9-12 record doesn’t exactly excite the football fans and big-money boosters at Auburn University. This is why head coach Bryan Harsin was given his walking papers last month. Next on his to-do list? Selling his Auburn, AL, home for $2,950,000 and leaving the SEC after just a couple of years.

With four bedrooms, 4.5 baths, 5,100 square feet of interior space, and a 5-acre lot, this well-appointed home is the priciest place on the market in the college town.

Classic style and interior details will no doubt appeal to a host of buyers—and perhaps the team’s new coach.

A free-flowing dining and living room feels spacious and welcoming at the same time. The stunning kitchen sports a massive island with seating for four as well as top-of-the-line appliances, including a cooktop with multiple burners and a griddle in the middle.

Realtor.com

Kim Wolfe, host of HGTV’s “Why the Heck Did I Buy This House,” knows a thing or two about rehabbing a less-than-pretty property for buyers who fear they’ve picked up a lemon.

So it makes sense that she took her well-earned interior design and construction experience and applied it to her home in Olmos Park, TX. Wolfe and her husband, Bryan, purchased the four-bedroom, 3.5-bath fixer-upper in 2021 for $550,000.

Now, the impeccably updated property is for sale, and there’s already a buyer. But if the deal falls through, it can be yours for the tidy sum of $1,250,000.

Realtor.com

Photo-Illustration by Realtor.com / Getty Images (4)

It’s safe to say we’ve never encountered a housing market nearly as unpredictable as the one we’re in right now. After months of navigating wild fluctuations, homebuyers, sellers, owners, and renters are now desperately trying to read the tea leaves to figure out where real estate prices, inventories, sales, and mortgage rates are going in the coming year.

And just in time, Realtor.com® is here to help them all figure it out with our annual housing forecast.

The bottom line: Homebuyers and renters hoping for some financial relief in 2023 will likely be disappointed. But they won’t get whiplash either. The dramatic swings and wild gyrations in the housing market are expected to taper off as the real estate ecosystem continues to slow.

While the Realtor.com 2023 forecast anticipates home and rental prices will keep climbing next year, the increases will be much more modest than the huge surges seen earlier this year. Mortgage interest rates, which have become the bane of many first-time and other buyers who can’t pay all in cash, will remain high. But they aren’t expected to substantially rise again.

pawel.gaul/iStock

The annual percentage rate, or APR, is how much you’ll pay in interest and other fees when borrowing money (e.g., when you get a mortgage loan or a credit card). APR can also be considered the total cost for borrowing money over a one-year period.

The “and other fees” clause is key here. When home buyers get a loan, they often obsess over the annual rate alone—say, that 5% extra you’ll pay every year for the life of your $300,000 loan. But that’s not where your expenses end, and that’s where APR comes into play.

“The APR includes the interest rate and other charges, which is why it’s usually higher than just your interest rate,” says Michele Lerner, author of “Home Buying: Tough Times, First Time, Any Time.”

What to know about APR, and which fees are included?

People tend to think of annual percentage rate as the “true” amount they pay, because it includes all of the major upfront fees associated with the loan (e.g., closing costs, points, origination fees, and private mortgage insurance). It’s also known as the effective APR.

Fotoamator/iStock

Can you show your home with an offer on the table? Sure, you’ve found a (nearly) perfect buyer. You’ve accepted the offer, which means you’re in wedded bliss and off the market, so to speak, right? Not so fast! Just as a romantic relationship can go sour, so can your real estate transaction. No matter how perfectly matched your buyers are to your property, issues can arise that are out of your control, and sometimes the buyers’ too.

That’s why it’s in your best interest to let your real estate agent play the field and allow your home to be shown, even if you’ve accepted an offer.

Can you show your home with an offer on the table

“Until all contingencies on a contract are removed, anything can happen,” explains Jane Peters, broker and owner of Home Jane Realty in Los Angeles. “Each side has to meet certain contractual obligations, and if one side doesn’t, then the other side can initiate a cancellation of the contract,” she says.

Such contractual obligations can include both sides not agreeing on a request for repairs after an inspection, says Peters. Other times, the buyer believes there’s too much to deal with and decides not to go forward. It’s also possible that your buyer can’t get the loan approved. And if your home doesn’t appraise at the contracted price and you decide not to lower it or grant the buyer concessions, then the buyer can walk, too.

SasinParaksa/iStock

To celebrate our first night in our new home, we ordered a feast of Chinese food. The next morning, to our horror, we found a huge stain on our kitchen’s marble counter where the moo goo gai pan had seeped out of its cardboard container into the stone. We went into a frenzy to try to find out how to remove stains from marble.

I know I’m not alone here. Even though marble counters and floors look like they can withstand whatever a cook can throw at them, these surfaces in fact are extremely porous and can soak up liquids. If it’s just water, it usually dries without a problem. But if you leave wine or grease spills on marble, you’ll have to deal with a stain.

The good news is that whatever goes in can come out, says Mark Meriaux, accreditation and technical manager of MIA + BSI: The Natural Stone Institute, based in Oberlin, OH. “But sometimes it takes a long time.”

How to prevent stains on marble

The best cure is prevention, of course: Always seal marble when it’s installed.

designer491/iStock

FHA loans, which are insured by the Federal Housing Administration, help home buyers secure financing to buy a home despite their low income, lack of savings, or poor credit scores—the kind of things that often prevent people from getting a conventional loan.

“FHA loans are a great option for a lot of home buyers, particularly if they’re buying their first home,” says Todd Sheinin, mortgage lender and chief operating officer at New America Financial in Gaithersburg, MD. And while not all lenders offer FHA loans, many do, because their government backing guarantees that lenders won’t lose their money if the buyer defaults. So it’s win-win all round!

Yet although FHA loans have looser qualification requirements than traditional mortgages, that doesn’t mean they have none at all. While the exact rules and thresholds will vary a bit by lender, here’s a ballpark guide to what you can expect you’ll need to qualify.

1. A minimum down payment of 3.5%

With conventional loans, it’s generally recommended that you make a 20% down payment, which would amount to a whopping $50,000 on a $250,000 home. FHA loans lower the bar to a far more realistic level, requiring as little as 3.5%. So, on a $250,000 house, you would only need to plunk down $8,750 to qualify for an FHA loan.

Lisa5201/iStock

In your search for a new home, you may have seen the term “site condo” in listings. Unlike regular condos, which are typically apartments or townhomes attached to at least a few other units, a site condo looks like a freestanding single-family house; it even has its own yard. Nonetheless, a site condo is located in a condo community with all the benefits (and restrictions) of condo living, explains Realtor® and blogger Norm Werner.

Here’s how to tell if a site condo is right for you.

Characteristics of a site condo

There are five criteria that must be met in order for the units in the complex to be considered site condos, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development:

borchee/iStock

If you’re a novice gardener, you’ve probably asked yourself all about annuals and perennials when picking out flowers at your local garden store.

Annual and perennial are classifications based on the lifespan and bloom cycle of a particular flower. It’s something that gardeners need to pay particular attention to so they can make sure their blooms thrive. 

Annuals and perennials bloom at different times and need to be maintained differently, so be sure you know what type of flower you’re planting before putting it in the ground (or flowerbed, or pot).

What kind of plants should you choose? We’re here to help you decide. Dig in to discover everything you ever wanted to know about annuals and perennials. 

cnythzl/iStock

If you ever plan to buy a house, establishing a track record of past payments is essential, because it proves to mortgage lenders that you’ve paid people back (which means they’ll be more apt to loan you money for a home).

Still, if you have no credit history—because you’re young or just never bothered—how long does it take to build it from scratch?

Here’s the straight dope: Done right, it can take as little as six months. Done wrong? It can take several years. So if you’re in a rush to establish credit to buy a home, you’ll want to know the right way to go about it! Heed this advice to learn what to do.

Building credit: A timeline

At a minimum, you need to open at least one credit card in your name. From there, you just need to make a purchase using the card, and then make a payment. Once you’ve made your payment, your creditor will report your payment to one or more of the major credit bureaus (TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian).

sbossert/iStock

Chintz, a textile featuring flowery patterns on curtains, couches, and wallpaper, was all the rage in the 1980s. Since then, it’s fallen from grace, hard. In fact, after its long history of ins and outs in fashion, the word “chintzy” has become synonymous with decor that’s considered gaudy or cheap.

But as trends tend to do, the pendulum has swung back. Chintz is coming back strong, baby!

So don’t knock chintz until you’ve taken a good look: Here’s a brief history of this bright, attention-grabbing fabric and the fresh new ways it’s being used in modern-day home decor.

A brief history

Based on the Hindi word for “spotted,” chintz originated as calico cottons in 17th-century India. “It began as quilts and curtains [there], then later spread throughout Europe,” says Amanda Evans, an interior designer and home stager based in Salt Lake City, UT.

designer491/Shutterstock

What is a pre-qualification letter? A mortgage lender will give you this official document once you decide you might want to borrow money from the lender. But how much will that letter actually boost your chances of successfully making an offer on a house? Experts say it offers very little help.

“I tell most people they can take that pre-qualification letter and throw it in the trash,” says Patty Arvielo, a mortgage banker and president and founder of New American Funding, in Tustin, CA. “It doesn’t mean all that much.”

Of course, this letter does serve some purpose for home buyers, otherwise it wouldn’t exist, right? So is it worth pursuing pre-qualification before bidding on a house? Read on.

What to know about a pre-qualification letter

Of the two kinds of letters buyers typically obtain before they start house hunting—pre-qualification and pre-approval—the pre-qualification letter is the lesser of the two when it comes to buying power, says Denise Shur, a Realtor with 1:1 Realty in San Jose, CA.