What do you know about home design? | Real Estate Newsletter
And Sea Isle’s record home sale.
It’s time to put some of the home renovation knowledge you’ve gotten from binge watching HGTV to the test.
Which rooms are driving the reno industry? Which generation is renovating the most? What are people spending?
Take my quiz about recent renovation trends and see how much you really know.
Keep scrolling for that story and more in this week’s edition:
Record-breaking sale: Take a look at the Sea Isle City house that recently sold for a record price.
From trash to gas: Find out how this Bucks County landfill can produce enough gas to power tens of thousands of homes.
DIY touches: Peek inside this midcentury modern home in Montgomery County that the homeowners renovated themselves.
📮Did you recently renovate a room (or more) in your home? For a chance to be featured in my newsletter, email me.
— Michaelle Bond
If someone forwarded you this email, sign up for free here.
An aging housing supply, the rising costs of buying a home, and all the equity that homeowners have built as home prices have risen are helping to drive the remodeling market.
At the same time, remodelers are still having problems getting enough workers and certain materials, including appliances, windows and doors, and cabinets, according to a survey of remodeling members of the National Association of Home Builders. And tariffs are driving up costs of materials.
Still, the association predicts the home remodeling industry will continue to grow this year and next.
Each year, Houzz, a home remodeling and design website, surveys home owning users of its platform to collect insights into the state of the renovation industry.
Based on Houzz’s findings in this year’s report, I created a fun quiz so you can see how much you know about recent renovation trends, including how much homeowners are spending these days.
Fair warning: Last time I checked, the average reader only got 3 out of 9 questions right. Good luck.
When a beachfront home in Sea Isle City sold last month, it broke a record. It’s the most expensive home ever publicly sold there, according to the listing agent.
The single-family home went for $6.43 million.
Its previous owner was a business owner in the Lancaster area whose ATM company collapsed in February, losing millions of dollars for him and his friends.
As part of his bankruptcy proceedings, a New Jersey judge approved the sale of the Shore house.
Some features of the home:
🏖️ 4,400 square feet
🏖️ 6 bedrooms
🏖️ 7½ bathrooms
🏖️ an elevator
🏖️ 3 oceanside decks
Although the house’s sale was record-breaking, the property was originally listed for even more.
Keep reading to see photos of the house.
The latest news to pay attention to
This is how a Bucks County landfill produces enough gas to power 63,000 homes.
Here’s the story of how Amtrak’s 30th Street Station restoration project became a magnet for corruption.
A man who had 100 pounds of explosives in his Mayfair rowhouse pleaded guilty to federal crimes.
Architecture critic Inga Saffron says the Bellevue has bounced back from its latest near-death experience and offers lessons for today’s Philadelphia.
A new tool can protect Philly’s murals from demolition or development.
Who should benefit from Philly housing programs? City Council members questioned Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s plan.
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia wants to build a parking garage in a different neighborhood that would be a block long and fit 1,005 vehicles.
House of the week: For $875,000 in Wallingford, a house originally built in 1798 as two separate houses side by side.
Luxe listing: For more than $1.7 million, a penthouse on Philly’s second-highest residential floor.
After renting in Northern Liberties for years, Kelly Winter and her husband, Helio Ha, started looking for a home to buy in December 2019. They hadn’t found one by March 2020. You can guess what happened next.
They weren’t sure they’d be able to become homeowners. They had fallen in love with a house only to lose it to a cash buyer.
But in July 2020, they found the 1,600-square-foot, three-bedroom ranch house in Huntingdon Valley that would become their home.
They were looking for an older house that was structurally sound but needed renovations they could do themselves. Through their home projects, they picked up lots of new skills.
Over almost five years of renovations, the homeowners carefully pieced together their property using secondhand furniture they got from near and far, lots of plants, and quirky artwork.
They dug out layers of flooring, designed cabinet handles, and created a light fixture. Outside, they turned an antique gas pump into an electric car charger.
Peek inside the home and see the results of the owners’ DIY projects.
📷 Photo quiz
Do you know the location this photo shows?
📮 If you think you do, email me back. You and your memories of visiting this spot might be featured in the newsletter.
Shout-out to Alan F., Paul C., and Lars W. for knowing last week’s photo of the Triune statue was taken at 15th Street and South Penn Square.
Lars told me the sculpture is one of his favorites.
Enjoy the rest of your week.
By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.