Fewer new homes are popping up across the United States, but there are still enough of them to discern trends. An obvious one is the push toward smaller homes, which Green House has previously talked about. Jenny Sullivan, a senior editor of BUILDER, calls this “portion control.” She cites nine other trends for 2011.

“Glitz is gone, at least for now,” she writes. “Honest architecture is the order of the day as homeowners look to simplify their lives – and, by association, their houses. This mantra of zen is playing out in interior spaces with natural finishes, clean lines, and few frivolous embellishments.”

Sullivan also describes a push toward healthier homes as people extend their wellness equation to where they live. She sees growing demand for low-VOC paints, stains, and sealants as well as cabinets and furniture made with natural products such as hay, wheat, eucalyptus, bamboo, and aspen.

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On her top 10 list is the continued growth of green building, which a November report by McGraw Hill Construction projects will double overall in size by 2015. On Jan. 1, California’s CalGreen building code takes effect, mandating eco-friendly practices that were previously voluntary.

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He soon found out that it was $300 a month — just to maintain the lawn.

“I have to admit, I was rather naïve about the costs involved in being a homeowner,” he said.

Two months after they moved in, a FedEx truck accidentally backed into the house, damaging the gutter. That was $900. Then they had a baby girl! It cost an estimated $10,000 for the first year of a baby’s life, according to one baby calculator. Then, the air conditioner went on the fritz. That was $8,000 to replace. They soon discovered that their neighborhood is prone to power outages, so they needed to consider dropping $10,000 for a backup generator.

“Most people are unprepared for the big repairs — and even the small repairs,” said Guy Cecala, publisher of Inside Mortgage Finance magazine. “When the toilet starts flooding, you can’t call someone like you did when you were renting. You’ve got to fix it yourself.”

To help you get prepared, here 20 Hidden Costs of Home Ownership.

1. Your heart. You may set a budget for how much you can spend on a new house, but then you find something you love — something you can’t stop thinking about — and even though it’s $50,000 or $100,000 over your budget, you buy it anyway.

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The recent upswing in the economy has allowed more people to be able to buy a home at a good price.  However, a real estate transaction can be complicated.

Pearland, TX Realtor® William Onyedebelu offers seven solid tips for those considering purchasing a home.

“I recommend the following best practices to my buyers who want to buy right.

1. Arrange for your mortgage financing up front before you even start to look for a home. The lender will focus on your ideal price range, your maximum loan, and whether there are any credit issues you should correct before buying. The lender will also prepare a qualification letter, which you must provide the seller when you make an offer.

2. Review a blank contract form before you write your contract offer. This will familiarize you with contract details and may prompt questions. Ask your agent to explain the process of negotiating and counteroffers.

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Downtown’s 14th Street, long in the shadow of the pedestrian-friendly 16th Street Mall and the financial horsepower along 17th Street, is gaining its rightful place in the pantheon of important streets in downtown Denver. At a ceremony on Tuesday – attended by many of Denver’s movers-and-shakers, as well as those who work behind the scenes to make Denver a better place – 14th was crowned as an “Ambassador Street,” as ground was broken on a $14 million project. Some $10 million of it is being funded by a 2007 bond program approved by voters, with another $4 million being contributed by property owners.

Compared to 16th Street Mall

“Today, we are celebrating the most significant groundbreaking since the 16th Street Mall was created in 1982,” said Tami Door, president and CEO of the Downtown Denver Partnership, on the 9th floor of the Spire condominium high-rise building.

Door noted that since 2002, public and private investments along 14th Street have topped $1.6 billion. “When you look back, there has been almost exactly a dollar-for-dollar private match for every public dollar invested,” Door said, following the event, which initially took place in the Spire at 891 14th Street, in case of inclement weather, and moved outside for the traditional shovels-in-the dirt photo opportunity.

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When Ron Woodcock owned a home in Florida, he was able to write off about $2,000 a month in mortgage interest payments, a huge tax benefit and a major incentive for owning a home. Woodcock, who moved to the Denver area several years ago and is a broker at RE/MAX Southeast, doesn’t believe he is unique.

“I think the tax write off is why most people own homes,” Woodcock said. “It is tremendously important to most people. Look what happened when the $8,000 tax credit went away at the end of April. The market just fell off a cliff.”

That is why Woodcock, and other experts, are upset that there is even preliminary talk of chipping away at the mortgage deduction by the bipartisan White House commission looking at ways to cut the federal deficit. The preliminary proposal would scrap mortgage deductions of more than $500,000 on primary residences, as well as on second homes and lines of credit. Some fear that would just be the first shot in what would amount to a firing squad aimed at all mortgage interest write offs.

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Enough with the doom and gloom about homeownership.

Sure, maybe there’s more pain to come in the housing market. But when Time magazine starts running covers that declare “Owning a home may no longer make economic sense,” it’s time to say: Enough is enough. This is what “capitulation” looks like. Everyone has given up.

fter all, at the peak of the bubble five years ago, Time had a different take. “Home Sweet Home,” declared its cover then, as it celebrated the boom and asked: “Will your house make you rich?”

But it’s not enough just to be contrarian. So here are 10 reasons why it’s good to buy a home.

1. You can get a good deal. Especially if you play hardball. This is a buyer’s market. Most of the other buyers have now vanished, as the tax credits on purchases have just expired. We’re four to five years into the biggest housing bust in modern history. And prices have come down a long way– about 30% from their peak, according to Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller Index, which tracks home prices in 20 big cities.

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Now that Denver’s Union Station has its federal funding and construction has started on the project, there’s been a flurry of leasing activity in the area.

After standing vacant for two years, the 400,000-square-foot building at 1900 16th St. has lease agreements for nearly a quarter of the space.

Law firms Reilly Pozner and Perkins Coie are each leasing full floors in the building, and PricewaterhouseCoopers is taking two floors. There also is another tenant to be announced at a later date interested in 30,000 square feet, and Perkins Coie has an option to lease a second floor.

Perkins Coie chose the location because “we thought it’s where all the action is moving in downtown Denver,” said Bob Miller, managing partner of the firm’s Denver office. “For the staff and attorneys, it’s really been a boon because of all the public transportation. It allows a lot of us not to drive cars.”

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This is a really interesting article about how the average new home being built is getting smaller and how builders are responding to the new market by removing underused spaces in homes, like the formal living room/sitting room and even hallways. It also talks about smart growth developments, like Stapleton.

The median home size in America was near 2,300 square feet at the peak of the market in 2007, with many McMansions topping 10,000.

Today, the median home size has dropped to about 2,100 square feet and more than one-third of Americans say their ideal home size is actually under 2,000 square feet, according to a survey by real-estate site Trulia.

“The whole glow of bigness kind of wore off all of a sudden,” said Sarah Susanka, an architect and the author of The Not So Big House book series.

Builders are responding by chopping out rooms that people just don’t use anymore, particularly formal living rooms and sitting rooms.

“You’re not having the king and queen of England to dinner but Joe and Kathy from next door — and they’d prefer to be in your informal space!” Susanka said.

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