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Granite Versus Quartz Countertops

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A lot of potential homebuyers, ask for granite countertops but quartz countertops are rising in popularity. The question is which countertop should you look for in your new home, and what are the pros and cons of granite vs quartz countertops. Let’s take a deep dive and hopefully we can help you find an answer.

What Are Quartz Countertops Made Of?

While you might think quartz, its actually a man-made engineered stone countertop. Its formed by fusing around 90% of ground quartz (the natural mineral) with 8-10% of resins, polymers and pigments. This makes the countertop very durable while also making it non-porous. In this sense it’s very similar to granite countertops except, Quartz while harder than granite and more durable is more susceptible to damage from excess heat. You should always use heating pads or pot holders when cooking as opposed to placing the hot pan on the counter directly.

What Are Granite Countertops Made Of?

Granite like quartz is a naturally occurring mineral and it’s also quite durable it’s also less expensive than quartz due to it being the most popular choice for countertops. Granite also is a porous stone, therefore it needs regular upkeep by having a sealer applied to it annually. The bonus to granite though is of course, it’s not susceptible to damage from excessive heat in the same way quartz is.

What Are The Pros and Cons To A Quartz Countertop?

  1. Quartz countertops are more durable than granite physically. They are much more difficult to chip and they are more flexible than granite so they are less likely to crack.
  2. Quartz is non-porous meaning you don’t need to worry about keeping it sealed and the countertop is virtually maintenance free.
  3. Because quartz countertops are non-porous you don’t have to worry about stains if you spill some red wine, or any dyed liquid just wipe it off and you will be fine.
  4. Quartz can suffer from discoloration overtime if your countertop is directly facing the sun. This is due to the UV rays the sun puts off.
  5. Quartz countertops typically have a seam that is visible however, they are less visible in darker slabs.

What Are The Pros and Cons To A Granite Countertop

  1. Granite Countertops are typically inconsistent. This is because the stone itself forms differently unlike quartz countertops that are typically the same color and pattern throughout.
  2. Granite Countertops are porous and need to be resealed or else it can trap water, and stains.
  3. Granite while durable is not as strong physically as quartz and is more likely to chip, break and crack.
  4. Granite Countertops tend to have a very obvious seam where the slabs meet. However, if you have a really good fabricator and installer they can typically hide it quite well but it won’t be completely hidden.
  5. Granite Countertops are less prone to damage from heat though making them perfect for kitchens if you don’t have a heat pad or a pot holder to rest hot pans on.

Closing Thoughts

Whether you like the styling of quartz or granite countertops that is up to you. However, just keep in mind the strengths and weaknesses of each material and remember that it ultimately comes down to how much you’re looking to spend on a home or on the countertop you’re looking to install. Quartz is more expensive at the moment compared to granite but in a few years it might not be that way anymore. If you have any questions feel free to ask below.

Side note: If you’re looking to purchase a home and countertops are the one thing you’re going back and forth on. Often times, granite countertop homes are less expensive than an equivalent home with quartz countertops. So it might be cheaper to purchase the less expensive home and simply pay a contractor to install a countertop after the fact.

How Covid-19 Has Impacted The U.S Housing Market

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Covid-19 has lead to a whole host of economic issues from a large increase in unemployment, a decrease in consumer confidence and much of the economy has come to a grinding halt. If you were looking to capitalize through some housing purchases I have some bad news for you.

The median list price in the United States is actually rising it’s up around 1.4% year over year. However, home sales are down by 18% though which is also paired with a 7.4% increase in sale price over last year. Essentially this means that homes are being sold for quite a bit more even though far fewer of them are actually being sold.

Why Aren’t Prices Dropping?

Generally speaking home prices are up over the last five years and have been up since the 2008 financial crisis. This has been driven by an increase in demand for homes and relatively low supply. The low supply has been driven by low levels of housing construction and available land to build homes. This is why in many cities across the countries you’re seeing homes that were original a single home on a piece of land be split into two separate homes on the same lot. If you’re curious the easiest way to tell is if your home address has a letter so for example.

123 Example Street A and your neighbor might be 123 Example Street B.

https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/2096484/?utm_source=showcase&utm_campaign=visualisation/2096484

Now, while usually a sharp decrease in demand leads to a decrease in list price we are also dealing with a sharp decrease in overall housing supply. Many home sellers pulled out of the market due to the uncertainty many of whom who might have been moving due to work might be furloughed. So, this has created an interesting anomaly in the overall housing market where you would expect prices to drop but haven’t. All of which is being driven by lack of participation on both ends as most people have simply pulled out of the market.

Closing Thoughts

Overall, prices haven’t decreased due to not many buyers looking to buy, and many sellers simply pulling their listings. The two have basically cratered identically leading to very little changes in overall prices.

Should I Move To Lewisville, Texas?

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So, you have decided you want to move to the Dallas Fort Worth area but you’re wanting to get away from the city center. You probably have looked at Lewisville, some would describe it as the best Dallas suburb. However, should you move to Lewisville, Texas let’s see if we can help you narrow your choices.

1. Great Fishing Scene & Shores

Lake Lewisville is probably one of the most important things residents in Lewisville like to discuss. Lake Lewisville is home to the Lewisville Fishing Barge which is open 24 hours a day and is located just a few minutes away from the Lewisville Lake Park. The barge has restrooms, sells bait as well as snacks.

Lake Lewisville is home to a variety of fish primarily various species of Bass & Catfish. It’s also a great place to come out and have a picnic or just to lounge around on the shoreline. However, if fishing and lakes aren’t your thing Lewisville does have a variety of other activities.

2. Close Proximity To Essentials

When you’re moving to a suburb your biggest concern is naturally how far am I from all the essentials. Lewisville is home to a variety of grocery stores including the El Rancho Supermarket, but also home to Winco, Costco, and of course Walmart. There are a variety of boutiques and department stores (even in this tough retail environment). More importantly there are two targets both ideally located in the two largest neighborhoods in Lewisville. One thing to keep in mind though if you’re looking to get to downtown Dallas (as a commute) it’s about 20 miles depending on your area which during peak traffic hours can lead to a longer commute.

However, if you’re not against public transportation you can walk to Hebron Station and take you directly to downtown Dallas. Depending on your area this might be a significantly faster means of getting to work and avoiding that morning commute.

3. Lewisville Central Park

If you’re someone who likes parks Lewisville is home to Central Park which has a mile-long hiking/biking trail, a playground picnic pavilions, and more. You can rent the pavilions if you’re throwing a party or just sit out in the field and relax. It’s honestly a great way to spend the weekend with the family!

4. The Community

The community in Lewisville is quite active and very welcoming. Every year in June & July there is a festival hosted called the Sounds Of Lewisville. There are free live performances from the local artists as well as the local vendors / businesses and it’s a fun event. If you’re a beer lover Lewisville is also home to the Best Little Brewfest which is also held in June and typically sees attendance from around 80 breweries from all around texas.

Closing Thoughts

Lewisville is a great place to live if there was one thing I had to say was it’s “weakness” it would be the commute. Getting into the city especially during rush hour can be rough but an advantage to living in the suburbs naturally is you tend to get a lot more house for your money. If you have any questions on the area or are looking to buy feel free to contact me via my contact page or give me a call at 214-356-8586.

New Year, New Design

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Happy New Year to everyone, we here at Carducci Realty Group have been hard at work to modernize our website a bit. We made major changes to the design, streamlined our goals, and wanted to make it even easier for you to contact us especially on mobile devices.

So, I wanted to discuss what changes were made, why we made them and how we can now serve you even better.

No More Noise

One thing that we felt was an issue in our previous design was how overly complicated it was. There were so many issues with basic navigation on mobile devices, from finding blog posts, to our menu/navigation being too difficult to find. Our header used to look like this on a mobile device.

It was huge, causing 50% of your initial view to be obstructed by a search for a home button that in testing we found very few users clicked on. Our logo was also obstructing the menu to the point you would have missed it.

To resolve this issue we overhauled the main menu entirely to be much more streamlined.

The menu is now clearly labeled taking the guessing game out of what the three lines meant and the bulk of your screen real estate is now reclaimed to read the important stuff on our website.

Our New Site Is Faster & More Responsive Than Ever

Another issue we found in testing was our old design was a bit complicated and slow for mobile devices. Loading up our slider took too long, and after the first slide, no one ever clicked on it. This was especially true for our blog post carousel towards the bottom of the page.

To resolve this we set some very strict budgets on what could be delivered to our users to provide you the best and fastest experience on mobile.

We decided against sliders, carousels, and any script heavy service that way the moment you go to scroll on our website it was responsive.

Previously we delivered 381KB of compressed JavaScript and now we only deliver 97KB which is a 75% reduction. This, in turn, allowed our website to be fully loaded, and working on a 3G connection in about 3.1 seconds as opposed to the nearly 10 seconds it was previously.

Helpful Search Results & Better Content

We had a lot of content on our old site that didn’t make the cut and it ultimately came down to a lot of it wasn’t meeting our standards. Our FAQ page, for instance, had some questions that users never clicked on, and you couldn’t read them directly in Google. Now if you look for our FAQ page in Google you will see a drop-down of our questions and answers to get quick answers to your more frequent questions.

Additionally, a lot of our older pages simply lacked a decent amount of text content. For instance, our About Angelo Carducci page now has twice as much text as it did before and most of its noise and graphics were removed leaving only the goods (and we added a contact form to reach Angelo Directly).

What’s To Come In The Future

While we are in a much better spot than before we still have areas we need to improve upon. We want to expand our social media presence unify our branding a bit, and follow a more strict content schedule.

Furthermore, we are looking to bring you useful tools built by us for you on our website such as calculators and possibly bring back our search functionality in a more useful form.

If you have any thoughts on what you would want us to bring back or add feel free to comment below and we will consider it.

Dallas Fort Worth Markets For September 26th 2019

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The Dallas Fort Worth market is still seeing solid growth and that continues to show this month. There is some good news and bad news mixed in so let’s get into it.

This month mortgage rates are less than ideal they are a not on the higher side but they aren’t ideal if you’re in the market to buy. Another note is these rates look to be staying the rates have remained stable at this point.

The Economy As A Whole

Consumer confidence fell sharply in the month of September. This is due to an escalation in the trade war with China among other factors. This is the largest decrease in consumer confidence in the last 9 months. Furthermore, investments contracted more sharply than previously expected which has renewed concerns of a recession. Jobless claims increased to a three week high however the four-week average fell to its lowest point since July.

The Housing Market

According to the FHFA home prices rose 5% from a year earlier even though in July the gains were the 2nd smaller gains in the last 4 years. Pending home sales were up in August 1.6%, however, a lack of available inventory is being blamed for lack of sales. This could be read as a good sign to sell as well as new home sales which rebounded 7% in august which is close to a 12 year high.

Closing Thoughts

The market is mixed about now while the trade way and fears of a recession are growing home sales still seem to be going strong. Only time will tell how well the market will perform!

3 Main Renovations You Can Make to Sell for House for Top Dollar

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It is generally accepted that making renovations to a home not only increases its value, but causes it to sell faster. While there are renovations that may not necessarily add to your bottom line as far as sales price, there are others which can make a tremendous difference. Below is a list of 5 renovations any home seller should make if they want their home to sell for top dollar:

Redo your Landscape

This is the first place the potential homebuyer will see when they come. In addition to your lawn, here is a list of the items that may need your attention:

  • Water fountains, bubbling vases, ponds, streams
  • Hardscape, flagstone, stamp concrete, pavers
  • Stone patios
  • Lighting, led, halogen
  • Sprinkler Repair and Installations
  • Garden Fountains & place themes
  • Irrigation systems & repair
  • Drainage & grading
  • Dry creeks & gravel paths
  • Seasonal flowers rotations
  • Integrated Pest Control
  • Irrigation
  • Conceptual Design
  • Tree Care

Revamping the House

  1. These include repainting areas around the home where the paint is either peeling or the walls are cracking. It may also involve working with an interior designer to determine whether certain areas of the home may need to be accentuated with new paint. Avoid dark colors. 
  2. Redo the ceilings. This may also include painting something clean and fresh to look at.
  3. Placing caulk or weather-stripping to cover visible cracks around windows and doors.
  4. If you have a basement, make sure there are no leaks or moisture issues. If there are any, contact an expert to fix.

Revamp the Bedrooms

Typically, kitchens and bathrooms are the places to concentrate on if you wish to remodel your home in preparation for a sale. But the bedrooms also present opportunities. Here are a few that can influence potential buyers.

  1. Make sure the lighting is adequate. Replace old bedside lamps and install modern-lighting to help illuminate the space.
  2. Replace old, stained, or dingy carpets in your bedroom. Because most bedrooms are small, the cost is manageable.

Additional tip

Additional renovation can also be done in the backyard. For instance, get rid of any old, dilapidated storage buildings. If you have a shed or barn, ensure it’s in good condition. If not arrange for it to be taken down and the debris removed. Nothing can ruin the moment for a buyer than the sight of an old ramshackle barn or shed in the backyard.