IN Hampton Spring 2019 | Page 20

Wholesale Mulch & Gravel OPEN TO THE PUBLIC Best Prices In the Area - Competitively Priced Grass Seeds Planting Seeds Fertilizer Garden Tools Straw Bird Seed & Corn Fabrics & Drainage Pipes • Triple Shredded Mulch • Double Shredded Mulch • Black Mulch • • • • • • • • Brown Mulch • Cherry Brown Mulch • Playground Mulch • Organic Mulch • Screened Topsoil • Mushroom Compost • Sand, Gravel, Limestone • Firewood $4 OFF Per Tractor Bucket on All Mulches $10 OFF Any Delivered Top Soil or Mushroom Compost of 4 Tractor Buckets or More $15 OFF Any Delivered Stone or Gravel Purchase of 5 Tractor Buckets or More Mention this ad, not valid with any other offers or prior purchases, Exp 6/30/19. 412-369-4704 533 Rochester Rd Pgh, Pa 15237 www.wholesalemulchandgravel.com DYNAMIC Get the Dynamic Difference QUALITY EXPERIENCE & VALUE Stay Comfortable All Year Round SALES • SERVICE • INSTALLATION Repairs on all Makes & Models FURNACE OR AC CHECK UPS SENIORS, MILITARY, POLICE & FIRE DISCOUNTS 412-486-9040 www.dynamicheatingandcoolingsystems.com Ken Batko, Owner • PA 0039600 18 724.942.0940 to advertise ❘ icmags.com A Few Key Upgrades That Can Really Pay Off It’s time to stop thinking of Millennials as totally uninterested in owning anything just because they were early adopters of Uber. The newly released U.S. home ownership rate rose in 2018 for the first time in 13 years—it now stands at 64.2 percent—driven mainly by a shift toward owning over renting by the under-35 crowd who’d been wary of committing for both financial and personal reasons. “This is happening because young households are buying homes,” Ralph McLaughlin, chief economist at home listings provider Trulia, told the Wall Street Journal. They’re not the only purchasers, of course. But if you’re looking to sell your house now or in the not-too-distant future, you might want to check out this generational roadmap of four upgrades experts say are worth it to help attract potential buyers. *Cross-generational: a new steel door. The only thing that beat it on Remodeling magazine’s annual Cost vs. Value Report was loose-fill attic insulation, but this project—with a 90.7 percent return on investment—speaks directly to the report’s main takeaway: “Curb appeal projects, by and large, generated higher returns on investment than work done inside the home.” Plus, as far as Millennials go, while their ideal interiors may differ from older generations—for example, they prefer open floor plans and hardwood floors—Architectural Digest says they’re still into “traditional” exteriors. *Millennials: Smart-home tech. Yes, there are Boomers and Gen Xers who are super tech-savvy, but Millennials especially crave homes that allow them to control their heating, air-conditioning, home security, and lighting systems from their phones. They want to use their brains for other things, not for remembering whether they adjusted the heat or closed the garage door. *Cross-generational: A new roof. It’s the ultimate curb appeal enhancer and buyers pay a premium for one already in place. So if the first thing prospects notice even before exiting their cars looks like something out of the movie “Twister,” you’ve got a problem. *Millennials: All-new appliances. Realtors will tell you that major kitchen (and bath) upgrades aren’t generally worth their high costs, in terms of return on investment, since prospective buyers’ tastes can clash with yours. However, Millennials love, love, love all-new stainless steel appliances. So much so that what RealtyTimes.com called “an astonishing majority of 75 percent” of respondents in a recent survey chose to spend their hypothetical home buying budgets on them.