A FEW KEY UPGRADES THAT CAN
REALLY PAY OFF
DON’T WAIT TILL ITS TOO
LATE HAVE YOUR FURNACE
CHECKED AND CLEANED
TED THOMPSON
HEATING AND COOLING
WE SERVICE ALL MAKES AND MODELS.
Free Estimates on New Equipment.
OVER 30 YEARS OF SERVICE.
$69.95 CHECK AND CLEAN
A current
issue
of this
magazine
is also
available
online.
Furnace or A/C or $99.00 for both
412-343-0521
Awarded Angies List Super Service in
2015, 2016 and 2017
PA134837
18
724.942.0940 TO ADVERTISE
❘
icmags.com
icmags.com
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.