24 Fun Things to Do With Kids in Winter

By Jennifer Wolf 

Got cabin fever? You’re not alone. Being stuck indoors all winter will make anyone antsy. Instead of going stir crazy, try these fun things to do with kids in winter.

• Make homemade hot cocoa with marshmallows.
• Go sledding together. Don’t forget to bundle up and bring the bike helmets for added safety!
• Make paper snowflakes and hang them up in unexpected places around your home.
• Go bowling. If your kids are young, try the duckpins for little ones.
• Use your phone’s camera to make a slow-motion video of the snow accumulating outside your window. Then send it to family members via email to show them how deep the snow really is!
• Make a graph showing each day’s high and low temperatures for the week. Then make predictions about next week and see who’s closest to each day’s actual temperature.
• Make ice cream using snow.
• Go roller skating at an indoor rink that plays your favorite music.
• Have a snowball fight. If your kids are different ages/sizes, set a few ‘ground rules’ up front.
• Play board games together, and be sure to introduce the kids to some of your favorites!
• Make a pine cone bird feeder using peanut butter and birdseed. Then hang it outside a window where you’ll get to see the birds enjoy the treat each day.
• Take a guess at how much snow is on the ground. Then grab a ruler and go measure it to see how much snow you’ve gotten this year.
• Make greeting cards for residents of a local nursing home. Then take a field trip to deliver them together.
• Make snow angels in your yard and watch the snow fall together.
• Buy a kid-sized shovel and shovel the driveway or sidewalk together. If the snow is really deep, be sure to carve out a ‘lighter’ area for your kids to work.
• Visit your local library and check out books on winter themes. Then come home and take turns reading to one another. Bonus: use your phone to record one another reading and then save the recordings for bedtime stories on a night when you’re extra exhausted.
• Draw and color a mural showing a winter scene. Then hang it up in your living room where the kids will enjoy seeing it every day, or mail it to a family member who lives in an area of the country unaccustomed to snow.
• Build a snow fort together. Or, if it’s too cold outside, build your own super fort indoors out of blankets, pillows, and large boxes.
• Take a knitting class at your local craft store and make hats for each other.
• Fill a spray bottle with colored water and write in the snow. This is a great way for young kids to practice their letters.
• Bundle up and take a walk during a snowstorm.
• Make a snowman sun catcher and hang it in a window that catches the bright morning sun.
• Collect old winter coats from family members and friends. Then donate them to a local charity.
• Use the back side of some leftover wrapping paper to draw and color life-sized pictures of one another.

Also consider ice skating, a themed party or fun winter games. 

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.73%, unchanged from a week ago, Freddie Mac reports.
“The economy continued to pick up momentum with a solid increase in residential construction, improvement in industrial output in our nation’s factories and a rise in job openings,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “While the economy is in a sweet spot, improvements in housing market sales volumes will be modest heading into next year simply due to the lack of available inventory.”
Continue…https://magazine.realtor/daily-news/2019/12/20/mortgage-rates-hold-steady-this-week

January just may be the new April for home shopping, according to a new analysis released Wednesday by realtor.com®. If 2019 is any indication, economists expect next month to be a lively one for a surge of home buyers who likely will be searching for properties online.
One of five of the largest metros saw their highest number of listing views online in January 2019, realtor.com®’s report notes. Realtor.com®’s analysis is based on average monthly views per listing on its site from 2015 to 2019.
Times have changed over that period: In 2015, the peak month for average views per listing on realtor.com® was in April, and January was behind by 16% in views. However, in 2019, the month of January was just 1% lower than February for the most monthly views per listing at realtor.com®. Further, January was the most popular month for views in 20 of the 100 largest metros, the analysis notes.
Continue… https://magazine.realtor/daily-news/2019/12/19/january-wont-be-cold-for-house-hunters

More luxury homeowners are being drawn to “jewel box” homes, smaller footprints that are souped up with amenities and upscale, deluxe finishes, The Wall Street Journal reports.
The number of new luxury homes of 3,000 square feet or less has jumped nearly 20% since 2013. That has corresponded to a decrease in large, high-priced homes, according to data from Home Innovation Research Labs, a subsidiary of the National Association of Home Builders.
Continue…https://magazine.realtor/daily-news/2019/12/18/jewel-box-homes-become-hot-trend-in-luxury-sector

The House on Tuesday passed a federal spending package for fiscal year 2020 that includes several high-priority items for REALTORS®: reauthorization of the National Flood Insurance Program through Sept. 30; an extension of several tax provisions important to real estate markets, such as mortgage debt forgiveness; and a seven-year reauthorization of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program, a particularly significant victory for commercial real estate practitioners.
The spending package now goes to the Senate for approval, and President Donald Trump is expected to sign the bills by the end of the week.
Continue…https://magazine.realtor/daily-news/2019/12/17/real-estate-wins-in-government-spending-bills

11 Easy-Up, Easy-Down Decor Hacks for Stress-Free Holidays

https://perrella.com/1792-2/

Credit standards are loosening, a trend that has been consistent over the last three months. The Mortgage Bankers Association’s Mortgage Credit Availability Index rose 2.1% in November, which indicates “loosening credit.” Further, the trade group says it expects the trend to continue in the new year. “Expanding credit availability will continue to support active levels in mortgage lending, even as refinance activity starts to level off,” says Joel Kan, MBA’s associate vice president of economic and industry forecasting.
The loosening of credit is most evident for government-backed mortgages, including FHA, VA, and USDA loans for rural properties, MBA reports. Jumbo loans, which have risen 2.2% to reach a record high, also showed a loosening of standards, MBA reports. “The jumbo index climbed to yet another record high, as investors increased their willingness to purchase loans with lower credit scores and higher LTV ratios,” Kan told The Mortgage Reports.
https://magazine.realtor/daily-news/2019/12/13/buyers-may-have-an-easier-time-qualifying-for-a-mortgage

As the economy continues its record-long expansion, the Federal Reserve voted to leave its key benchmark rate unchanged at its meeting Wednesday. Consumers buying a home or car should continue to see lower borrowing costs as a result. Even though the Fed’s key rate isn’t directly tied to mortgage rates, they do often influence them.
This marked the final Fed meeting of the year for the Federal Reserve. Officials suggested no rate changes for 2020 and projected only one increase in 2021 and one in 2022.
Continue… https://magazine.realtor/daily-news/2019/12/12/fed-leaves-rates-alone-signals-little-change-ahead

Vermont may offer some of the best opportunities for a winter investment property, according to new rankings released by Vacasa, a U.S. vacation rental management company. The firm identified the best places to buy a vacation home in 2019, factoring in aggregate cap rates and the ratio of a property’s net operating income over its cost.
“Those that made the list this year have an almost built-in guest population, as they’re situated just a short drive from highly populated residential markets and draw plenty of visitors from the surrounding area,” Vacasa researchers note in the study. “And while winter activities bring many travelers to these destinations, the summer offers opportunities for hiking, mountain biking, kayaking, and more that keep vacation homes booked when the snow melts.”
The 8 best places to buy a winter vacation home in 2019, according to Vacasa, are:
Continue…https://magazine.realtor/daily-news/2019/12/09/top-8-destinations-for-winter-vacation-home-buyers

The weather may be getting chillier in many parts of the country, but that hasn’t deterred potential home buyers from touring homes for sale. Buyer traffic in October saw an uptick in all four major regions of the U.S. and also marked the first annual increase fir the month since 2017, according to the latest ShowingTime Showing Index report.
Overall, buyer traffic increased 5.5% year over year in October, the largest increase since March 2018. The South region saw the biggest uptick with a 10.8% year-over-year increase, ShowingTime’s data showed.
Continue…https://magazine.realtor/daily-news/2019/12/06/buyer-traffic-remains-high-this-fall