NOAA has lowered the odds of an active 2026 Atlantic hurricane season, putting the chance of an above-normal season at just 5% in its updated outlook released August 6, 2026. Forecasters still expect 7 to 13 named storms and 2 to 6 hurricanes before the season ends, and they’re telling homeowners along the coast … Read more
Stink bugs can squeeze through gaps you’d swear were too small for anything with legs. Researchers cited by University of Kentucky entomologists found that roughly half of adult brown marmorated stink bugs made it through standard quarter-inch window screening, and only mesh finer than a sixth of an inch kept them out reliably. That detail … Read more
Builder confidence in the U.S. housing market posted a reading of just 35 out of 100 in August, barely moved from July, marking the sixteenth straight month the index has stayed below the neutral 50-point mark, according to the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index. More than a third of builders, 35%, cut prices in August … Read more
Home buying got measurably less brutal in July. The National Association of Realtors’ Housing Affordability Index climbed to 103.3, up five full points from 98.3 a year earlier, even as the average 30-year mortgage rate held above 6.5%. It’s the kind of year-over-year gain the index hasn’t produced in more than a year. Key Points … Read more
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a warning on July 16, 2026, telling shoppers to stop using Melinora electric heated blankets immediately after five reports of the blankets smoking, melting, or burning through their own fabric. One of those incidents left a person with a documented burn injury. Only about 700 of the … Read more
Salem, Massachusetts homes now sell for an average of $607,354, according to Zillow’s newest ranking of American towns with the strongest Halloween identity — more than double what buyers pay in New Orleans’ famously haunted French Quarter, and still nearly $370,000 less than the priciest town on the list. Zillow named 13 towns this … Read more
About 90,860 Milwaukee M18 FUEL chainsaws sold at Home Depot are being recalled after the safety brake that’s supposed to stop a spinning chain within a fraction of a second failed at least twice, in one case badly enough to slice open a customer’s finger. The recall, announced by Milwaukee Tool with the Consumer … Read more
About 5,543 CCCEI-brand power strips sold on Amazon for under $30 are being recalled after two of them sparked and melted inside customers’ homes — a small number of reported incidents, but a genuinely unnerving one, given how ordinary an unmarked black power strip looks sitting behind a desk, TV stand, or nightstand where … Read more
Foreign buyers spent $45.3 billion on U.S. existing homes between April 2025 and March 2026, and buyers connected to mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan paid the highest average price of any group by a wide margin, close to $1 million per purchase. The figures come from the National Association of Realtors’ 2026 International Transactions … Read more
Roughly 149,400 Generac portable generators sold at Home Depot, Lowe’s, and other hardware retailers are being recalled after 114 reports of gasoline leaking from the carburetor the very first time an owner filled the tank, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s April 16, 2026 notice. No injuries have been reported so far, but … Read more