Tag: tips

Home improvement doesn’t have to mean large projects. There are plenty of quick and inexpensive DIY options that provide additional value to your home with minimal cost and effort. Some of these are frequent suggestions already, but you may not be aware of how efficient they are at improving the value of your home.

Some very common suggestions are repainting, improving curb appeal, and upgrading lighting. Repainting yourself sounds like a lot of work, but it’s still one of the highest value-to-cost investments possible, and may not actually take as long as you expect depending on the size of your home. There are many ways to improve curb appeal, but one of the simplest ones, adding plants or maintaining existing ones, doesn’t cost much at all in terms of either time or money. Upgrading lighting is generally a longer term investment, but this is not because it takes time to achieve, since it actually takes very little time. However, the benefit comes in the form of savings from reduced energy costs over time.

Less common suggestions include replacing hardware and fixtures, adding mirrors, and decluttering. Fixtures can be expensive sometimes, but they’re a solid investment in terms of value when you go to sell. When you’re living in the home, you often don’t notice small things like old doorknobs and drawer handles, but buyers will take notice if these things have been upgraded recently. Mirrors are surprisingly effective at improving the atmosphere of a room. They reflect natural light, making the space appear brighter, and also create an illusion of more space. Decluttering may not seem like it would affect your home value at all, since those items aren’t really part of the home. But prospective buyers will still take note of it and have a negative reaction to a messy-looking home, even if there’s nothing wrong with the home once it’s cleaned up.

Photo by Karl Solano on Unsplash

Real estate has long been considered one of the least risky investments. The market always has its ups and downs, but this is also true of any other investment, and real estate never disappears entirely. As with any investment, it’s best if you know what you’re doing. However, even if you don’t make the best investment possible, investing in real estate rarely becomes disastrous except in the event of economic conditions that reach multiple markets and negatively affect large segments of the population. A mediocre real estate purchase generally just means you may have to wait longer than anticipated to profit off your investment.

With some other investments, bottoming out may mean the product is all but dead and it’s pointless to invest, so it’s better to wait until the prices are increasing, but still low. Not the case with real estate, given its cyclical nature. This gives you a lot more leeway in term of when to invest in real estate. Part of the reason for this is that homes tend to appreciate over time, rather than depreciate as many other products do. If inflation is high, while it may not be the best time to invest in general, diversifying into real estate is a solid option. This is especially true if you purchase a rental property, as rent prices also go up with inflation.

Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash

Homeowner’s insurance is not one-size-fits-all. Each insurance plan typically includes different coverage for different aspects of your home. It may include dwelling coverage, personal property coverage, liability coverage, or additional living expenses coverage. Not every plans covers each of this categories equally, so it’s important to know which plan best suits your situation, not just whichever is cheapest.

This means you should estimate the value of your personal belongings, evaluate your home’s risk factor for injury, and assess the likelihood of your home being temporarily unavailable. Doing this will help you figure out whether you need personal property coverage, liability coverage, or additional living expenses coverage, respectively. But don’t forget that the first step is actually determining the value of your home itself. That’s likely what’s going to be the most valuable, so you want to make sure you have suitable coverage for it. In order to do that, you also need to look at the insurance plan’s deductible. If the plan has relatively low insurance premiums, that could mean it has a high deductible, meaning you’d be paying quite a bit out of pocket before the insurance kicks in at all. If the cost of a total replacement is relatively low, though, a low premium plan could be right for you.

Photo by Kseniia Samoylenko on Unsplash

Plenty of people will tell you that curb appeal is important when making a first impression on buyers. Less commonly does anyone explain what you can do to achieve good curb appeal. Cleaning, yard maintenance, and repainting are still solid steps, but at this stage, everyone knows that — it’s not going to make your home stand out. You need to focus on the smaller details as well.

As already stated, repainting is great. But don’t just put on a fresh coat of the same color, unless it’s already a good color. Many homeowners save paint cans for just this purpose; however, it’s better to select colors strategically. Even on the exterior of the home, it should give an indication of the home’s character on the inside. If the exterior is painted a vibrant red or orange, for example, buyers will be expecting a colorful interior. If the exterior paint is a neutral shade, buyers will expect more subdued interior colors as well. You should also pay attention to the environment around the home, and pick colors that accentuate your home while not clashing with the environment.

One thing that makes this easier is that you do have some control over the home’s immediate environment. You can trim or remove trees on your property or transplant new ones. You can choose plants that can survive all year round, pick a variety of different plants, or replant as the seasons change. Even if you don’t have a yard, you can add window boxes. New, strategically placed lighting fixtures can also help with this by highlighting specific areas. Other elements that are technically not part of the structure of the home but can be updated or replaced are your house numbers and mailbox.

Photo by Reshma Mallecha on Unsplash

Did you graduate from college recently, or do you know someone who has? Looking for a city with good employment opportunities? So are most other recent college graduates. In order to determine the ideal cities for this segment of the population, Zillow has analyzed many US cities looking at four factors: rent-to-income ratio, average salary for recent college graduates, job openings, and share of population in their 20s. They’ve found that the top ten cities for recent grads are Colorado Springs, CO; Spokane, WA; Des Moines, IA; Phoenix, AZ; Buffalo, AZ; Albuquerque, NM; Bakersfield, CA; Albany, NY; Portland, OR; and Little Rock, AR.

Of course, this analysis isn’t an exact science, so you should take it with a grain of salt. There are far more cities in the US than Zillow could ever hope to analyze, so they’re only looking at the largest metros. Their analysis also only looks at rentals, not purchases. While this may simply be a realistic approach, it actually doesn’t bode well for recent grads if renting is their best option — especially in a rather inexpensive place like Little Rock. Job openings also may not be the best statistic to look at, since the jobs may be open because they simply aren’t good jobs.

Photo by Pin Adventure Map on Unsplash

More: https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/business/money-report/the-10-best-u-s-cities-for-new-college-grads-based-on-job-prospects-average-income-and-more/3236829/

If you’re having trouble balancing your budget, one possibility is that you haven’t considered exactly what your budget looks like. Of course, it may be that you’re having financial struggles that you can’t fix with simple budgeting, but you won’t truly know until you examine the numbers.

The first thing to do is assess all your current debts. This includes not just outstanding balances, but also interest payments and minimum monthly payments. Don’t just lump them all together, though — clearly delineate your debts and prioritize them by importance or due date. Next, look at all other expenses that aren’t categorized as debts. Categorize them by essential and nonessential expenses. If you’ve ever itemized on your tax return, you should be familiar with this, though the categories may differ. Then allocate funds as necessary to pay debts and essential expenses before looking at nonessential expenses. You should also set up an emergency fund and allocate funds for that.

Once you’ve allocated funds, if things don’t look good for you, consider the options to either fix the budget or reduce the negative impact of an imbalanced budget. If you can allocate enough funds for debts and essential payments, it could be as simple as choosing which nonessential expenses you’re willing to give up. Or maybe you actually have the money, and are just saving more than you need to. One way to reduce negative impact is by deciding how you want to prioritize debts. One option is to pay extra towards high-interest debts to keep the payments manageable. The other is to focus on the debts with the lowest balance to eventually eliminate them entirely. Sometimes these could be the same debt, which is great, but other times you’ll need to pick which is best for you. If just reprioritizing payments isn’t going to fix your budget, some possible options are negotiating with your creditors, consolidating debts, or refinancing at a lower interest rate.

Photo by Aziz Acharki on Unsplash

Real estate listings are meant to draw people in. This inevitably results in vague wording to obscure potential issues, and over time agents have developed specific buzzwords for this purpose. This isn’t necessarily a malicious trick; it’s no different than any other attempt at salespersonship. Not all of these necessarily mean there’s something wrong with the property, but what it does mean is that you should be aware that you may not be getting what you expect.

Several of these attempt to put a positive or neutral spin on something that isn’t desirable. These include terms such as “vintage” or “old world charm” or even “comfy,” that often just mean it’s worn out and out of date. Phrases like “one of a kind” and “transports you” actually mean that there’s nothing compelling about the property, so no one wants to copy it and residents prefer to think about being elsewhere. A listing stating “backs up to a green belt” may be entirely truthful, but since a green belt just means construction is prohibited, there are a lot of things that are legally categorized as green belts that aren’t particularly green — like a section devoted to power lines. Similar is the term “updated,” which doesn’t necessarily imply the updates are recent. Other common adjectives are too vague or subjective to be meaningful: a neighborhood described as “vibrant,” “quiet,” or simply “good.”

Photo by Julius Drost on Unsplash

More: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/misleading-words-in-home-listings_n_5bb24ea2e4b0c7575967d657

It can be a difficult decision for a seller whether or not to write a counteroffer. In addition to there being two other options, accept the offer as is or reject it and wait for a better offer, the counteroffer has the potential to push away the buyer and possibly force you to wait for another offer. But this decision can be made easier by learning how to write a good counteroffer.

The worst thing you can do when making a counteroffer is not communicating. Usually this is done through agents and not directly with the buyer, but that’s better than nothing. Try to learn what the buyer’s goals and motivations are, and craft a counteroffer that provides what they want in exchange for something else that you want. A counteroffer that attempts to assert the seller’s position is a bad counteroffer. A counteroffer that recognizes what a fair deal is in the current market conditions is a good counteroffer. In addition, don’t try to confuse buyers into accepting a bad deal with tricky wording. If the buyer can’t understand the counteroffer, they won’t accept it.

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

If you’re planning to hire a contractor, chances are it’s because you don’t know how to do the work yourself. Because of this, it’s common to believe that the contractor knows what they’re doing and you don’t need to get involved or ask questions. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. Communication is very important when dealing with contractors to make sure the job that’s being done is the job you wanted. It may require a bit of research, but you should learn how to ask the right questions to get the right contractor for your job.

The specifics will depend on the particular job you want done, but there are some things you should be doing prior to choosing a contractor regardless of the job. When looking for a contractor, get quotes from multiple people and verify all of their credentials, licenses, and certifications, as well as experience. Make sure the contractor you pick has liability insurance and worker’s compensation insurance. The next part is what may require some additional research, and that is defining the scope of the job and setting a timeline. If you don’t know exactly what you’re looking to be done, the contractor won’t either, even if they know how to do it. When you get the contract, make sure it contains all the necessary elements before signing. A proper contract contains all the terms and conditions, payment information, warranties, and dispute resolution procedures.

Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash

If you want to make the most of a partial remodel, look no further than the kitchen. Unless no one in the family knows how to cook, people will spend quite a bit of time there. Kitchen remodels are a great investment if you know what’s trending. Right now, that means terrazzo floors, soapstone, and quartz. Marble and granite are old standbys that won’t generate additional interest. Additionally, more avid chefs are definitely looking for less common kitchen amenities. These include steam ovens, pizza ovens, and professional-grade appliances.

Getting all new furniture may not seem like a solid investment, but it certainly can be. You probably do want to if your current furniture is noticeably old or beaten up. And while you’re at it, you should choose the leading trend, which remains the modern farmhouse style. This style is typified by comfort, neutral color schemes, reclaimed materials, and vintage accessories, while at the same time using modern clean lines. Nearly all modern farmhouse style homes use reclaimed wood and have large, comfortable furniture. Many display rustic-looking, but still modern, wrought iron accents as well as antiques.

Having a shed somewhere on the property will also bring in more money. In addition, accessory dwelling units (ADUs) are still popular. Combining the two also works great. Buyers are paying more for properties with sheds converted into living space. Notably, this actually doesn’t translate to a quicker sale – for one reason or another, homes with sheds stay on the market longer, despite selling for more. If you do want to sell quickly, some inexpensive upgrades that will accomplish just that are doorbell cameras, heat pumps, and fenced backyards.

Photo by Collov Home Design on Unsplash

More: https://www.realsimple.com/features-that-boost-home-values-2023-7375268

Real estate agents and experts will frequently declare that the market is either a seller’s market or a buyer’s market. There isn’t some esoteric industry secret formula, though. Figuring out whether it’s a buyer’s or seller’s market is actually fairly straightforward, as long as you have access to relevant data. There are three indicators of a seller’s market: low inventory, high demand, and low construction.

Of course, these statistics are interrelated. If construction has been consistently low, there will be fewer homes on the market. If inventory is low, buyers will be more competitive, driving up demand. But it’s actually low demand and high inventory that reduces construction rates in the first place, resulting in a cyclical effect. Moreover, each of them are affected differently by factors external to the cycle. So, in order for there to be a seller’s market, all three factors are probably true.

So what should you do if you find yourself under the conditions of a seller’s market? Well, if you’re a seller, everything is great — you’ll probably find a buyer, and be able to sell at a high price, as well. However, even if you’re a buyer, you can work the seller’s market to your advantage. Be aware that prices will be higher in a seller’s market, so a home that looks overpriced may actually be perfectly priced in a seller’s market. If you see something that fits the criteria you’re looking for, be ready to make an offer. It’s likely that multiple buyers are looking at the same thing you are. Make sure to get a pre-approval so that sellers know your offer is serious. In a high demand climate, sellers may get so many offers that they won’t even look at offers that don’t seem genuine.

Photo by Erika Fletcher on Unsplash

Transitioning from renting to buying a home can be exciting. However, make sure not to get too excited too early before you’ve terminated the lease. It’s not at all uncommon for a renter to not want to deal with their landlord any longer than they have to, and simply leave. But that could actually be costing you money or leaving you open for a lawsuit.

Lease agreements will always have an early termination policy. It may look like ignoring the policy and ditching is just a way to skip the fees, but it’s actually not. You’re still on the hook for rent payments until the lease is actually terminated, and the early termination fee could be significantly lower. There may not even be a termination fee — the rules vary widely by region and by property manager. Don’t be afraid to talk to your landlord, either. They’re much more likely to be sympathetic to your situation if they’re aware of it. If you tell your landlord you’re terminating the lease early, the worst they can legally do is charge a termination fee.

Photo by Calvin Hanson on Unsplash