- Give the trim around the front door a fresh coat of paint, covering up fingerprints and dings.
- Fertilize the grass so it looks bright green.
- Hang a small flag that says “Welcome.”
- Place a big pot of yellow marigolds in the foyer — yellow makes people feel comfortable.
- Dribble a few drops of vanilla on the oven door and turn it to low (it’ll smell just like cookies are baking).
$5 Ideas for Making a House More Appealing
May 9, 2007 By Leave a Comment
5 Tips for Home Energy Efficiency
April 26, 2007 By Leave a Comment
Check windows and doors.
Heat lost through windows and doors represents a significant chunk of most heating bills. Some sources estimate that loss through windows alone could account for up to 35 percent of heating bills. If you are tired of watching your hard earned money slip through the cracks, there are things that you can do:
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Check around windows and doors with a candle or a light piece of thread on a windy day to determine where drafts are. This will reveal problem areas in need of immediate attention.
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Remove and replace damaged caulk and weather-stripping. Self-stick foam and rolled rubber weather-stripping are easy to install, and can contribute greatly to your home’s efficiency.
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An inexpensive method of weatherizing windows involves attaching thin, clear plastic film to the window trim inside of the house using two-sided tape. The film is then stretched taut using heat from a blow dryer to remove wrinkles and creases.
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Decorate your windows with efficiency — closed shutters, window shades, blinds, curtains and lined draperies. All contribute to energy savings by helping to insulate windows.
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For a long-range solution, consider installing efficient replacement windows, or storm windows and doors.
Conserve with ENERGY STAR.® By choosing ENERGY STAR for every application in your home, you can save up to 20 percent or about $400 per year on your energy bills. Appliances account for about 20 percent of your household’s energy consumption, with the refrigerator and clothes dryer being the biggest culprits. A typical household does nearly 400 loads of laundry per year, using about 40 gallons of water per full load with a conventional washer. An ENERGY STAR qualified clothes washer uses 18-25 gallons per load, saving you 7,000 gallons of water! An ENERGY STAR refrigerator uses less energy than a 75-watt bulb, saving you between $30-$70 a year.
See the light. Compact fluorescent bulbs (CFL) are the most energy-efficient of all light bulbs. They use 67 percent less energy than standard incandescent bulbs and last longer: They cost more, but last up to sixteen times longer than incandescent bulbs.
Programmable thermostats help reduce energy costs by lowering energy use during those times when you do not need it. A programmable thermostat can tell your home’s heating system to gear up for your arrival after work, or to knock off a bit until an hour or so before you get up in the morning.
Turn down your water heater to 120° F and save up to 50 percent of a household’s hot water costs. Electric heaters benefit most from this approach to saving energy. Timers are also available which allow you to make the water heater conform to your water usage schedule. They prevent the water heater from trying to maintain hot water during periods when it is never used.
Silence Squeaky Floorboards
March 26, 2007 By Leave a Comment
Squeaky floorboards don’t have to drive you crazy. Sprinkle some baby powder over your wood floors and sweep it back and forth working it into the cracks. Sweep away any excess and the squeaks will be silenced!
7 Tips to Radically Update Your Home (And Not Lose Money!!!)
March 21, 2007 By Leave a Comment
Everyone loves to update their homes, and if you live in an older home in an appreciating neighborhood, it can be a fantastic investment. There are some pitfalls to avoid, which can cost a homeowner quite a bit of money because of no return on investment. However, it’s better to focus on what TO do and stay the course.
1. Raise the Roof!!!
Not literally, but gut the attic, and raise the ceiling in, at least, the living room. Older homes typically have 8 foot ceilings, and it’s one of the first characteristics that buyers notice. It’s relatively inexpensive, when you compare your return on investment, to demolish the ceilings of your older home and sheetrock over your new, vaulted ceiling. It’s amazing how much larger and lighter your home will feel.
2. Knock Down Walls
Literally, knock down as many walls as you can and still retain the integrity of the home, and the NECESSARY separation of rooms. If you compare older homes to newer homes, you’ll notice that older homes are typically “choppy” while newer homes feel “open and flow well.” This is due to “line of sight.” Newer homes opt for less separation in rooms. You can create this same feeling by demolishing a half-wall that separates your kitchen from the living room or knocking down the wall between the living room and dining room to create one grand room. You’ll be AMAZED at the difference it makes.
3. Overhaul Your Kitchen and/or Master Bathroom
These are the two rooms in the house that you can ALMOST go overboard and still get your money back when you sell the home. Refinish or replace the cabinetry, put in new tile and sinks – even install a new, stand-up shower! When (or if) you put your home on the market, you should see a GREAT return on investment.
4. Add a Master Bathroom
The 1-Bathroom houses from the 1970′s and earlier are now obsolete. Americans have decided that we like a private bathroom for ourselves and another bathroom for our guests and children. While 90% of the house additions are bad ideas because they don’t flow well or create poorly usable space, a master bathroom addition is a fantastic way to add more square footage, and more value to your home. Make SURE that your builder ties in the new slab to the old, and make sure that the addition is done properly. A poorly designed or executed addition never adds value – most buyers immediately imagine demolishing the work.
5. Xeriscape Your Lawn
It’s trendy, it’s cheap – it should be a go! Your homes curb appeal is the first thing that buyers notice, and it’s how buyers decide whether or not they’ll “click on your house” online to further investigate the interior. You can xeriscape a ¼ acre lot for around $3000, and you’ll more than make up for that when your home goes on the market. Furthermore, it’s environmentally & fiscally responsible. Stop wasting water!
6. Paint!!!
It’s fairly obvious, but painting your home modern, neutral colors makes a HUGE difference in the appearance of the home. And when you factor in the cost – roughly $0.75/s.f. – it would be a HUGE mistake to forego painting your home when you decide it’s time to modernize it. If you’re planning on staying in the home for some time, paint it whatever colors you wish, but plan on repainting right before it’s time to put it up for sale. If you plan on updating your home in order to sell it, go with neutral colors so that it will appeal to the widest audience.
7. Put in Wood Floors
You won’t ALWAYS get your money out of installing wood floors. If you’re in a great area, and it’s time to replace the floors, look at the cost difference between tile, pergo, and wood. If your home will sell for $250k+ then forget about pergo and, if you choose tile, make sure it’s not cheap tile. If the cost difference between wood and your other options is negligible, then go with wood – it appeals to the most buyers.
Updating your older home can be very fun, very rewarding, and potentially very lucrative. Older homes in established neighborhoods are ripe for updating and can draw a premium on the marketplace. Make sure and follow these guidelines, and you should see a great return on your investment.
Added Incentive Could Mean a Faster Sale
August 22, 2006 By Leave a Comment
A good home in good condition in a good neighborhood offered at a fair price will still sell in a reasonable amount of time.But some owners want to offer a little extra incentive to ensure that their homes sell as quickly as possible. Here are some suggestions:
- Pay homeowners association fees for up to two years.
- Pay the buyer’s home insurance for up to a year.
- Offer a bonus to the buyer’s agent.
- Buy down the mortgage rate by a percentage point or two to lower the buyer’s monthly payment.
- Pay closing costs.
- Replace all the appliances with new ones
Remodeling: Home Owners’ Seven Deadly Sins
July 30, 2006 By Leave a Comment
Remodeling isn’t always a good idea.
Here are the seven deadly home-improvement sins to consider before committing to projects that may work against you and lessen your resale value.
- Over expanding. Outdoing all the homes on the block is never a good idea because it makes the house more expensive than the others and therefore harder to sell.
- Making your home into something it’s not. Changing the style or the architecture is usually a big mistake.
- Changing the purpose of a room. Keep kitchens as kitchen and baths as baths. They were built that way for a reason.
- Under budgeting. People routinely under budget 20 or 30 percent fewer dollars and underestimate even more in guessing the time the job will take.
- Doing the job yourself. Unless you have first-rate skills, hire somebody who does.
- If it’s not broke, don’t fix it. Don’t waste money on renovations that won’t pay off. Buyers won’t necessarily pay for what makes a seller happy. Siding, windows, kitchens and bathrooms are the home improvement winners, according to Remodeling magazine.
- Neglecting regular upkeep. They may seem boring, but cleaning the gutters, keeping the house painted and trimming the shrubs are the most valuable home improvements.
Call 811 before you dig
It’s springtime, and that means the shovels are out. Before you start digging, however, you can dial 811 to get underground utility lines, cables and pipes marked for free.
This new service, established by the FCC, was created to help homeowners and professional excavators alike. When you call 811 from anywhere in the country, you’re automatically routed to your local One Call Center, where an operator will take your project details and forward the request to the appropriate utility companies. Within a few days, you should have all necessary lines marked. (Obviously this requires a little advance planning.)
Although this safety-minded line-marking isn’t new, the super-convenient national number is. It’s far too easy to plunge a shovel through a cable-TV cable or, horrors, an electrical line, so before you plant a tree, dig a post hole or whatever, do yourself a favor and dial 811. End of PSA.