But don’t want to spend $35,000 to $40,000 adding on? Well there may be another way. A friend of mine had a large upstairs area that was not being utilized for much other than a passing lane. When his two sons started to bicker he knew it was time to get a larger house with an extra bedroom so they could have their own space. Trouble was they loved their home, their neighborhood and the school system and really didn’t want to move.
What they did was ingenious. They walled off a part of the space upstairs that no one used and put in a door and created another bedroom for the boys at a cost below $500 and that included the paint. What this means for you is there are ways you can expand your home if you will just look around for space that is not being utilized or space that is just large and open and can be used for an office or additional bedroom. BTW an additional bedroom can bring additional dollars to the value and sale of a home. It is dependent on the area but you can always check with your Realtor and find out what that number might be.
One of the most asked questions I get is: “What can I do to my house that will give it the best bang for the buck and help me sell it for a higher price, quicker?” The answer is; there are several things you can do that don’t cost an arm and a leg that can enhance your home and entice a buyer.
For example; you can freshen up a kitchen by simply changing out the drawer and cabinet fronts. That’s right, you don’t have to tear anything out; you change out the fronts and update the hardware and you will have an updated and freshened up kitchen. This costs about 25 to 50% less than tearing existing cabinets out and replacing them with new.
Another clever thing you can do is tech up your garage with a touch-pad entry key system. It looks like a very high end tech gadget and costs about $425. Of course one of the easiest and least costly things you can do in your garage and your kitchen is tidy them up and get them organized. Those buyers that come through and open doors, cabinets and see how neat and organized you are will want to jump in and buy and ultimately, that is what you want.
One of the things about being a Realtor that I find fascinating are the classes I get to take that introduce me to new real estate, mortgage and business tools that are readily available these days; and many of them are free! I would like to share a few of my favorites with you that are helping me make my business life easier and I hope they will make yours as well.
The first is YouMail which is a free service that takes cell phone messages and if you spend any time with me at all, you will note that I am always on my cell phone. One of the best features about YouMail is you can download your contacts and create personal messages as well as set it up to “read” the ID and use the name in the ID’s for a greeting. Worth checking into to see if it’s for you.
I also like Xpenser.com because you can call in your expenses on the go and I am always on the go! It teams up with a service called Jott.com which allows those of us who are on the run to use our cell phones to do record keeping, text transcription and messaging. All of these services are worth looking into to see if they can make your business life easier.
You may be tired of the snow outside your door but you won’t get tired of watching the great winter sports of the Winter Olympics. There is something wonderful about watching these incredible athletes from all over the world compete. The US is strong in many of the events and its fun to see them succeed. However, it’s the way they all interact with each other that really tells a greater story.
The respect they have for each other and their opponents is a lesson for us all in the business world. They congratulate each other and treat each other with grace. They also know that this is the moment to do their best; win or loose. If we approached each day like this, how different would our lives be? Dedicated, determined and ready for whatever life brings us is just one of many things that can be learned from watching world class athletes. Another one is overcoming adversity which translates in any language. If you haven’t had a chance to watch any of the games, find the Winter Olympics and enjoy!
Home sales were up 6% in January 2010 over the same period in 2009 with 1,033 home closings. Condominium sales were also up the first month of 2010 from last year. If you were a lucky buyer, you most likely got a better deal this year than you would have last year since the average median price in January was $159,000, down from $165,000 in January 2009. The condo medium price was $154,550; also down from $165,000 last year at this time. Another difference is the inventory numbers. They were up last year and are actually down over 275 and at the end of January there were 22,233 units on the market.
This is all very good news and it looks like the first time home buyer’s credit has worked during the past year and continues to work now. It’s really a very good time to purchase a home as prices are down, interest rates continue to hold at near historic lows and, as long as you have a house under contract by the end of April, there are government tax credits available to you whether you are a first time, a move up or move down buyer in the market. We don’t expect this “perfect storm” for buyers to last much longer so the time is now.
One of the best times to evaluate your yard’s landscaping needs is on the barest of winter days when you can see your yard in all of its glory or its mess. It’s amazing how much you can hide behind shrubbery and greenery from spring all the way through to late fall. However, once the leaves fall off, your yard is laid bare and you can go to work and decide what needs to be done to make your yard everything it can be.
It’s as if you get to start with a clean palate of sorts to see where hardscapes might be placed for entertaining or where a garden would look great and function well for your family. The bonus to having a well thought out yard is you get to enjoy it while you live there and it becomes a great selling feature when you get ready to sell it. That’s a win, win if I ever saw one.
If you need some help in designing a garden or just cleaning up your landscape, give me a call and I can hook you up with one of Nashville’s best.
I have been in contact with several buyers over the last few weeks that have complained to me that they can’t find a house worth buying. After visiting with both couples I quickly realized that they are bargain hunting in very specific areas of town that don’t have a lot of bargains! One of the biggest misconceptions in real estate is that what you hear on the news, even local news, is how it is in every neighborhood and that is just not how real estate works; it’s neighborhood by neighborhood.
You can have a neighborhood that is loosing its value right next to one that is actually gaining in value. If you are not aware of that fact, you may thing you can waltz into the rising neighborhood and purchase a house at a bargain as if you were shopping in the adjacent neighborhood and you won’t find a house that’s worth buying at the price you are willing to pay because they aren’t there.
Believe it or not, there are neighborhoods just like that in and around the Nashville, TN area including Hendersonville, Goodlettsville and Franklin. If you are out there trying to figure it our on your own; good luck. If you are smart, you will engage a Realtor who can help you find the gems or level with you that you are looking for them in the wrong places!
Now that I have your attention, I would like you to know that you can sell your home today by following a couple of tried and true rules of real estate; price it right and show it well. By making sure you have the home priced to sell almost any house will sell quickly. If you show the home in its best light, you won’t have to under price your home to sell it either.
Most people make one, if not two, big mistakes; they put their house on the market based on what THEY THINK its worth and they show it the way THEY THINK it should be shown. Notice that I have highlighted “THEY THINK” because selling your house has nothing to do with what the seller thinks its worth or what the seller thinks it should look like. People who sell their homes quickly do so because they or their Realtor have done the research to find out what the buyers are looking for and what the market will bare in the neighborhood they live. Without this important information the sellers are shooting in the dark and if they hit something, it’s pure luck. Let’s get serious and sell your home the right way with the right information.
When people first start looking for a home they invariably start out looking for the perfect house. They sometimes define the house by what they have seen on TV, which can be misleading. Your perfect house may not be in your income range. With this said, you might have to readjust the size, type or style of the house to fall into your price range.
This is just one reason it is very important to talk with a mortgage loan officer before you start your search. No one likes to be disappointed, but this is exactly what will happen if you start looking at homes above what you can afford. Being realistic is the first step to finding the perfect house for your situation right now. Making sure you have a good experience the first time can lend itself to you having a larger home that may fit into your life’s vision of what type of home you want to live in later. Don’t lower your dreams; just take the right steps towards them.
When it comes to driving, one of the things many fear is driving in the snow or on streets after it has snowed, and for good reason, it is slick! I have a friend who lived in Wyoming and Colorado for many years who has given me a tip that I would like to pass along; even though it may be too late this time.
What I learned is to use the cars gears to slow it down and not the brakes. Of course this is assuming you are not going fast under these types of road conditions. You also should drive in the lowest gears in the worse weather and not be in drive with your foot on the brake. A slow movement forward is much better in the snow that the go and stop motion when relying on the brakes. This also helps prevent sliding. However, if you find yourself in a slide you will need to steer towards the slide and not against it. This is totally against what you think you should be doing and is why you need to give other vehicles a very wide berth; two to three times the distance you would normally follow the vehicle in front of you.
The most important thing to remember is that nothing is worth your life so; if you don’t have to be out when the weather and roads are bad, then don’t go out. Be safe to drive another day!
