Remodeling Done Right: How to Invest in Your Home

With the market swinging back around and the economy climbing back up, now is the perfect time to improve your home.  Whether you want a remodel that will increase the market value of your property or simply a more luxurious living space, it’s important that your home improvements don’t become nightmares.  These simple steps will help you choose the best remodels for your home.

Consider the Whole Lifetime

Though you may not be hitting your golden years, it’s becoming increasingly popular to create homes that are accessible to all ages.  Consider adding a bedroom on the ground floor so occupants have the option of ignoring the stairs.  You can also create a semi-autonomous         area of the home where parents or in-laws can stay.  A bedroom coupled with a bath and kitchenette will achieve this nicely.  Ask for a Certified Aging In Place Specialist to give you more ideas.  Even if you never end up using these aging-friendly amenities, when it comes time to sell, you’ll have a huge advantage over homes without these components.

Go Eco-Friendly

The public is increasingly environmentally friendly, and having amenities that work within that framework will help you stand out.  This can be as involved as installing state of the art appliances, or as simple as replacing your faucets with the low-flow variety.  If any of your large appliances are aging, they’re probably costing you money and wasting both water and electricity.  Consider replacing these with newer, more efficient devices.  It will save you on your monthly utility bills, and when you put the house on the market, you can advertise the new appliances and the energy-friendly home you’ve created.

Compete with Neighbors

It sounds petty, but in the real estate world, it’s good advice.  If a potential homebuyer has decided on your area, you’re competing with all the other homes on the market in your neighborhood.  It’s a good idea to evaluate what they have to offer.  For example, if all the other homes have two bathrooms, and you only have one and a half, you may want to add another one.  Though the homes won’t be identical, you want to make sure you’re in the same league as the best homes possible.

Upgrade Kitchens and Baths

Nothing receives a better return on investment than a remodeled kitchen or bath.  Because this is where appliances are used most often and it’s most important that nothing goes wrong, buyers want to know that these areas are not only functional, but well cared for.  Something as simple as retiling can change the feel of the rooms and make them significantly more appealing.

Whether you’re remodeling for profit or for your family’s comfort, Fidelity National Title Agency hopes you have a successful project and that you are able to enjoy the fruits of your labors for years to come.

The Advantages of Home Ownership

With the ups and downs of the housing market, sometimes comes a reluctance to start down the path leading to home ownership.  However, there are still amazing advantages to owning a home, and when deciding whether to continue renting or make the leap to becoming a property owner, it’s important not to overlook what can be gained by a home purchase.

Price Appreciation

The single greatest benefit to home ownership is that as time wears on, the value of the house will increase year by year.  This means that if you do decide to sell in a few years, you will often be able to make a profit.   When renting, the value that the property gains goes entirely to your landlord.  He’s the one who reaps the benefits of appreciation.  Often, your rent may increase in time, so you’re the one who’s paying the difference rather than earning it.

Taxes

When you purchase a home, there are many ways to decrease your tax burden each year, so you can end up paying less to the government each year.  One way is by writing off any interest that you pay on the home.  When you first buy the home, you can also write off loan discount points and origination fees, even the seller is the one who pays them. 

Additionally, once you own your home, there are huge tax benefits to selling.  Assuming you have lived there for two of the past five years, you can make a profit of up to $500,000 on the sale and pay no federal taxes on this money if you’re married.  If you’re single, you can make a federal tax-free profit of $250,000.  If you have made changes to your home that have added even more value than typical appreciation, not paying taxes on this income can save a huge amount of money.

Your Sanctuary

As a renter, there are significant limits to the changes you can make to your home.  Some landlords allow you to paint the walls, but you generally have to paint them back before you move.  That’s not a significant amount of freedom in your own home.  As a home owner, you can make whatever changes suit you.  If your kitchen is too small, you can make it bigger.  You can remodel rooms and update old appliances.  Not only do these improves give your home a personal flare, they also add value if you later decide to sell.

Despite the fluctuations in the market, property ownership remains one of the best long term investments available.  When deciding whether to enter the market, consult with mortgage professionals and a real estate agent who can help you determine what you can afford, find the best possible mortgage for you, and go into a purchase on your best footing, by being pre-approved for a home loan.   

Mistakes To Avoid When Selling Your Home

One of the most important financial transactions you’ll likely undertake is the process of selling your home.  Though nothing can replace the expertise of a qualified Realtor, there are some things you can do to avoid common pitfalls that many home sellers fall into. 

Getting Emotionally Involved

Your home is precious to you.  However, it’s important to step back and view it as a property that’s on the market.  Your buyers will see its flaws as well as its virtues, and objectively evaluating the house before it is listed can help you fix problems and determine the most effective way to list it.

Not Hiring An Agent

While listing a home and marketing it yourself may seem like a cost-saving choice, in actuality, homes that are sold by their owner tend to sell for significantly less than a comparable home sold by a Realtor.  Showing and preparing your home means taking time off work and giving up a lot of weekends.  It’s much better to have a professional deal with the day-to-day of home sales.

Setting an Unrealistic Price

The first month of a listing is the time where most people are drawn to a home.  By starting with an unreasonable price, many potential home buyers will dismiss the property.  The market corrects a price set too low more easily than a price set too high.

Too Few Photos

Images are everything in today’s digital world.  Describing a “beautiful, rustic fireplace” may sound good, but a picture would capture that beauty.  Buyers tend to respond more to pictures, likely because they trust the image more than written descriptions.

Not Staging Your Home

A normal home is set up to be functional, clean, and livable.  A house for sale should be breathtaking.  Rearranging furniture, putting out attractive vases and flowers, and even stowing family pictures can enhance the wow factor, and result in higher offers.

Limiting Market Exposure

Just because your home is in one area of the state doesn’t mean your buyer is.  People relocate all the time, and ensuring that your home is listed nationally will open you up to significantly more buyers than a purely local listing.

Ignoring Web Appeal

Almost all house searches today begin on the web.  You can use this to your advantage by creating websites, posting videos, and listing your home on sites that will reach many people while showing your house very positively.

Poor Home Showing

During an open house or while a buyer is touring a home, it’s natural to want to hover around them and point out all the wonderful features the house has.  However, doing this can make the buyer feel pressured and uncomfortable, which will push them out the door faster.  If someone is viewing your home, make plans to be elsewhere for at least a few hours.

Marketing a Home Before It’s Ready

Preparing a home to be sold takes time.  Landscaping, staging, and de-cluttering should all be done before the home hits the market.  Rushing it makes that first month of listing less powerful and hurts the chances of getting your best offer.

Trying to Cover Up Problems

Just because the house has flaws does not mean it won’t get a great price.  Have your home inspected before it’s listed and either fix any problems found or offer some sort of credit for the problem.  Talk to your Century 21 Commonwealth agent to determine which problems should be fixed and which can be left.

For more advice on how to avoid the pitfalls common to home selling, contact a local real estate agent.  They are experienced in getting the most value from your home, and can help you enter the market confident that both you and your home are ready.

Sellers’ Upgrades That Can Make a Difference!$$

The market’s improving, and thus many are not as reluctant to get a home on the market now that the getting’s good – or better, anyway.  You naturally want to get the best possible price for your home which might mean some TLC is in order, while saving the most money in repair or improvement costs.

A first good step is to consult a local real estate agent.  They can look at your house and address your particular needs.  In the interim, here’s an idea of what simple things you might want to consider doing, or wastes of time and money you may want to avoid.

Take a long, hard look at your bathrooms.  Come at them with the view “If I were staying in an upscale hotel, would I be satisfied with this bathroom?”  If the answer is absolutely not, you have some changes to make.

Basic remodeling of the bathroom needn't be that difficult or expensive.  You can replace your tub, or simply re-caulk and re-glaze it.  Most home improvement stores will be able to walk you through the process.  Be sure nothing is leaking, that every faucet is easy to turn on and off, and that there are no visible stains.  This includes under the sink.  New fixtures can make a huge impact and be relatively inexpensive.

The kitchen of any home gets significant wear and tear, so is a likely spot to need some touch ups.  You don’t have to replace your cabinets, but replacing or sanding and repainting the doors can transform the feel of the room.  Depending on your budget, consider getting new surface tops.  Eating and cooking at home is a very personal thing, and your buyers don’t want to be reminded that this kitchen is well used.

The average homebuyer makes a decision as to whether the home is high quality within 30 seconds of stepping out the car door.  Many do it well before 30 seconds has elapsed.  As you walk to your front door, note the door, the landscaping, and the walkway.

Repainting a door and adding a welcome mat can change the entire feel of the entryway.  So can trimming bushes, mowing the lawn, and other basic needs.  Consider consulting with a landscaper who would have advice on what types of plants and decorations would most compliment your home.

Any major additions to your home, like adding a room, are not likely to return more than you spend on them.  If you intend to stay in your home for several years and would like to completely remodel your kitchen, by all means go ahead.  It will raise the cost of your home, but don’t expect a remodel that cost $50,000 to raise the asking price of your home by the same amount.

A real estate agent who has seen your home is going to be in the best position to give you advice about what changes will help.  He or she will also have contacts (such as landscaping companies) that are experienced in raising home sale price.  If you’re considering selling, contact an agent today.

Itty-Bitty Pest That Can Become Huge Problem

“Ants are good citizens, they place group interests first.” – Clarence Day

You'd probably agree, they are an important part of the ecosystem… but you still don’t want them inside your home, right?

You can find quite a variety of ant species in Arizona, from the smaller more common black or red garden ants to the large and more destructive bull, or carpenter, ants.  As the weather starts warming up, ants arrive in huge numbers, building their nests and hunting for food in order to breed and sustain their colony. Infestations may occur if ant populations are not kept under control.

Carpenter Ants found in Arizona homes are black, shiny, and relatively large, ranging in size from one-quarter of an inch to three-quarters of an inch. In its natural habitat, this ant acts as an important decomposer of decaying trees, but, once Carpenter Ants are inside buildings, they are annoying and destructive pests.

Unlike termites, Carpenter Ants do not eat wood but tunnel into it to construct their nests. They are slow to cause much harm, but without control they can do structural damage. The ants will create tunnels in wood without showing exterior signs of damage.  They also often create multiple nests; one primary nest where the queen lives, then several secondary ones.  Some nests can be outside, while others are inside, and they can be found in unlikely places.  Hollow areas, such as curtain rods or doors, can be an ideal location for a secondary nest.  Finding and eliminating one nest is almost never sufficient to remove the threat of carpenter ants.

Tree branches that brush against the building, clotheslines, woodpiles, or cable, phone, or electric wires can provide a route for the ants to gain access in cracks and moist wood on your home, and establish a new nest.  If a carpenter ant is seen inside, it is difficult to know exactly where the nest is, though seeing one of these ants in the winter or early spring almost always means they are nesting indoors.  It can be difficult for a non-professional to identify a carpenter ant, and even harder to find the nest.

Once a colony has created an indoor nest, the damage begins immediately.  The wood in which they nest generally needs to be replaced entirely, and ensuring all the nests are removed, especially in a large home, can be incredibly difficult.  If you suspect you have carpenter ants, immediately seek pest control services.  The longer they nest, the more expensive the repairs will become.

The best method to deal with carpenter ants is to prevent them from nesting indoors at all.  These ants seek moist areas, so removing standing water, water damage, and sources of leaks is crucial.  Keeping nearby tree branches and shrubs trimmed and orderly can lessen that source of entry.  Any gaps or cracks in your home should be filled, not only so that ants can’t nest inside, but also so that moisture won’t creep inside during bad weather.

Regularly scheduled property maintenance and immediate pest control can ensure these tiny pests don’t become a huge problem.

Preparing for a Home Inspection

When you decide to sell your home, you know that every nook and cranny will fall under scrutiny.  You likely cleaned your home and even rearranged your furniture and painted your walls to help your home look it’s most beautiful.  One often overlooked step is the home inspection.  Whether you pay for a home inspector or your buyer does, it’s likely your home will fall under professional scrutiny. 

Many times a home inspection is ordered after an offer is made.  This offer is often contingent on the home passing the inspection, meaning that serious deficiencies will allow the buyer to negate the offer with no penalties amassed.  Surprisingly, many home owners make no preparations for the inspection.  Fidelity National Title Agency wants to provide you with a few simple tips to help minimize any potential flaws found with your home.

Clean any Mess

While it’s true that home inspectors aren’t evaluating the cleanliness of the home, a messy home will give the appearance of a poorly maintained house.  A problem that might be something so minor the inspector would normally overlook can become, in his mind, an indication of a bigger problem.  However, if the home is clean and organized, the assumption becomes that you take care of your property.

Eliminate Known Problems

Every problem found becomes a bargaining chip for the buyer, who may expect you to fix problems or reduce your price so the buyer can later fix them.  If there are problems of which you are already aware, fix them prior to the home inspection.  This is especially true if they are minor issues such as re-caulking or repairing broken shutters.  If you have any ceiling stains, paint over them.  The stain may have come from a one-time storm, a toilet overflowing, or some other chance event.  However, to a home inspector, a stain can indicate a drainage problem that can cost the buyer significantly.  Check your attic and basement for mold, especially if these are areas you seldom visit.

Make the Inspector’s Job Easier

Common areas that hold problems are the attic and the basement.  Expect the inspector to visit both areas, so take the time to clear any paths that may be blocked.  Often, the attic access is in a closet or an area that isn’t easily accessible, so find that access and remove any items that are in the way.  Also, be sure he can easily navigate all the exterior doors and any mechanical parts of the house like the furnace.  Something as simple as moving trash bins away from the walls can save your inspector a lot of hassle.

Fill out a Real Estate Disclosure Form

If there are any problems you know about prior to the buyer’s home inspection, either fix them or list them on a real estate disclosure form.  The big disadvantage to finding problems after an offer has been made is that the buyer now has a better bargaining position while determining the final sale price.  However, if the buyer knows about the problem from the disclosure form prior to making an offer, it is difficult to renegotiate after a home inspection turns up the same problem.

A Budgeter’s Guide to Selling Your Home

Most home sellers expect to invest something into marketing their home and getting it ready to be sold for its highest value.  However, many sellers find that there are significantly more costs than they initially expected.  Fidelity National Title Agency would like to walk you through some of the common costs so you can budget appropriately and aren’t blindsided by unforeseen financial problems.

Home Inspection

Detecting problems before you even list your home can put you at a significant advantage.  If the home inspection says everything is running perfectly, you can include the report in your sales pitch.  More likely, the inspection will turn up a few problems, and knowing of those ahead of time will give you the power to decide what needs to be repaired and what can stay as it is. 

Repairs

If the home inspection turns up things you decide to repair, you will have to pay all these costs out-of-pocket.  Fixing things ahead of time can be beneficial because you can advertise brand new appliances, newly remodeled floors, and energy efficient areas, depending on what you fix.  The costs here vary wildly depending on the upkeep of the home, but consider how much you’ve already invested in keeping your home running well.  If you perform regular maintenance and upgrades, the cost will be much lower than if you haven’t done much work on the home in the last few years.

Facelift

Most homeowners can generate larger offers by doing simple upgrades and maintenance around the house.  Some rooms, especially if there are several nail and tack holes, would look fantastic with a new coat of paint.  Any hinges that are squeaky or missing screws should be repaired, and all lights should shine brightly.  These minor changes can have a big impact.  Expect to pay at least $300 for the supplies needed.

Moving/Storage Costs

Depending on how far you are moving, you can expect to pay anywhere from $1,000 to $12,000.  If you’re moving within the neighborhood, the cost will likely be closer to $1000, whereas cross country moves will be far more expensive.  While staging your home, it’s generally a good idea to store excess furniture.  A storage unit will generally cost between $75 and $100 a month, so if your home is on the market for a long time, that cost can quickly add up.

Relocation Costs

You likely are involved in many community organizations such as schools, gyms, and transportation systems.  When moving, you will likely have to cancel those connections and start new ones in your new location.  There are often fees associated with canceling these memberships, transferring information between schools, and starting new memberships elsewhere.  The cost varies, but be sure to inquire about any of these fees at your participating organizations.

Paying Off Your Mortgage

Anything you still owe on the home will have to be repaid, and many mortgages have a prepayment penalty, which will have to be paid on top of what is owed.  This payment can often be delayed until after closing, but expect it to taken out of the profit from the sale.

Preparing for an Open House

When selling your home, open houses can be particularly stressful.  Assuming the open house has been marketed well (another potential source of stress), you’re going to have a significant number of strangers wandering around, opening closets, and making judgments about your home.  To prepare, many people either try to fix every single potential flaw, spending days and a lot of money upgrading their home, or they are resigned to the fact that there’s just so much to do, a potential buyer is just going to have to love the place the way it is.

These tips may help you tame the seemingly never ending to-do list with some specific things to work on that can go a long way toward impressing home buyers.

Spruce up the Outdoors

This means mowing the lawn the day before, trimming hedges, and talking to your Realtor or Stager about potentially covering up any brown patches with turf or some form of decoration.  Especially important is making sure your house number is easily visible from the road.  You want to avoid a home viewer’s first impression of your home to be that it’s very hard to find.

Spend some time working with the front door.  It should look warm and welcoming, so make sure that any lights are functioning properly.  Even if you don’t intend to use those lights, buyers are notorious for walking around flipping switches.  Consider repainting the door if it’s starting to look drab.  A fresh coat of paint can make it look like a brand new door.

Declutter Closets

One thing many buyers look for in a home is good closet space.  Regardless of the size of your closets, packing them full of coats, clothes, and shoes does nothing but make them look cramped.  You can keep several items in each closet, but make sure there’s plenty of room to move things around, creating the illusion of excess space.

Scrub Surfaces

Nothing turns a potential home-buyer off as much as finding mold and grime.  The cleanliness of a house is often equated with its upkeeping, so finding just a little dirt can translate in a viewer’s mind as a home with substantial problems hidden away.  If you don’t want to take the time to ensure every tile and mirror is immaculate, consider hiring a cleaning service for a day.

Store Excess

While cleaning out your closets, store some furniture as well.  Most homes can get away with about half the furniture they currently have and still look comfortable.  You can rent a storage unit while the house is being shown while keeping the bare minimum necessary in your home.  Just like closet space, the more room to move around, the bigger the room looks.

Most importantly, try to distance yourself emotionally from your home.  People are going to find flaws with the house, in part because it’s a real house and not a made-up Barbie dreamland, and in part because they are considering several homes, and they’re trying to compare them objectively.  The more objective you can be about your home, the better you’ll be able to respond.  Consider letting a Realtor show the home while and your family goes to a double feature.

In short, presenting a home for a showing is a lot like going on a first date.  You want to dress to impress, stow any excess baggage, then prepare for some exciting offers.

Remodeling vs. Staging Benefits for Home Sellers

Home improvement and staging each room to look its best can both make a huge impact on the buyer pool interested in your home.  Staging tends to be inexpensive compared to a remodel, but in some cases, may not get you the highest possible offers.  Remodeling tends to drive the asking price of your home higher, but not always high enough to compensate for the cost of the remodel itself. 

So when should you stage and when should you remodel a home you’re going to sell?  Your real estate agent can certainly advise you on trends they see buyers demanding, and areas of your home to consider either remodeling or staging.  They are also a wealth of information regarding costs of remodeling and staging related to any potential increase in your net from a sale.

Living/Family Room

These rooms often don’t need to be remodeled.  Most likely, they are somewhat more crowded than necessary for a home showing, so it’s a good idea to store any excess furniture and put away clutter.  If there are materials like children’s toys that you’d like to have access to every day, store them in a box in a discreet location.  That way they can be retrieved and quickly put away as needed.  Assume  that potential home buyers are going to open every closet, so don’t kid yourself that stashing things out of sight is the same as de-cluttering.

Kitchen

Remodeling a kitchen can have a big impact.  However, it likely doesn’t need a complete re-do from top to bottom.  If your appliances are old or inefficient, it’s likely worthwhile to replace them.  Consider replacing the floor as well, especially if there are any warps or cracked tiles.  Redoing the cabinets can change the look of the room, but you don’t have to completely replace them.  Upgrading the doors, replacing handles, and/or repainting can upgrade your look just as well as a full replacement.

Bedrooms

This is another area that rarely needs remodeling.  Clever staging and thorough cleaning is normally sufficient to make all the bedrooms in your home look great to prospective buyers.  You may want to consider downsizing a bed.  If a king sized bed makes the room look like a tight fit, a queen may be a better fit.  However, the perfect staging techniques for your bedrooms can be discussed with your Realtor.

Attics

A common problem with attics is poor insulation.  This leads to heat seeping out of the house, costing you and future owners money.  Upgrading the insulation is something you can advertise, especially in today’s energy saving economy.  If you have an attic that you can easily reach and has proper floor and walls, you can transform even tiny spaces into attractive studies.  A desk and chair with some lighting and a bookshelf turns an empty space into an extra room.

Basements

There are markets for both finished and unfinished basements.  If you have an unfinished basement, talk to your Realtor to see whether finishing it would attract more buyers in your area.  Finishing a basement turns a storage space into at least one extra room, which can have incredible appeal, especially for smaller houses.

Every home is different, so before beginning any major remodeling project, talk to a Realtor to determine how to make the most impact with the smallest financial risk.

Suns Charities 88

A Network of Professionals Helping Arizona’s Children

In addition to becoming leaders in the world of Title Services, Fidelity National Title Agency continues to serve the children of Arizona with its philanthropic endeavors.  One of Fidelity National Title’s family members, Melissa Shapiro, has been working with other professionals in the area to create “Suns Charities 88,” an organization that raises funds for Arizona's children.

Suns Charities 88 was created to build professional relationships that could be used to help those who desperately need it.  In real estate, as in many other industries, professionals connect with new people daily.  Often, these people would love to participate in charitable efforts, but this network of connections is not used to effectively funnel these efforts where they are needed.

Melissa Shapiro and the Fidelity National Title Agency team are putting these connections to good use.  By targeting individuals who have succeeded in their business careers, Suns Charities 88 creates both a far reaching network and a system composed of people who have the drive and ability to sustain a large collaboration.

This group will primarily focus on fundraising for Phoenix Suns Charities, an organization that has been serving the children of Arizona since 1988, and that has granted over $13 million to those children during that time.

In addition to the philanthropic component of this group of professionals, Suns Charities 88 will provide professional development opportunities to all its participants.  Executives of the Phoenix Suns will present panels on the importance of teamwork, dedication, and leadership, and networking events will allow this collaboration to aid each participant’s business.

Fidelity National Title Agency is proud to be a founding member of this collaboration, and is confident that the results will benefit both the children of Arizona and the participants of this amazing networking group.  For more information, or to learn how to become part of this professional organization, contact Fidelity National Title Agency today, and check out this great article on the Phoenix Suns' website: http://www.nba.com/suns/suns-charities-wells-fargo-debut-networking-group