5 Ways to Add Instant Value to Your Home

Getting ready to sell? Buyers will form a first impression about your home within seconds of touring it in-person or online. Make sure the impression your home makes is one of high value for the asking price with these 5 tips for boosting your home’s appeal. Bonus: You don’t have to go for broke to make a big impact! Spring for a Fresh Coat of Paint Indulging your interior walls with a neutral, classic color is one of the most inexpensive and simplest things you can do that will make an incredible impression. If you choose to DIY, focus on one room at a time to limit your day-to-day living disruptions. Evaluate window and door frames, skirting boards and doors to see if a good clean scrub will do the trick, saving you even more time and expense. Walk This Way Flooring tells the story of a home’s wear and tear very quickly. Having carpets and tile floors professionally cleaned can dramatically improve the freshness of your flooring and is well worth the cost on the return. However, if the shelf life of your home’s flooring has truly expired, replacing it may be your best bet. Somewhere in the middle? Professional floor cleaning coupled with re-sanded floorboards opens up possibilities to paint, stain or simply reseal floorboards for a clean and updated look. Offer More Than a Garage As you go about the task of de-cluttering your home, storing everything you’ve just removed in the garage might come second nature. Especially if you don’t spend a lot of time out there yourself. Don’t make the mistake of overlooking the garage as you imagine your home through someone else’s eyes. Keeping the garage open and bright shows its potential to accommodate a workshop, storage area, multiple cars, home gym or even a “man cave.” Show Your Landscaping Some Love After you’ve rolled up your sleeves and done a good once-over, determine where the weak spots are in your yard or patio. Purchasing established potted plants native to your area will give a pop of color to your outdoor spaces (and you may take them with you when you move!) Pathways and painted areas will both benefit from a good high-pressure hosing treatment. Cleaning outdoor furniture and then adding some inexpensive furniture pillows in coordinating colors completes the look and invites buyers to stay a little longer. Inexpensive Kitchen Upgrades The kitchen is still one of the most popular selling points of any home. Aside from upgrading appliances and expensive remodeling jobs, you can still add value in creative ways. Cupboard doors and new handles are a great place to start. Some cabinet doors you can simply pre-treat and paint for a whole new look. Pre-made doors in a laminated finish are another budget-friendly option. Adding fabric to the kitchen will give it a soft cozy feel. Hide content clutter with fabric panels behind glass-front cabinets. Or, conceal less attractive lower cabinets with cloth skirts attached to a tension rod. Lastly, if you’ve gone with neutral fresh paint throughout your home, the kitchen can be a great place to add an accent color for boldness and distinction.

Selling Your Home?

In any market, selling a home is an intricate and often times emotional process. However, with careful planning and the right lineup of experts on your side, you can progress methodically and confidently through the many stages of selling your home in a way that honors your time¬frame and financial goals. Read on for a basic road map of what you can expect when making this important transition. Enjoy the journey! The Power of Now There are many factors that come into play when deciding the best time to sell your home. A licensed real estate agent can show you the precise current market conditions in your area, from the listing count, to the number of traditional sales, distressed sales and new home sales in your area, as well as builder permits and inventory supply data. Examining how this information fits in with your unique timeline, financial goals and your property equity will help you answer the question, "Is now the right time for me to sell?" How to choose a Real Estate Agent and Brokerage Once you have decided that you are ready to sell, carefully selecting a brokerage and an agent will save you time, money and hassle. This is the time to ask a lot of questions. Your friends, family and neighbors are a great source for referrals. Finding an agent that specializes in your area with experience listing and selling homes in your price range is important. A real estate professional that belongs to a reputable brokerage and local board, and can readily share with you their business plan, mission statement, client testimonials and marketing plan, along with a detailed comparative market analysis and complete property profile is one who has done their homework and is well-equipped with experience and knowledge. The Price is Right Pricing your home correctly is a decision that you and your agent will make together, after carefully considering all of the factors. After gathering information about your unique situation and financial goals, current market conditions, your home‚Äôs key features and assets including area amenities, schools and projected improvements¬¬ the right price point will become clear. Pricing your home correctly is the key to attracting potential buyers to view your home, while making sure your financial interests and timeframe are supported. Put Your Best Foot Forward Even in a low-inventory market, would-be buyers can end up viewing dozens of homes, many times all in the same day. How will your home stand out? Making the right first impression, whether in photos posted online or during an in-person viewing, is crucial. Your agent can make recommendations about maximizing your home’s living space, enhancing natural lighting and utilizing your homes’ décor to highlight the best aspects of your home. Getting the Word Out Once your home is ready to be shown at its best, it is important to give your home the most exposure possible. The key is to use multiple channels to advertise your home, utilizing the power of a strong network while your home is “coming soon” to the market, then engaging the full power of online listing data, along with word-of-mouth, online & print advertising and social media to give your home local, regional, national and global reach. The right real estate professional will provide you with a customized marketing plan that works to target qualified home buyers. Bring in the Bids Most offers on your home will be made in the form of a written contract complete with a timeframe for responding to the offer. All offers for your property will generally first be presented to your real estate professional, who will then present all offers to you for consideration. Your real estate agent will provide an objective, non-emotional point of view when it comes to evaluating, accepting, countering or rejecting any offer. Negotiation Table If you receive an offer that falls short of your wants and needs, you may choose to counter back and negotiate the offer. Your agent will help you evaluate the quality of the offer, negotiate the terms and ensure a smooth transaction if all parties come to an agreement. Requesting information about the buyer’s background, intentions and qualifications and ensure that the buyer is knowledgeable about available financing alternatives are some of the steps your agent can take. Thoroughly reviewing the contract and ensuring that you understand all of the details will help you determine if you want to respond with a counter offer. The Home Stretch You are in escrow... now what? Your real estate professional will help keep your transaction on track during the escrow process. Preparing a timeline, managing all files, paperwork, disclosures, and staying in constant communication with you, the buyer’s agent, title officers and mortgage professionals will keep your transaction on a smooth course. The home inspection process, pest inspection, appraisal and closing schedules will all be put into motion to eliminate any surprises along the way. Oh Happy Day Congratulations! You have made it from the negotiation table to the closing table. Your real estate professional will help guide you through the final phases of the transaction by staying on top of the finishing details such as closing documents, loan documents, funding information, final recordation, delivering the keys and orchestrating move details.

Then and Now: Living Arrangements in American Households

Then and Now: Living Arrangements in American Households Posted on Jul 28 2015 - 9:30am by Suzanne De Vita Share on facebookShare on twitterShare on google_plusone_shareShare on pinterest_shareMore Sharing Services #0 familyRevisiting population data, the U.S. Census Bureau recently zeroed in on the living arrangements of adults over the last 40-plus years. Notably, the majority of adults in both 1970 and 2014 shared a household with a spouse. But if trends bear out, the gap between married adults and unmarried adults sharing households will close – fast. As of last year, spouses sharing a household edged out unmarried adults in various living situations by a mere 3.3 percent. What’s more, arrangements in which spouses share households have seen the most significant change since 1970, declining nearly 20 percent. A comparison: 1970 Adults Who Live with a Spouse – 69.4 percent Adults Who Live Alone – 8.6 percent Adults Who Live with Other Relatives – 9.3 percent Adults Who Live in the Parental Home – 10.8 percent Adults Who Live with a Partner* – 0.5 percent Adults Who Live with Non-Relatives – 1.4 percent 2014 Adults Who Live with a Spouse – 51.7 percent Adults Who Live Alone – 14.3 percent Adults Who Live with Other Relatives – 12.2 percent Adults Who Live in the Parental Home – 11.0 percent Adults Who Live with a Partner* – 7.3 percent Adults Who Live with Non-Relatives – 3.6 percent The combined growth in other types of living arrangements could equal more opportunities for real estate professionals among the next crop of marriage-averse homebuyers – in theory. But in fact, many are experiencing the contrary to a considerable degree. Related Link: Unmarried Couples Take the Plunge…into Homeownership “Over 90 percent of my local homebuying clients are married (with children),” says George Gardone of The Relocation Group, servicing Greenwich and Stamford, Conn. “The majority of my sellers are married, either empty nesters, families outgrowing their current homes, or they are on the other end of a corporate relocation program.” Gardone says approximately 80 percent of his corporate clients are also married with families. And yet, according to a recent Coldwell Banker Real Estate survey, 17 percent of now-married respondents purchased a home together before saying “I do” – a quarter of which were millennials. “What we’re seeing is that young couples are switching up the order and purchasing their first home regardless of whether or not they have set a wedding date,” explained Dr. Robi Ludwig, Coldwell Banker Real Estate lifestyle correspondent and leading psychotherapist. “This is huge movement within the American culture.” Based on these findings, we have to wonder: will unmarried homebuyers tip the scales? To view Census tables on this information, click here. *From 1967-1995, “living with a partner” was defined as two unrelated adults of the opposite sex sharing living quarters. From 1996-2006, “living with a partner” included couples in which one was the householder. Due to data collection changes beginning in 2007, all cohabitating partners are now counted, regardless of whether one is a householder.