Portland buyers agent

Top 5 Money-Making Home-Remodeling Tips

For most of us, our home is probably one of the biggest investments we’ll ever make. In the past, it was possible to sit back casually and watch our equity grow with little or no effort. These days equity is not given, it must be earned. We can no longer count on the market and Buyer demand to propel our homes toward higher values. It is time to get proactive. It is time for home improvements!

Depending on the age, size, and location of your home, there may be any number of potential improvements. However, there are a few upgrades that will almost certainly increase the value of any home. Remember, most home-buyers are looking for a home they can move into quickly and easily. They don’t want to deal with the hassle of remodeling…so if your house is outdated or missing key features, they’re likely to keep looking. As a homeowner, you have the opportunity to make those key changes at your own pace, so that the potential future buyer won’t have to. With that in mind, here are the Top 5 home improvement areas you’ll want to focus on.

1. The Kitchen: The FIRST thing buyers look for in a house is a great kitchen. Your kitchen may not necessarily make you, but it can definitely break you. Wood paneling, wallpaper and brown appliances will induce projectile vomiting from today’s buyers. Seriously…I’ve seen it happen. Start with upgrading appliances, then move on to walls, cabinets and counters. Don’t worry about moving walls around unless you have a large budget and you’re sure it makes sense relative to the potential sale price down the road.

2. Deck/Patio space: Outdoor living and entertaining space is a big priority for many buyers. If you have a deck or patio already, make sure it looks its best. If you don’t, give it some serious consideration. Even something as simple and inexpensive as rock or concrete pavers can make a huge difference.

3. Siding Replacement: While not a particularly exciting project, siding is a big deal, especially if you’ve got worn out vinyl or damaged wood siding. Try upgrading to a cement fiber product. It comes pre-painted and lasts longer than anything else. Buyers will see that your home has the mark of quality and credibility before they even open the front door.

4. Window Replacement: Windows are easily taken for granted…by owners. Buyers will notice if they are outdated, inefficient, or damaged.

5. Landscaping: Do not underestimate the value of curb-appeal. If your home doesn’t look good from the street, many buyers will never even see the inside. A tastefully designed yard, even a modest one, will go a long way toward making a good first impression. Lose the garden gnomes…I know, I know, I love them, too…but not everybody has such good taste.

Here’s a crucial tip: When considering remodels from an investment perspective, you would be wise to consult a local real estate professional who knows your market. You DO NOT want to go overboard on expenditures if your market doesn’t support a commensurate price increase.

Originally published by Rob LeRoy on www.theRealEstateNovelist.com

Portland buyers agent

Agent Spotlight: Rich Peralta

Some background on Rich Peralta:

Exuberant father, eXp Realty agent and big fan of life in Portland.

Portland buyers agent

Top 5 Reasons Buyers Fumble with Fixers

These days, it is all too easy for  inexperienced buyers to become obsessed with getting the “best deal”.   I’m talking about  the “weekend warrior” buyer- the one who watches countless hours of HGTV shows that make it seem plausible that someone could seek out, purchase, remodel and flip a home for 25% profit in 30 minutes, or less. The “Hey, I bet I could do that, too!” type of buyer…

There are lots of ways to cut costs when house-hunting. Buying fixers, frontier homes or former meth-labs has always been popular for those hoping to save money, and these days, short-sales and foreclosed (REO) homes are whetting the appetites of aspiring “investors” all across the country.  Certainly, there are good deals out there to be found, and there are smart ways a savvy buyer can save money. The seemingly-endless series of books, seminars, and TV shows based on that premise can attest to that.  However, in my experience as a real estate professional I have witnessed, first-hand, more than a few common mistakes that I think are worth pointing out. This is for those buyers AND their agents, to whom they should be paying more attention!

#1   You don’t actually know how to fix stuff:

Do you know how to re-wire a circuit breaker? Have you actually done it, or just seen it on TV?  If water starts shooting across the floor after you smash the old toilet with a sledgehammer, do you know how to turn it off? Do you know how to pull up the carpet and lay down that fancy tile flooring your wife picked out at Home Depot last weekend? No? Then…

#2  You don’t have the money to get things fixed:

You don’t have to be a handy-man to buy a fixer. However, you definitely need deep pockets with plenty of cash in them. Fixing up a house can cost a lot of money. I mean a LOT of money. Do you know how much a toilet costs? How about a window…or a new heating system? Do you know how much it costs to pay the people who do know how to do that stuff? I’ve met electricians who charged by thesecond,  roofers that actually preferred to be paid in kidneys, and  plumbers whose invoices technically qualified as Crimes Against Humanity…

#3  You don’t have the time to get things fixed:

So, let’s say you have the knowledge, the money, or some combination thereof that you determine will make this a workable scenario. Do you have the time?  I was talking with a friend of mine recently about this. He’s a professional home inspector, so he definitely has the knowledge and the money required. However, he was complaining about how he’d been working on a bathroom remodel for an entire year. A YEAR!  His intentions were pure and his plan was solid…but time just kept getting away from him.  Think about that for a minute.  A whole year of planning, anxiety, struggling to find the time…NOT being able to use the bathroom… Now think about trying to fix up a whole house.  Make no mistake, any rehab project is a serious time-suck, but a whole house is a full-time job, and then some!

#4  You can’t get the bank to actually give you the loan:

These days, banks are getting increasingly antsy about loans, especially for fixers. Remember, the house has to appraise for the amount you’re paying for it, or at  least the amount you’re financing.  If the house is falling apart, the appraisal will reflect that. If the bank determines that the house is a potential liability, you’d better be prepared to provide solid answers to the above questions. If you can’t, the bank is likely to reject your application on the grounds that you’ll be too likely to get in there and find yourself over your head.  The last thing they want is to encourage somebody to default on a loan because they end up overwhelmed by the staggering realities of fixing up a crack-house.

#5  Your work  prices you above the market:

If you think you can manage the cost, effort, and time required for repairs, be careful not to price your new Valhalla out of the local market! Some clients of mine bought a house in Seattle back in early 2005. It was a nice, older home, in a pretty good area. They spent the next 6 months transforming it into a modern masterpiece, replete with stainless appliances, additional bedrooms and bathrooms, heated floors and dormer windows in the master bedroom.  They’d turned a $400k house into a $750k house. The problem was that the home was on a busy street, and the surrounding homes topped out in the mid-$600 range.  This home, in any number of other locations, could easily have sold for the $750 they wanted…but the present location brought the value down. They ended up selling it after several months for much less than their original asking price, simply because they had spent too much money in the first place. A couple of years later, I later sold a similar fixer just a few blocks up the same street. Having seen this movie before, I went out of my way to warn my client about the dangers of pricing herself out of the market by over-doing the remodel. However, she knew a lot more than I did about flipping houses in Seattle. She was from the East Coast, after all. Yada-yada-yada…same beer, different bar. She lost money…

Thanks for reading!  Please leave your comments below. I appreciate your feedback! If you have any questions, please feel free to email Rob LeRoy directly at rob.leroy@exprealty.com or call me at 206.883.6668