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There are many other reasons to have your property appraised, even if you have no intention of selling the property any time soon. For instance, rising property taxes, a burden for many homeowners, can be reduced in the unfortunate incident that the value of your property has declined since the property tax assessor last valued it. It's also important to note that should your local government decide a road widening is necessary and therefore you must sell a piece of your property to facilitate such a need, an appraiser can ensure you receive a fair market value. These are known as right of way or easement appraisals. Should you be planning any home improvements, it's also good to get an appraisal before any work is done so you'll know afterwards just how much of a return you've gotten on your home-improvement investment. This is especially useful if it's been a while since your property was last appraised.
Most Americans watching mortgage rates rise are deciding that now is the time to buy or sell before it's too late. Whether you want to sell, or just improve your home's value before you tap into your equity, here are five things experts suggest you consider before calling your bank or putting the "for sale" sign on your lawn.
Make Only Renovations That Count. Experts agree that the right renovations, especially bathrooms and kitchens, affect the marketability of your home. Bathrooms have become a popular remodeling choice, and for good reason - they have the highest rate of return of any home addition or home remodel. Real estate agents agree that a gleaming kitchen with state-of-the-art appliances, cork or hardwood flooring, stone countertop and lots of cupboard space can sell a house the instant a prospective buyer sees it. Conversely, a cramped, ill-lit kitchen with outdated linoleum and harvest gold appliances might actually scare buyers away.
Improve What You Can't Renovate. If you can't afford to renovate, update and refresh key rooms instead. Replacing an old countertop, repainting cupboards and walls, and installing new door pulls and lighting make big improvements to your kitchen for a very modest price. Similar touches increase the appeal of older bathrooms, too. Fresh paint throughout your home is another low-cost, high-return project - it makes everything look cleaner and brighter, and buyers love a house they won't have to redecorate immediately.
Maintain Where You Can. Depending on the age of your house, you can expect to spend between one and three percent of its value every year on maintenance and repair. Your maintenance budget should increase as your house ages, so remember to include funds to replace major systems as required. Foundations and roofs are things that are difficult to inspect,but in the long run minor repairs can save you about ten times the cost of work necessary to replace or rebuild.
Don't Overimprove. Before you commit to any big project, ask, "Is this three-car garage or pool out of character for my neighborhood?" If the answer is yes, you may be consigning your house to an oddity status. If your house is improved beyond the scope of all the neighborhood homes that surrounds it, it is likely that the value of your home won't be realized when it comes time to sell.
There are many reasons why you might sell your home -- bigger space requirements, job relocation, grown-up children, trouble making the mortgage payments, or unsafe community, to name a few. One thing remains constant: You want to get the best price you can for the place you've called home.
Putting your house on the market is more than just listing your home with a real-estate agent and letting her do the rest of the work. It requires some elbow grease and ingenuity on the part of the owner to make the home appeal to the widest possible buying audience. And that means you'll get more offers and a most likely a quick sale. These changes need not be major repairs that break the piggy bank, but inexpensive cosmetic improvements. Here is advice on how to enhance the appearance of your home as you get ready to put it on the market:
Curb appeal. It's critical to make a good first impression when potential buyers pull up in front of your house. Sometimes buyers won't even look at a home with overgrown grass and shrubs, scattered debris, dangling shutters, saggy gutters, or patches of peeling paint on the outside of the house. Make an effort to clean up the yard, trim the bushes, and fix cracked windows to prevent a "broken-down" look. You can either do the work yourself or hire someone. You don't want buyers to think they are looking at a "fixer-upper" that could be bought at a bargain price. "You want the house to look idyllic in terms of its presentation," says James R. Webb, director of the Real Estate Research Center at Cleveland State University.
Clear the clutter. The longer you've lived in your house, the greater you risk that too much junk has piled up. Cleaning out closets, the garage and basement, and tidying up counters, is critical to attaining a crisp, clean, organized look. Your books, magazines and family photos may look nice to you but they can look one big mess to buyers if they are not presented in an organized manner. Buyers need to visualize themselves living in your home. "Certainly, you have to live in your house while showing it, so it should be personalized," says Allyson J. Bernard, a Connecticut broker and regional vice-president for New England, of the National Association of Realtors. "You don't have to get rid of all of Grandma's and Grandpa's photos, but don't have 30 of them around. Just pick your five favorites." If you find that you can't part with some items, stash them at friend's house, or rent a mini-storage space temporarily.
A fresh coat of paint. A new coat of paint often makes a house look neat and cared for. "Painting the inside and outside freshens a house incredibly," says Bernard. Light colors -- whites, beiges, or pastels -- make rooms look larger, which is a marketable quality when selling your home. "If you grew up in the 1960s and painted your dining room black, you might want to put a few coats of neutral color on the walls, because radical decoration statements appeal to one out of 20,000 people," says Webb. If you want to add color without painting, you can add splashes of color with cushions, throws, and rugs.
Minor repairs. Now is the time to do all those little jobs around the house that you've always meant to do, but haven't had time. Loose doorknobs, dripping faucets, and squeaky doors and floors convey an air of neglect. "If people see minor problems, they think they're a clue to larger things wrong with the house," says Webb. Worn, matted, or dirty carpets should be replaced or cleaned. (Don't try to cover old rugs -- it will be obvious that you are trying to hide something.)
A homey atmosphere. You want your home to smell nice. Bake mom's apple pie in the oven so buyers smell it when they arrive at your door. You don't want people to walk in and smell mildew or pet odors. Make sure you clean up after your pet. Open an air freshener. Buy flowers, and leave the lights on. Do all you can to make the house welcoming. Remember, there's no place like home!
There's nothing like a fresh coat of paint to give the outside of your home real curb appeal. It's a big job, but with the right tools and a few tips from the pros, your paint job can look beautiful for years.
Professional painters know that one coat of primer and one coat of paint will give you a better, longer lasting paint job than two coats of paint. That's why they prime first, then paint. Here's why:
• Primers provide the perfect foundation for paint. Paint is formulated for color and durability. Primers are formulated to provide the ideal base for paint. High-quality primers, like
Bulls Eye 1-2-3®, are rich in resin so they adhere to surfaces much better than paint alone. And unlike paint, they stick to hard-to-paint surfaces like vinyl siding so you can get great results. They're also formulated to seal porous surfaces, like brick, concrete, masonry and new wood, so you use less paint and get a more even color and sheen.
• Primers block stains. Wood, like cedar and redwood, has a high tannin content that can bleed right through ordinary paint. Graffiti, mildew and other stains can also bleed through if you don't prime first. Stain-blocking primers are specifically formulated to block stains permanently and completely so they won't ruin your new paint job. Stain-blocking primers, like Bulls Eye 1-2-3, are also formulated to prevent rust formation on the primer film, so they're great for painting railings and other metal surfaces.
• Primers make your colors look better. They hide previous colors - even dark reds and blues - and prevent them from showing through new paint. And because they create a sealed, stain-free surface, primers make paint colors look more vibrant and beautiful. Tip from the pros: If you tint your primer toward the color of your paint, it's likely you'll use less paint.
• Primers prevent common paint problems. High quality water-base primers, like Bulls Eye 1-2-3, dry to a flexible film that prevents common paint problems like cracking, peeling and blistering. Your paint job will be more durable - and last much longer.
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