by Farley Webmaster | Apr 28, 2016
Whether you’re putting your home on the market this year or in the next five years, it is a smart decision to start building your home’s resale value now. Here are some ways to create a comfortable home while making it easier to put more money into your bank account on closing day.
Small Maintenance and Repairs
If you think that home maintenance on the weekends waste your time and energy, think again. The small chores you do around your home prevents it from losing value. Neglecting small maintenance and repairs causes 10% of your home’s value to walk out your door and slip through your windows. Most appraisers claim that homes showing little to no preventative maintenance can depreciate from $15,000 to $20,000.
A study conducted by researchers at the University of Connecticut and Syracuse University shows that regular maintenance boosts your home value by about 1% per year. However, ongoing maintenance costs offset that value, which means that regular maintenance actually slows down your rate of depreciation. Furthermore, because homebuyers generally notice any repairs needed upon buying a new home, proactive maintenance lets the homebuyer know that he or she will not have to spend extra money to maintain the basics. This makes your home more attractive, and thus more likely to get higher priced offers.
Maintaining the basics can cost you little money and certainly some effort, but there’s a way to accomplish this very important activity smartly. This article by HouseLogic, for example, shows you how to keep home maintenance below $300 a year. Planning ahead will also help make maintaining your home easier. Most professional appraisers and real estate agents recommend a proactive maintenance schedule that includes:
- Keeping enough cash on hand to replace systems and materials
- Creating and following a maintenance schedule
- Planning a room redo every year
- Keeping a notebook of all your maintenance and repairs
Landscaping
The Virginia Cooperative Extension at Virginia Tech published a study that shows landscaping can increase a home’s value by 15%. The study claims that a home valued at $150,000 could increase its value between $8,300 and $19,000 with the addition of landscaping. Particular landscape elements add different value. For instance, landscape design can increase your home’s value by 42%, plant size can increase your home’s value by 32%, and diversity in plants can increase your home’s value by 22%.
Replace Entrance Doors
If your entry doors are wood, consider switching them out for either fiberglass or steel doors. Steel doors add style and architectural interest to your home while improving security; you can add a deadbolt and electronic keypads to keep out intruders. Unlike wood doors, steel doors do not rot or splinter.
Alternatively, fiberglass doors can be designed to look like wood doors and give your home a modern look. Fiberglass doors conserve more energy than steel doors.
Pricewise, a steel door will cost you $1,335 with a 91% return on investment whereas a fiberglass door will cost you $3,126 with an 82.3% return on investment.
Garage Door Replacement
At first, you might not think that your garage door increases the value of your home. However, your garage door distinguishes your home from the other homes on your block. As the largest entryway of a house, garage doors get noticed first because they’re the focal point of your home. If you want to quickly increase the resale value of your home, you need to make the most of this space.
Some interesting things being done with garage doors include:
- Increased Size: Bigger garage doors help homes stand out more, and homeowners can do more creatively with them.
- Bold Colors: Bright and bold colors now can complement the color of your home, or you can build a concept around the color of your home.
- Faux Wood: You can install fiberglass or steel garage doors that look like wood garage doors. This gives your home a new level of sophistication.
- Windows: Large Windows on your garage door improve the aesthetic of your home, and provide light into your garage so that it’s no longer a dark space.
More importantly, a garage door replacement will cost you $1,652 and add $1,512 to the value of your home; that’s a return on your investment of 91.5%.
Fiberglass Attic Insulation
While energy efficiency is still not the sexiest selling point of your home, installing fiberglass attic insulation saves energy and garners a big payback on your investment. According to Remodeling Magazine’s 2016 Cost vs. Value top trends report, fiberglass attic insulation gained the top return on investment among the 30 projects in this year’s report. Using Remodel/Max as the cost source, a fiberglass attic insulation project cost $1,268 nationwide. Real estate professionals surveyed estimated that the work would boost the price of a home at resale, within a year of its completion, by $1,482. That’s a 116.9% return on investment.
Replacing Windows
Replacing your windows is another way to save energy and increase your home’s resale value. Replacing your old windows with energy saving models will beautify your home, keep it comfortable, and ease the workload of your HVAC system. According to HGTV, you’ll see a reduction in your utility bill by 7% to 15%. However, if you’re selling your home, you could expect a 60% to 70% recoupment of your investment. The two types of replacement windows that fetch the best return are vinyl and wood.
Remodeling Your Kitchen
Kitchen remodeling can get expensive, but small renovations can make your home more buyer friendly. Changing your kitchen’s texture and color using a matte finish and neutral colors such as putty or grey enhances your home’s resale value. Because matte finishes have transitional qualities, your potential homebuyer can easily match his or her stainless steel or black and white appliances. Also, refinishing cabinetry, or switching to Energy Star™ appliances provide comfort you like and pizazz buyers adore.
Flow is important to any interior design of a home. If you feel that your kitchen hinders a good flow, change it. A small investment to knock out a non-structural wall or remove a kitchen island creates space and provides flow that buyers love.
A minor kitchen remodel can cost you $20,122 while putting $16,716 of resale value into your home; that’s an 83% payback on the project. If you want to do a major kitchen model, this can cost you about $60,000 and put about $39,000 of resale value into your home, which is only about a 65% payback on the project. Therefore, consider a minor kitchen remodel first.
Bathroom Addition or Remodel
Likewise, carefully consider adding a bathroom or remodeling your bathroom. Switching out your frosted glass shower doors for glass doors, cleaning the grout, replacing the shower and floor tiles, switching out your sink or toilet, or replacing your sink and shower fixtures can cost you little money.
Adding a bathroom can get expensive, but it can reduce congestion during hectic times and provide your guests with a bathroom. Consult with your real estate agent or a local appraiser before deciding whether a full remodel or addition is right for your situation. While a bathroom remodel will cost you about $18,000 with a return on investment of about 66%, a bathroom addition will cost you about $42,000 with a return on investment of about 56%. Therefore, it’s best do your due diligence before working on your bathroom.
Your Needs and Buyers’ Wants
On that note, if you need to renovate your home, be sure to consider how those changes will affect its appeal to future buyers. Knowing design trends will give you the opportunity to make changes to your home based on where your needs and your potential buyer’s desires intersect, thus increasing your property’s resale value drastically.
Designers and design websites provide great ideas when you’re brainstorming home renovations. Keep in mind as you research, however, that you don’t want to sacrifice your needs for a comfortable home just for the sake of what you think a future buyer will want!
Therefore, before you begin making any changes to your home, consult your real estate agent. Real estate agents, because we are constantly working with new buyer clients, have insider insight into what home buyers are looking for now and in the future. We’ll be able to help you make smart choices when remodeling or renovating your home.
If you think you might want to remodel or renovate your home in the near future, or if you are just curious about other ways you can increase its resale value, please reach out to me!
by Farley Webmaster | Mar 16, 2016
No matter if you’re in a buyer’s or seller’s market, there are a few critical steps you can take to make a smarter purchase. Since buying a home is likely the biggest single investment you will ever make, being prepared will help you make a better purchase. Here are our best tips to buying a home.
Know your buying power
What is your buying power? It is the combination of your credit-worthiness and how much you can realistically pay for a home
First, you need to understand the hidden costs of buying a home. You will need to save not only for the down payment of your home — which is typically between 10% – 20% of the offer price — but also for any additional transaction fees, such as transfer tax, PMI, title insurance, and legal fees.
Then you need to know what you can realistically afford each month to understand how much house you can buy. Your mortgage rate will depend on your creditworthiness — if you have a high credit score, your lender will likely approve you for a lower mortgage rate, which can save you thousands of dollars per year in interest.
How much of your budget should go to your monthly home costs? According to SmartAssets, you can use the 36% rule as a rough guideline. This means that your monthly obligation shouldn’t be more than 36% of your monthly gross income.
A loan professional can help you figure out how much house you can afford.
Fix your credit with the help of a loan professional
According to CreditKarma, a good credit score is usually 720 or above. You want to clean up your credit as soon as you can, and definitely before you go to a lender for a loan pre-approval.
When you apply for your loan pre-approval, you don’t want to have anything to hide on your application. So don’t lower your credit score by doing anything that will originate more inquiries into your credit. For example, don’t open any new credit cards. Also, don’t omit any debts or loans when you apply. If the loan officer discovers them in the application process, they may deny you a pre-approval.
Get a loan professional to check your credit score for you. A professional can give you a clearer idea if your score is in the ‘good’ range, or if you need to do some credit cleanup before getting a mortgage pre-approval.
Work with a knowledgeable buyer’s agent
Do you understand what kind of market you are buying into? Even within a city’s limits, there can be micro markets that are increasing or decreasing in value.
That’s why it’s important to hire a highly competent real estate agent who knows the specific market. You want to make sure that the professional who you’re working with really understands what the market is like and will help you find the home that you desire.
How can you tell if your agent knows the market? See if they can provide you with a buyer’s market analysis.
A buyer’s market analysis report outlines which neighborhoods are still up and coming — with potential for increased property value — versus those that have peaked with inflated home prices. Having this analysis at your fingertips will help you know if a home’s list price is above comparable properties so you don’t overpay for a home.
Don’t try to time the market…
Even in a hot market, there’s never a perfect time to buy a home. It can take a while to know exactly what you like, and you may have to look at 10 or more homes before you can recognize what suits your lifestyle best. While you’re shopping, take photos of your favorite properties and the details that you liked the best so that you can remember what you liked.
Another good reason to slow down the buying process: you might find a better deal if you do. Investigate expired listings. Expired listings may have gone off the market because they didn’t get any offers at the listed price, so you may be able to underbid the original listing price. It’s not likely worth your time to look at FSBO (for sale by owner) listings, though. Since they are not represented by a professional, they are often overpriced.
When you start shopping, have a one-hour initial consultation with your realtor. Give them every single detail that you know about your lifestyle, buying power, needs, wants and desires for your home. The more detail you can provide, the easier it will be for them to help you find your future home. Your agent may also know of exclusive listings not available to the general public.
… But make the offer as soon as you find the right home
If you love it, make the offer. Otherwise, that dream home may disappear faster than you think, especially if you’re buying in a hot market.
Your buying agent should contact the listing agent before you submit an offer so that they can decide what’s important to include in the offer. If you’re serious about it, you want to increase the chances that your offer is accepted.
Show that you’re serious about the purchase by creating a buyer’s offer packet. It should include your lender’s preapproval letter, a screenshot of your down payment money in your bank account, and comps that support the rationalization of the offer you are presenting.
Get a home inspection
Once you’re in the negotiation process, it’s essential that you get a third-party inspector to run a thorough home inspection. The inspector will be looking for major structural issues, including problems with the foundation, plumbing, and electrical systems. Your inspector should be extra picky, pointing out the most minor faults.
Make sure to have the inspection conducted before it is too late to back out of a deal. If there are any major structural issues, you may be able to make the seller repair them as a contingency to solidifying your offer. Minor issues that you can repair on your own may be points for negotiating a lower offer.
Protect your credit before you close
Don’t raise any red flags with your creditworthiness in the weeks before closing. Any one of these moves could mean that you’re denied the loan and the deal falls through — even if you’ve already been preapproved!
- Keep your spending to a minimum and don’t make any major purchases before closing — that includes buying furniture, or a car, truck, or van, or any excessive charges on your credit card.
- Keep your bank accounts stable. Don’t change banks, spend any of the money you have set aside for closing, or make any large deposits to your accounts without checking with your loan officer first.
- Keep your employment situation stable — do not change jobs, quit your job, or become self-employed. Any sudden change in your income can have that preapproval offer rescinded.
- Do not cosign a loan for anyone. It will open an inquiry into your credit and add to your debt, which could raise your mortgage rate and cost you thousands of dollars over the life of the loan.
Looking for a home in our area? Let us help you find the home of your dreams. We’re well versed in the our local real estate market, and we can provide you with a buyer’s market analysis to help you find the right neighborhood for you. Contact one of our trusted agents today.
by Farley Webmaster | Feb 12, 2016
You can’t avoid paying taxes, and we all need to pay our fair share. However, paying your fair share shouldn’t place an unjust burden on you. As a homeowner, your tax burden is doubled because you pay both income and property taxes. To decrease that burden and boost your tax savings, take advantage of these homeowner tax deductions. As a result, you can use your tax savings to go on a vacation, increase your child’s college fund, build upon your retirement fund, or complete another home improvement project.
Home Improvement Tax Deduction
You spend so much of your time at home, and you try to make it as comfortable a place to live as possible. If your home needs some upgrades, consider improvements that will help foot the bill for themselves.
You can get an energy-efficient tax credit of up to $500 for installing storm doors and energy-efficient insulation and air-conditioning and heating systems. Switching out your old windows for energy-efficient ones could earn you $200. This credit expires this year on December 31st. So, this year will be your last chance to take advantage of getting tax credit for making your home more energy efficient.
Also, installing equipment that uses renewable sources of energy makes you eligible for the Renewable Energy Efficiency Property Credit. The credit covers 30 percent of the cost of equipment and installation. This credit also expires this year on December 31st.
Mortgage Interest and Refinancing
If your mortgage payment makes you cringe each month, you’ll be glad to know you can deduct taxes on the following:
- Interest towards mortgage
- Mortgage payments for additional property
- Rental properties
- Refinancing and home equity lines of credit (HELOC) up to $100,000 of debt.
If you own multiple properties, the mortgage interest on additional property is deductible as well. The cool thing is that it doesn’t have to be a house. It can be a boat or RV; as long as it has cooking, sleeping, and bathroom facilities, it counts as additional property.
Regarding using your second home as a rental, you need to vacation at least 14 days at the property or spend more than 10 percent of the number of days you rent it out.
Furthermore, you can claim points on your mortgage the year you paid them if the following happened:
- The loan was to purchase or build your main home
- Payment of points is an established business practice in your area and the points were within the usual range
Property Taxes
Now, this is the big one. Property taxes you pay each year are tax deductible. The amount of property taxes you paid for the year shows up on your lender’s annual statement. You must deduct them as an itemized expense on your Schedule A tax form.
First-time homebuyers, look at your settlement sheet to see additional tax payment data. You may deduct the portion of property taxes you paid during the first year of your homeownership.
Protesting Your Assessment to Lower Your Property Taxes
Although you must pay property taxes, you can make sure that you pay a reasonable amount based on the true value of your home and land. Many homes get overvalued because assessors err in valuing a home and homeowners don’t pay attention to these mistakes. Consequently, homeowners unwittingly pay more than they should in property taxes.
However, if you’ve owned your home for more than a year, you can potentially lower your property tax burden by showing that your home has been overvalued, meaning that your tax assessment claims your property is worth more than it is.
Even if the number on the tax assessment seems close, you should still consider protesting your property tax. Typical savings from a successful tax protest is over 15%!
According to SmartAsset, the national median property tax paid is roughly $2,839.00. That’s about 1.192 percent of a home valued at $238,200.00.
If you’re able to reduce your assessed value by 15 percent to $202,470.00 and consequently save 15 percent on your tax bill, your new tax bill will be about 2,413.00. That’s a savings of $426.00!
To get started protesting your property tax, read your assessment letter. Your assessment letter will list data about your property and the assessed value of your house and land. Make sure your assessment letter has the correct information about your property.
Understanding that assessors can make mistakes assessing your home value will help you with your appeal. There are three key mistakes assessor make when assessing property. These mistakes include:
- Outdated Historic Sales Data: Sometimes assessors will use sales data from previous years. Because the real estate market is fluid, this data changes quickly, as a result; this data can over value your home.
- Mass Appraisal Methods: Also, when assessors use mass appraisal methods, they do not take into account all the market adjustments that occurred over time. Consequently, there sales data can’t always produce useful comparable properties to set future sales.
- Living Area: Assessors notoriously make mistakes about the living area of your house. This is especially true if you live in a 1.5 or 2 story home. Check any previous appraisals to ensure correct measurements and description of our home. Does the assessment letter show the right number of bathrooms and bedrooms? Does it report the correct size of your lot? .5 acres differs greatly than 5.0 acres.
After reading your assessment letter, consult a Realtor. We can find three to five approximate values of comparable properties similar to yours, and these comps can then be used to support your claim that your home is overvalued. This is especially useful if the assessor used poor historical sales data.
You’ll have 30 days to file an appeal of your assessment, so you’ll want to get the comps as soon as your assessment arrives. You can speak with an assessor on the phone or request a formal review.
You’ll then need to fill out a form and follow specific instructions regarding your supporting evidence. Typically, it’s not necessary for you to appear at the review. The review can take one to three months to complete, and you’ll receive a decision in writing.
The majority of assessment appeals are successful. However, if at first you don’t succeed, appeal. You’ll need to pay a small filing fee for an independent appeals board to hear your second appeal. This process could take up to a year to complete, so you’ll need to decide whether it’s truly worth it.
As a homeowner, you have plenty of options available to decrease your tax burden. The benefit is that you can use your tax savings for major life events such as weddings, vacations, and home improvements.
To find out more about your tax saving options as a homeowner, check out tax information for homeowners. You can also contact me directly and I’ll gladly lead you in the right direction towards saving you money on your taxes.
by Farley Webmaster | Jan 14, 2016
January is full of resolutions, so why not make a few for your home? There are plenty of ways to create a fresh start in your home and make it cleaner, more efficient and a generally happier place to be.
1. Increase Energy Efficiency/Reduce your Carbon Footprint
Have the ductwork throughout your home properly inspected to minimize any warm or cool air leaks that might occur through holes or loose connections. Ducts tend to be hidden in your walls, ceilings, attics or crawlspaces, making it a challenging DIY task. To hire a pro you can expect to spend about $1,000 or more depending on the size of your home and accessibility of your ducts. However, by sealing and insulating ductwork you could see hundreds of dollars in savings each year.
Other ways you could reduce your energy usage include:
- Install solar panels on your roof
- Install compact fluorescent bulbs
- Use low-flow showerheads
- Hang your clothes to dry
- Only run the dishwasher or washing machine when full
- Turn off your power strips and/or set your home computer to revert to sleep mode when not in use
- Use drought-tolerant landscaping and reduce the necessity to water
Your commitment to energy efficiency could also land you helpful rebates and incentives. Check out this site to see if there is a program that could help you: http://www.dsireusa.org
2. Clear the Clutter
A simple way to clean your home and make it feel more fresh and inviting is to clear the clutter. It is easy to let things accumulate throughout the year, making the things we love harder to find and spaces to appear smaller and smaller.
Commit to going room by room and donating anything that remains unused, unworn or unloved- giving it a second chance to be appreciated by someone else and freeing up some space. Then, think twice about bringing in anything new that won’t effectively add to your life in some way.
Stash useful but not necessarily pretty items such as shoes, DVDs, mail, etc. in baskets and decorative bins to keep them from overwhelming your space. Shred any unnecessary documents and recycle those odds and ends that tend to collect in everyone’s favorite “junk” drawers.
Clearing your space will help you breathe a little easier and also leave room for the important things.
3. Keep it Safe and Sound
The New Year is the perfect time to do a safety audit of your home including:
- Changing the batteries in the smoke detectors
- Ensuring you have at least one carbon monoxide detector on each floor of your home
- Checking your home for radon- you can find test kits at your local hardware store for around $20
- Cleaning out your dryer lint trap in your machine and any ducts and vents leading to the machine. The material that collects can be highly combustible and present a fire risk
4. Inject New Life in Your Home by Exercising your DIY Skills
It is a beautiful Pinterest kind of world and there are plenty of DIY projects to help you refresh your home. Here are some collections of ideas that you can use to reinvent your space:
5. Make Your Home More Inviting for Guests
Even if you only have the occasional dinner party or overnight visitor, it is nice to keep your high traffic areas looking fresh and inviting. Once you’ve cleared the areas of clutter, showcase items that stimulate conversation or provide comfort (think soft fabrics and plush sofas/pillows) where guests can kick back and feel at home. An inexpensive way to make your home seem polished and put together is to have window coverings like curtains versus just blinds or shutters. They have a way of pulling together décor and creating a warm and soft environment.
*Photo courtesy of Flickr user Amber Case
by Farley Webmaster | Nov 24, 2015
While the Thanksgiving holiday might make you think of turkey, ham and all the “traditional” fixings, there are plenty of alternatives that do not include animal products. If you’re already a vegetarian/vegan or if you’re looking to switch things up this year, check out some of these recipes to create a meal that will keep your belly and your heart satisfied. Please note we are not affiliated with any of the included blogs, rather we found these tasty recipes and thought they were worth sharing! Have a favorite of your own? Share it below in the comments.
by Farley Webmaster | Oct 28, 2015
Around this time of year, things really start to move in a blur – Thanksgiving arrives, then suddenly it’s December, and before we know it, the confetti has flown and we’re beginning a brand new year! I hope your holiday season is full of fun, family, friends, and as little stress as possible. Here are some current Boulder Real Estate stats as well as some useful articles from low-cost green home improvements to must-haves for new homeowners. Enjoy this special time of year, and please give me a call any time.
The average sales price for a home in Boulder rose nearly 9.6 percent last month compared to a year ago, according to the latest stats from the Boulder Area Realtor’s Association. For a full report please visit: http://www.baraonline.com/sites/bara/files/statistics/SeptMI.pdf
In this month’s email you will find:
- Low-cost green upgrades
- A kitchen upgrade that won’t break the bank
- Fix it or quit it?
- Must-haves for your first home
- Ask yourself these questions, What mortgage is good for me
- Another day, another list; this time, most artistic
Don’t miss out on valuable real estate and Boulder area updates! Sign up now to receive periodic Wheel Estate news delivered to your inbox.
