The Real Estate Pulse » Real Estate And Equity

Budget Kitchen Remodeling Ideas To Increase A Homes Value

TREP — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 23:33:52 +0000

When is it comes to home improvements and renovations, there are few rooms in a home where remodeling makes as much sense as the kitchen. The kitchen is considered a marquee room in a home and making improvements to a kitchen will typically increase a home’s value. But when you’re a real estate developer or a homeowner looking to sell a home, you have a lot to more consider with kitchen renovations namely keeping costs down. Below are some good, budget kitchen remodeling ideas that will improve the look and value of any kitchen.

According to NARI, the National Association of the Remodeling Industry, the average kitchen renovation runs anywhere between $20K and $50K. That’s not small change and if you’re trying to keep costs down it’s best to stay away from any major work. There’s a lot of things you can do to a kitchen to maske it look much better than it currently does without breaking the bank and there’s good chance that a lot of the stuff below you can get done yourself.

Refinish the Cabinetry

If your existing cabinets are made of good wood, you might want to consider sanding them down, refinishing them and painting or staining them a new color. Refinishing the cabinetry in a kitchen can have the same dramatic effect of replacing them at a fraction of the cost. And you’ll also save a ton of money by not having to hire contractors if you’re willing to do the work yourself. Refinishing cabinets is not the toughest thing in the world and the return on your investment is quite high.

Repaint the Kitchen

Another way to dramatically change the look of your kitchen is by painting the walls a different color. If you combine this with refinishing your cabinetry, you could end up with a brand new kitchen! Another great thing about painting is that it’s easy enough for most homeowners to tackle themselves. Another remodeling project that doesn’t require hiring professional contractors equals more money in your pocket.

Floors

Depending on what kind of flooring you have, replacing your existing flooring or giving it a good cleaning can really improve the look of your kitchen. Tile can be pretty expensive to replace so what you may want to do is just it a good cleaning (don’t forget to clean the grout as well because it can also get pretty filthy) and repair any scratched or cracked tiles to make the floor look like new.

New Faucet

A new faucet in a kitchen can also go a long way in modernizing the kitchen and increasing its appeal. Not only are faucets not terribly expensive but it’s also something that a competent do-it-yourselfer should be able to handle.

Lighting Fixtures

New lighting fixtures can also help to bring more light into the kitchen and modernize the look and feel of a kitchen as well. You can use spot lights to highlight centerpieces in the kitchen or sconces and other forms of wall lighting to add some character to the kitchen.

Any real estate agent will tell you, the kitchen is arguably the most important room in the house so it’s important that the kitchen be in top condition if you expect to sell your home for top dollar. The remodeling ideas above are all easy to execute and can yield a high return on your investment.

Half Of San Fernando Valley Real Estate Sales Now Foreclosures

TREP — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 13:31:53 +0000

About half of San Fernando Valley Real Estate sales in August involved a home that had been repossessed according to MDA DataQuick. The troubling part of the news was that experts believe that the number of San Fernando Valley foreclosure sales will only continue to increase as banks continue to repossess more and more homes.

What we see in the news and read in the newspaper is that San Fernando Valley Real Estate sales are up and they are up of course but the value of the homes we own continues to fall further and further down.

And the banks aren’t going to let up… they’re going to continue to dump “assets” until they have enough cash on hand and until their balance sheets are balanced and our homes are worth virtually nothing.

I suppose the positive thing then would be that banks might actually then be willing to start making some loans again…

Hey it’s a good time to buy a home in the San Fernando Valley if you can find a bank to make you a loan. I believe I saw a stat somewhere that illustrated the price of San Fernando Valley Real Estate being back down to 2003 levels!

And like I said earlier there’s really no end in sight.

It’s great, I suppose, that sales are up but foreclosures are up as well and that just means that banks have an ever increasing inventory of homes they need to sell and at this point they’re willing to take a loss on a loan because they need the cash. At this point banks are just trying o minimize their losses…hell at this point a lot of banks are just trying to stay open!

Has the San Fernando Valley Real Estate market hit bottom?

Most experts would conclude that no the San Fernando Valley Real Estate market has not yet hit bottom and that prices will continue to fall but not at the dramatic rate of the past couple of years.

Home Sales Up In Hardest Hit Areas

TREP — Wed, 28 May 2008 00:50:17 +0000

Home sales are up in some of the metropolitan areas that have been hardest hit by the real estate and housing slump. The home sales aren’t typical sales however, they’re home sales that are being driven by lenders that are slashing prices on foreclosed properties.

All in all, home sales continue to stay weak as home sales of previously-occupied homes were down by 18% over last years already down numbers but the recent data regarding sales of foreclosed homes is a good sign for the housing and real estate market.

Sales are up in the areas that have been hardest by foreclosures and falling real estate prices…

Areas such as Las Vegas, Nevada, Sacramento, California and Detroit, Michigan are leading the way in foreclosed home sales.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the inventory of foreclosed homes held by lenders is hovering around half a million!

Many lenders have been holding on to their foreclosed properties to avoid slashing prices and to avoid huge losses but apparently the tide is turning somewhat as more and more lenders are unloading foreclosed properties at dirt-cheap prices

Median Price For Existing Single-Family Homes Down

TREP — Thu, 22 May 2008 03:26:17 +0000

The National Association of Realtors released a statement saying that median home prices were down in 100 of 149 metropolitan areas during the first 3 months of this calendar year…

On a national level the median price of an existing single family home for the first 3 months of the year was $196,300 according to the report.

To give you a frame of reference, the median price of an existing single family home for the first 3 months of last year was $212,600…

This report comes out a little late however as there does appear to be signs of the real estate market bottoming out recently…

Maybe not so much that the real estate market is bottoming out but more like correcting itself afters years of inflated home values.

Real Estate…Not What It Used To Be…

TREP — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 06:52:06 +0000

With Real Estate prices continuing to drop more and more homeowners are receiving similar letters from their respective Home Equity Line of Credit Lenders…

That letter basicaly saying that since the equity in their real estate isn’t what it used to be… their line of credit isn’t what it used to be either!

Most borrowers are seeing their home equity lines of credit being dramatically cut or suspended all together.

I guess it’s better then losing yur real estate through foreclosure however…