The Real Estate Pulse » real estate sales

Simple Home Improvement Projects That Can Add A Ton Of Value To A Home

TREP — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 00:34:22 +0000

In my last post I talked about how you can find a local handyman to help you out with various projects around a house. If you’re a real estate agent than you know that some home improvements can have a dramatic impact on the value of a home. Below are some home improvement ideas that are known to add value to a home and enhance curb appeal and the best thing is most can be done by your average handyman. If you didn’t already know, a good handyman can be a huge asset to a realtor getting ready to sell a home.

Replacing Bathroom faucets – You already know that home buyers like to see modern and up-to-date fixtures in bathrooms and replacing the sink faucets in upgrading the look in the bathroom. Fortunately replacing the sink faucets is not a terribly complex job and it can dramatically change the look of your bathroom.

Replacing Light Fixtures in the Bathroom – This is another small and not too complex project that can dramatically change the look of your bathroom. A good light fixture can also affect the level of brightness in a bathroom which is also a positive.

Fresh Paint in the Bathroom – A fresh coat of paint in the bathroom will complete a bathroom overhaul. Considering bathrooms are one of the most important rooms home buyers look at when looking for a home, it is money well spent.

Staining or Painting Cabinetry in the Bathroom – Sanding the cabinetry in the bathroom and applying a fresh paint or a stain will give your bathroom a fresh and new look.

Replacing the Hardware in the Bathroom – Replacing hardware is a low-cost improvement that makes a big difference in appearance.

Install Ceiling Fans – Installing ceiling fans can change the look of any room and can also be quite effective at cooling the temperatures inside a home during the hot summer.

Staining or Painting Cabinets in the Kitchen – Most buyers consider the kitchen to be the heart of a home. Painting or staining the cabinetry in a kitchen will dramatically improve its appearance. For the best results make sure to completely sand the cabinets before applying paint or stain.

Replace the Hardware in the Kitchen – A simple change that can improve the appearance of the kitchen. Make sure to use quality hardware that is consistent with the kitchen’s appearance and design.

Replace Kitchen Faucet – Another simple change that goes a long way in changing the appearance of your kitchen.

Replace the Light Fixtures in the Kitchen – Often the light fixtures in a kitchen are easy to change and new light fixtures can make the kitchen brighter as well as give the kitchen some character.

Consider the Entry to the Home – What does the door to the main entry look like? Does it need to be replaced? Can it be painted? At the very least make sure to replace the door handle on the front door. Adding a couple of planters to either side of the front door can also go a long way as can some light fixtures.

Simple Landscaping – A bag of high-quality fertilizer that covers up to 5,000 square feet will cost you under $3o at the local home improvement store and the bright green grass will give prospective home buyers a great first impression. make sure the lawn is regularly mowed to maintain good curb appeal.

Regular maintenance and Upkeep – Cleaning the carpets and the tile are fairly inexpensive to do and also give the home a fresher appearance. It’s also a good idea to repair any grout in the kitchen and bathrooms that has become chipped or discolored as well any dents or holes in the walls.

All of the above are minor cosmetic changes that can easily be done by a good handyman with the exception of cleaning the carpets but will dramatically improve and change the look of a home. In today’s real estate market, it is sometimes unrealistic to expect to make big changes to a home and still expect to make a profit so smaller, cosmetic changes such as the above are often the solution.

How To Find A Good Handyman For Your Next Home Sale

TREP — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 05:03:37 +0000

With the real estate market in its current state it’s essential for a real estate agent or house flipper to get the most profit out of every home sale. With most homes needing at least a little work to get the best sales price out of them, it’s essential to know exactly how to find and hire good handyman services or a good contractor depending on what you need done.

Personally I like to have a good handyman or two in my rolodex as I find them more versatile than contractors and they’re typically more willing to do some of the more mundane stuff, like a yard clean up or something, than a licensed contractor. But I should also note that sometimes you just need a licensed contractor for a bigger job or a more complex job and in those situations it’s best to go with a licensed contractor. But for everything else I like to use handymen because they get a lot done in a short amount of time and I only have to deal with one person versus several independent contractors.

The key to finding a good handyman is to review at least three to five good bids from several, well-qualified handymen or contractors. This isn’t practical to do before every single home you need to get ready for sale and that’s why it’s best to the job right the first time so you can just continue to use the same handymen over and over again provided they do a good job for you.

Initially getting started is the hard part since you’ll have to come up with the names of at least 3-7 handymen. I like to get a few more names than I need so I can eliminate a few during the screening process without having to go back and start all over again. To come up with these initial names I’ll ask anybody and everybody. While I would prefer to only use the names of handymen that were referred to me, that’s not always possible and it doesn’t really matter since I’ll be screening all the handymen before I ask them for a bid. If you need some suggestions on where to get referrals from, try your friends, family members, neighbors, work associates, other real estate agents, the local home improvement stores, hardware shops and don’t forget to use social networking sites like Facebook to ask your local friends for referrals as well… Now onto the screening process…

My screening process is actually quite simple. The first things I check for are the basics. I begin by looking for a local address and phone number. I look for handymen that have been in business for a long time and preferably handymen that have been serving my community for the same length of time. Now it’s time to check for complaints.

For checking complaints and checking out reviews I absolutely love the internet. I like to start out by doing a search in Google for the handyman’s name or business name and sorting through the results while looking for complaints and/or reviews. It’s also a good idea to do searches for the handyman’s name along with keywords like “complaints” or “reviews” to get more specific results. For more reviews and feedback from past clients you may want to check out sites like www.yelp.com or www.insiderpages.com. To finish my search for complaints and reviews I like to contact the Better Business Bureau (www.bbb.org) and ask about any complaints that have been filed against the handymen I am pre-screening.

At this point you’re ready to contact the handymen and have them come in for a bid on your project. Before I ask a handyman to bid on a project I like to get on the phone and ask him what his favorite types of projects are or what his area of expertise is. The fact of the matter is that handymen come with a wide variety of skills and it’s really up to you to determine what a handyman is good at and what you should hire someone else for.

While I have him on the phone I also like to let him know that I’ll need to see some work references prior to hiring a handyman. Asking for and checking a reference is one of the best ways to ensure that you’ll be working with a reputable handyman. Too often homeowners will just ask for references and never check them and that’s a big mistake. To get the most out of references you’ll have to call them and ask about the handyman and his quality of work.

The biggest mistakes most homeowners make when hiring a handyman is they hire a handyman based on a personal reference (without further vetting the handyman) or they don’t check references. Unfortunately these mistakes can cost a real estate agent both time and money and that’s going to cut into your profits. Don’t let that happen to you. Follow the tips and advice above and make sure you find a good handyman to help prepare your homes for sale.

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.

Homes For Sale Down In Warm, Southewestern Cities

TREP — Fri, 09 May 2008 04:39:40 +0000

The total number of homes for sale was down in some warm cities located in the Southwest and recent data is now showing that the number of unsold houses is no longer growing at a break-neck pace…

Cities such as Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix and Sacramento actually had fewer homes for sale available in April then they did in March so certain parts of the country may be starting to show signs of bottoming out and hopefully beginning to rebound soon.

Prices on homes continue to go down and the prices on some foreclosed homes are starting to attract buyers it seems.

The trend for most large, metropolitan areas however is the opposite unfortunately as cities such as Washigton, D.C., Seattle, Chicago, Boston and San Francisco had a larger inventory of homes for sale in April then they did in March.

Slow Spring In Real Esatate So Far

TREP — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 20:47:03 +0000

Spring is usually a month when real estate sales start to pick and begin to hit robust levels but this Spring has been anything but for the troubled real estate market…

Real estate sales have indeed slowed down and are slower then ever before for this time of the year but people are buying and in what seems to be increasing numbers.

With real estate plummeting why are people buying?

Mortgage rates are at an all time low at 5.88% for a 30 year fixed-rate loan and those that can withstand some short-term equity loss in a home that they plan on staying in for a while are jumping back into the real estate market and they’re not just looking.

It may in fact be a good time to buy for those in that position as there are plenty of good values out there with so many foreclosures on the market and with more and more sellers willing to negotiate.