How to Stage Your Home for a Successful Sale

With such a glut of listings in the housing market, as a home seller, you need to do anything you can to set your home apart so it will be noticed. One big thing you can do is to stage your home well.  Here are some tips from HGTV.com on staging your home:

1.     Say goodbye to clutter: While you may be proud of your shot glass collection, to a potential homebuyer, it just makes your home look cluttered. Put away most of your collections, so your home doesn’t appear busy and cluttered. Furniture can also contribute to a cluttered look. This doesn't mean you need to strip your house to unusable bare bones, but even removing that one extra chair from your living room can make a difference.

2.     Pull the furniture away from the walls a bit. It makes the room look bigger. Use good judgment when doing this though—if pulling furniture away from the wall a bit means that you can’t comfortably walk through a room, don’t do it.

3.     Rearrange furniture: just because a piece of furniture was purchased for a specific room doesn't mean that it has to stay there. Experiment.

4.     Make spaces valuable: if there ‘s a room or area in your house that just gathers junk, turn it into a reading nook or small office space. Turn an unfinished basement into an exercise area with the addition of some padding on the floor. Use your imagination to figure out the wasted spaces in your home, and how you can utilize them to increase your homes’ value.

5.     Lighting: good lighting is hugely important in staging your home. If rooms are dim, add lamps or other accent lighting, and increase wattage in lamps and fixtures. As an added bonus, use compact fluorescent bulbs, which last much longer than traditional light bulbs, and are no longer much more expensive.

6.     Décor: a general rule to keep in mind is that groupings of décor look best in odd numbers.

7.     Flowers: If you have flowers or other plants in your yard that cut well, be sure to regularly stock your house with one or more arrangements. Something living adds a lot to a room.

8.     Bathroom: polish tile in the bathroom. Set out coordinating towels and candles to give a spa-like feel.

If you follow these tips, there’s no guarantee your home will sell but it will have a better chance. And if nothing else, your home will be more pleasant while you live there! 

Sinking Funds For Peace of Mind...and Wallet!

If you’re a homeowner, (or want to be!) you probably know that along with home ownership come some big expenses, both foreseen and unforeseen.  You can plan for both types of expenses using one or more sinking funds. 

For instance, you know that in five years your roof will need to be replaced. If you plan to have this professionally done, that can easily cost $10,000. For most people, that’s a large amount of money. If you don’t plan ahead, you’ll likely need to take a loan or tap into savings or retirement funds. But let’s look at the same scenario with a sinking fund. Ok, so five years out, you start saving for a new roof. You get paid bi-weekly. So how much would you have to set aside from each paycheck to save $10,000 in 5 years (interest aside)? $10,000/5=$2,000 per year. $2,000/26=$76.92 per paycheck, or $38.46 per week. If you eat fast food or drink expensive coffee regularly, you could easily pay for a new roof just by cutting back on those things.

Another instance where a sinking fund can be useful is to make up for varying utility costs. You can call your utility company and find out the average monthly utility cost for your home. Or better yet, find out the exact amount billed each month over the past twelve months. Divide that number by twelve and set aside that amount each month. If you can, deposit some extra money at the beginning of the year. You should accumulate enough extra during lower than average months to cover your expenses during higher than average months.  If you have a budget (which is an absolute necessity, in my opinion!) this will help to keep things smooth.

Some other examples where a sinking fund would be useful are homeowners insurance, car insurance, home remodel, and purchase of a new car. Really though, sinking funds can be used for just about anything. Whether they’re for  larger purchases, or small routine expenses, sinking funds can help to temper financial extremes, and give you some financial peace of mind.

Five Big Mistakes Homebuyers Make

Its easy to get caught up in the excitement of buying a home…imagining yourself and your family in your dream house, making it your own, all the little projects you’d like to do…but don’t get so caught up that you forget these five important things:

 1.     Home inspection: Yes, it’s a big deal, even if you’re looking to buy a brand new house. It will cost you a few hundred dollars, but it could cost you a whole lot more than that if you don’t get one, and then find out your home has major problems.

 2.     Budget: Unless you’re among the tiny fraction of people to whom budget is not an issue, don’t forget your budget when looking at homes. Don’t be pushed into buying something you can’t afford, or that you aren’t comfortable with.

 3.     Agreement with your spouse/partner: Don't go out and buy a house without being on the same page as your spouse or partner. Relationships are enough work without adding a long-term element of strife like a house.

 4.     Additional expenses: When calculating your budget, did you remember to add costs such as property taxes, homeowners insurance, mortgage insurance (unless you’re putting 20% down), and possibly increased utility cost if you’re moving into a larger home or to a climate that has significantly higher heating and cooling needs? What about a sinking fund for the new roof you’ll need in five years? You may be able to afford the principle payment on a house, but that’s far from the only cost you’ll need to pay.  

 5.     Location: Maybe you’ve found your dream home, but you have two small children and it’s on a very busy street. Or maybe its in an area hose climate would exacerbate a severe health issue you have. Location is important. Without taking it into consideration, your dream home could turn into more of a nightmare.

      While this isn’t an exhaustive list, keeping these things in mind when you’re in the process of buying a home will help you to stay on track, and keep the home buying process much more pleasant. 

Short Sales: They've Always Been Good, But Now Are They Getting Even Better?

For those looking to get a 20-30% discount on the purchase of a home, the short-sale market holds potential for some very good deals. Likewise, on a distressed property owner’s end, a short sale is a much better option than a foreclosure. Unfortunately, the price for some of those deals is mountains of paperwork, unresponsive banks, and an overall lengthy process. This may seem counterintuitive—shouldn’t banks be eager to sell these houses, rather than let them go into foreclosure, where they 1) often sit on the market for long periods, and 2) eventually sell for an even greater discount—i.e., banks get even less of the money they are owed? But I digress…

There may be some good news though. A new bill was introduced which would oblige mortgage companies to respond more quickly to inquiries about potential short sales.  The bill, aptly entitled, The Prompt Notification of Short Sale Act, would require mortgage companies to give a written response to home owners within 75 days about whether or not their home could potentially be sold as a short sale. This is also good news for potential buyers.

Currently, a short sale generally takes between four and nine months from start to finish. Because of the length of this process, it’s not uncommon for a home to be foreclosed on, even if a short sale is in progress. A shorter response time would potentially decrease the number of foreclosures.

Will the bill pass? Stay tuned…