Thursday, March 12, 2020 / by Vanessa Saunders
By Vanessa Saunders, MBA, MIMC , Broker Owner, Global Property Systems
If you’re planning a home improvement project for spring, keep in mind the impact your project will have on your home’s value. Surprisingly, most major improvements don’t pay for themselves when it comes time to sell.
Here are some of the worst home improvements you can do in terms of their return on investment:
#5. Adding extra garage space.
Unless you don’t have a garage at all, adding to an existing one comes in as the fifth worst improvement you can make to a home. Garages are expensive to build, and some buyers are actually turned off at having room they may not need. The average garage addition only adds 60% of it’s cost to the value of a home.
#4. Master bedroom suites.
Turning the master bedroom into an ensuite by adding an adjoining full bathroom will lose up to 40% of its cost at selling time. If you’re in the mood for a major project, re ...
Read More
hudson valley real estate, hudson valley property, hudson valley home, home investment, 'urb to 'burb, selling your home, house pricing, diy projects, fabulous renovations
Monday, February 3, 2020 / by Vanessa Saunders
By Vanessa Saunders, MBA, MIMC , Broker Owner, Global Property Systems
With spring coming, this is the time of year ambitious house flippers and home buyers search for fixer-uppers to buy to refurbish this summer. Often looking for "the worst house on the block," the trick to finding a good candidate for a fix up is to avoid properties with problems that outweigh their cost of repairs. Here are ten tell-tale flaws that may move a potential property from your "Hot" list to your "Not" list.
Water Water Everywhere.
We're talking about un-managed water OUTDOORS here. If a house sits on badly graded land, water will always collect into puddles and pools, and find a way to get INDOORS and wreak its inevitable damage. Amateur home-fixers should avoid this problem, as fixing it incorrectly can compound the problem, as well as open the house to termites or other pests.
The Tell-tale Roof.
No amateur should attempt to fix a funky roof. A roof in poor condition can ...
Read More
hudson valley real estate, hudson valley property, hudson valley home, buying a home, home investment, hudson valley home sellers, orange county ny, 'urb to 'burb, westchester county, rockland county, ulster county, sullivan county, hudson valley house, dutchess, manhattan, diy projects, fabulous renovations
Tuesday, December 31, 2019 / by Vanessa Saunders
Kiplinger published some research recently after surveying home buyers and industry leaders about features they most want in a home. This info is of particular interest to home sellers considering whether to "upgrade" features in their home before they put it on the market. While cost to value ratios never increase the selling price enough to pay for the project, focusing on a few of these features where needed can help sell a home faster.
Laundry Room
Percentage of buyers who want this feature: 91%
Cost to install: $1,000 to $5,000 for a small-scale project
More than anything else, homeowners want a room other than the guest bedroom to stack all the clean laundry in until it finally gets put away. A separate laundry room tops the National Association of Home Builders' (NAHB) list of most-wanted home features by buyers.
Green Energy Efficient Appliances and Windows
Percentage of buyers who want this feature: 89%
Cost to install: Varies ...
Read More
hudson valley real estate, hudson valley property, hudson valley home, home investment, buying a home, hudson valley home owners, hudson valley home sellers, orange county ny, 'urb to 'burb, westchester county, rockland county, ulster county, selling your home, sullivan county, hudson valley house, manhattan, dutchess, sales strategies, diy projects, bergen county
Friday, July 12, 2019 / by Vanessa Saunders
So many times I see sellers trying to squeeze every penny out of the sale of their house but end up shortchanging themselves. Here are seven such circumstances that can be eliminated with a little foresight:
1. Cheaping out on remodeling.
Inferior finishes or cheap solutions to home decorating problems always come back to haunt sellers. Guilty parties include cheap laminate flooring, paint on grainy un-prepared surfaces, "faux" granite counter tops and Ikea kitchens. None will improve the selling price, and all will be seen by buyers as something they'll have to replace or re-do anyway.
2. Ignoring older systems.
Be it a struggling HVAC system, a saggy roof or a water heater as old as your youngest child, a seller will have to deal with these issues in one of three ways. They will receive no offers, they will receive offers reflective of these items that need to be replaced, or once the home inspection happens, the buyer will want to renegotiate the entire transaction. ...
Read More
hudson valley real estate, hudson valley property, hudson valley home, hudson valley home owners, hudson valley home sellers, selling your home, 'urb to 'burb, sales strategies, hudson valley house, house pricing, downsizing, diy projects, access to sellers, ny, moving services
Monday, June 17, 2019 / by Vanessa Saunders
Last week we wrote here about a remodeling job that turned "The saddest house on the block" in Brisbane, Australia into a Manhattan-style loft stunner. It truly was an amazing transformation. What we didn't mention in that report was that the renovation cost $1.2 million to complete, including replacing every part of the structure except the framing.
The house is going up for auction next week. I'm keeping track of the outcome to see if the buyers recouped a return on their investment. Perhaps they'll even make a profit. Unfortunately, according to Keeping Current Matters, a real estate marketing website, the answer is, as they say down under, "Not on a dingo's breakfast."
Based on a study by Bankrate, there is no renovation that can guarantee a positive return over what the remodeling project cost.
That being said, there are some minor improvements that come close. A new wood deck can add about 75% of its $13,000 cost. Better than that is making minor kitchen renovati ...
Read More
hudson valley real estate, hudson valley property, hudson valley home, home investment, hudson valley home owners, hudson valley home sellers, sales strategies, hudson valley house, house pricing, diy projects
