Real estate agent with couple shaking hands closing a deal and signing a contract

5 Ways Real Estate Agents Save You Money When Selling Your Home

Real estate agent with couple shaking hands closing a deal and signing a contract

It’s understandable – after finally selling your home, it can be tough to fork over the commission fee to a real estate agent. But before you fall into the FSBO trap, consider one very important thing: real estate agents can actually save you money.

While a commission is due at the end of the deal, the cost will pale in comparison to how much you can save through the process. Here are just a handful of ways how agents can save you cash when selling your home.

1. They’ll Price Your Home Right

Who wouldn’t want to list their home for millions of dollars, regardless of what it’s actually worth? Everyone wants to get as much money as possible for their property, but buyers aren’t dumb – they’re probably working with their own agents who are telling them what they should and shouldn’t offer on a property. There’s this little thing called ‘comparables’, and agents use them to gauge what homes are worth in a specific area. And while buyers’ agents are using these comps, so are sellers’ agents.

Here’s the rub – price your home too high, and you’ll send buyers running in the opposite direction. That leaves your home sitting on the market for weeks and even months without a bite. And the longer your home remains unsold, the more it costs you in the long run.

The other end of the spectrum is just as ugly – price your home too low, and you’re basically leaving a ton of cash on the table. The goal here is to make as much money as possible, which means you need to find that sweet spot as far as a listing price is concerned. With an experienced real estate agent on your side, you’ll have the expertise and tools necessary to price your home perfectly to get you the most money come sale time.

2. They Give You Awesome Staging Tips

The look of your home can be totally transformed with a few key pointers from your real estate agent. If you’ve had the same set-up and decor for years, that doesn’t necessarily mean that your home shows well to sellers. A seasoned agent will come in to your home and objectively gauge the space, then (nicely) tell you what’s working, and what’s not.

He or she will make suggestions about what you should get rid of and what you can keep, as well as how your present furniture should be arranged to maximize flow and functionality. Rearranging furniture to its optimal visual appeal will make your home more attractive to buyers.

Real estate agents can even bring in a professional home stager to make major changes to the space. These pros bring in their own furniture and accessories, and can make your home look like something that jumped out of a magazine. It’s a fact that homes that are well staged sell faster, and for more money compared to homes that are left as is. So it’s totally worth it to listen to staging tips from your real estate agent or stager if you want more money in your pocket at the end of the day.

3. They’ve Got Ties With Other Pros in the Industry

The savviest agents are the ones that have an arsenal of experts on the back burner to help you in all sorts of ways along the home selling journey.

Need a few repairs to your home before you put it up on the market? An agent can set you up with a contractor. Apprehensive about the mortgage process? Your agent can put you in touch with a trusted mortgage specialist. And what about all the legal stuff that comes along with selling a property and transferring title? Agents have a lawyer they can recommend to you.

Trying to find professionals such as these that are both experienced and trusted can be a full-time job. Luckily, that’s a hefty chore that you can strike off your list when you work with a competent real estate agent. Forget about throwing money in incapable hands – the experts you work with will come highly recommended, and maybe even with a discount.

4. They’ll Negotiate More Money on the Sale Price

The art of negotiation comes in really handy at the home selling table. Real estate agents are masters of this skill, and will pull all the stops to help you get the highest dollar for your home. The more money you make on your home, the more money goes into their pocket, so you can be sure that they’ll do their darnedest to squeeze every dollar out of the deal possible.

Whether the strategy is to sightly under-price the home to stimulate a bidding war, or to focus on super-motivated buyers that put up a sizeable deposit and offer a quick closing, agents are there to help put the most money in your pocket. And when it comes to deciding whether or not to accept an offer, counter it, negotiate the closing date, or change the contingencies, your agent is there to navigate these negotiations to get you the best deal.

5. They Save You Time

You’ve heard the saying before – time is money. Well, this phrase doesn’t ring any more true than during the selling process. Those who are inexperienced with the ins and outs of selling a property have no clue about how incredibly tedious and time-consuming it can be. It’s certainly not as simple as slapping up a For Sale sign, throw up a few photos online, allow the heards of buyers to flock, then accept the first offer that comes in.

There’s a lot more to it than that, and it can really suck the time out of your schedule. Who has time to take care of all the back-end stuff that comes along with successfully selling a home? Instead, leave it to a real estate agent to take care of all of that – after all, this is their full-time job, and they’re good at it.

Do yourself a favor – avoid the temptation to go the FSBO route in an effort to “save” some money. If you really want to save yourself some cash, work with an agent. Besides saving you money, real state agents will also save you a ton of hassle and headaches. That alone is well worth enlisting their services.

A young father having fun with his daughter while pushing her in a moving box

Clever Moving Tips to Cut Down on Time and Hassle

A young father having fun with his daughter while pushing her in a moving box

Just the mere thought of having to pack the entire house and move it all to a new destination can seem like a daunting task. And it can be if you don’t plan ahead and use simple yet effective strategies to ease the burden. Here are 8 savvy packing and moving tips to make the haul a cinch.

Throw Junk Out – Don’t Pack it

Keep this golden rule in mind before you pack certain items: if you haven’t used it over the past year, you most likely never will. If that’s the case, there’s no sense in packing these never-used items and moving them into your new home, only for them to just take up precious space for nothing.

Most likely, the home you’re moving out of has accumulated quite a bit of ‘stuff’ since you’ve lived there – odds are, a lot of it doesn’t have to be dragged along with you. Instead, create a pile for donation, and a pile for the trash. Getting rid of unused things will drastically cut down on the time and effort needed to pack and move all of your belongings on moving day.

Wrap Your Delicates in Clothing or Towels Instead of Bubble Wrap

Any fragile items – such as glassware, dishes, porcelain figurines, etc – will obviously need extra care and padding when storing them for the big move. But rather than using bubble wrap for this purpose, consider using clothing instead.

First of all, bubble wrap can get pretty expensive, especially with the hoards that you’ll be needing. Secondly, your clothing and linens need to be packed anyway – why take up extra space with bubble wrap when your clothes can serve a purpose?

Use Bags Instead of Boxes

How much space do boxes take up in a moving truck? A lot. How expensive are they? Very. Consider using durable bags instead of boxes when possible.

Not everything in your home is square-shaped and fits perfectly inside a box. Rather than counting on boxes for all of your belongings, throw some bags into the mix. And if you’ve got any suitcases, use these to pack large and bulky items, like your comforters, pillows, and sweaters, which tend to take up a lot of space.

Use Clear Bins For Essential Items

Think about all the items that you’ll need the first day and night that you’ll be in your new home. Things like your toothbrush, shampoo, phone charger, laptop, and other items will be needed within hours of moving. Skip the frustration of looking through every box by storing these must-haves in a clear plastic bin to help you find things a lot easier and faster.

Take Photos

You’d be amazed at how quickly you’ll forget how certain shelves were arranged, such as your glasses and dishes. Your shelves may be stacked and organized so perfectly in your old home, but this arrangement will be tough to copy after you’ve taken everything down and stuffed them into moving boxes.

The same can be said for your electronics – taking photos of the cords on the back of your TV and other gadgets will make it a lot easier to remember where they all belong. This will save you both time and hassle.

Don’t Leave Important Documents With the Mover

Crucial papers, like your passports, birth certificates, bank statements, purchase agreements, or any other paperwork with sensitive information on it should be kept with you, and not the movers. These are the last things that you want to go missing during the move.

Leave the Garage Empty

You’ll probably be tempted to fill the garage or attic at your new place with all your boxes that you moved from your old house. Do yourself a favor, and resist this temptation. While your intention may be to deal with them ‘at some point’ in the near future, this usually tends to turn into ‘never.’

Just like we said earlier – if you can go months – or longer – without using certain things, it’s safe to say they can be discarded. If not, you’ll be parking your vehicle on the driveway.

Color Coordinate Your Boxes/Rooms

Labeling boxes is a classic moving trick, and it’s an absolute must. But you can make things even easier on yourself by color coordinating the boxes for each room in the house.

For instance, assign blue for the master bedroom and orange for the kitchen, and so on.

Use colored stickers on each box near the number you’ve designated for each. Once you get to your new home, place a matching sticker on each room’s door. That way the movers will know exactly where each box goes when they finally get there.

Moving isn’t exactly glamorous, nor is it simple. But you can definitely take steps to make it as stress-free and easy as possible so you can spend more time enjoying your new digs.

Interior designer working on hand drawing sketches on plan blueprints

The Dangers of Over-Improving Your Home

Interior designer working on hand drawing sketches on plan blueprints

Is there such thing as having a home that’s too good for its surrounding neighborhood?

Sure, most homeowners want their home to be up-to-date and attractive, and often that means making some changes and improvements to it. But while many projects can have positive effects on the functionality of a home, its visual esthetics, and the overall value of the property, others, on the other hand, are just over-the-top, and can actually have a negative impact on how prospective buyers see your home.

Putting too much money into upgrades that go way beyond what the actual area calls for can easily translate into lost money. 

Before you make any major improvements to your home, make sure your surrounding neighborhood calls for such features. Be smart about how your renovation budget is spent, and the exact types of improvements you plan to make. The value of your home won’t necessarily reflect the amount of work and money you put into expensive and excessive projects.

If you’re planning on staying in your home for the long-haul and are looking to make improvements that suit your needs and will provide you with years of enjoyment, go for it. However, if you’re planning to move over the next three to five years, you might want to think twice about those extravagant updates and additions.

What Does Your Neighborhood Call For?

Before you dump a lot of your hard-earned dollar on a specific project, take a look at the best house on the block. You likely won’t recoup that money by improving at or beyond that level. The odds of your home’s value appreciating to the point that you’ll get back just as much of that investment money are pretty low.

For instance, you will probably have a tough time finding a buyer who will pay the price you want to recoup the money you spent adding a huge pool, outdoor spa, or sunroom to your home if the homes on the street don’t have these types of amenities. Buyer agents aren’t going to encourage their clients to buy the best house in the neighborhood, or a property that sticks out like a sore thumb. Not only that, buyers will be a little intimidated by a home that is clearly the priciest in the area.

Buying the most expensive home on the block will give buyers little wiggle room to add equity to their home, which would become a problem if and when they decide to sell at some point in the future.

If homes in the neighborhood are selling in the $500,000 to $600,000 range, you’ll be hard-pressed to get $750,000 for your home just because you spent an extra $150,000 adding extra-fine features and finishes to it. Don’t expect to recoup that money upon the sale of your home. An over-improved home might impress buyers, but that doesn’t mean they’ll be willing to shell out the big bucks for it.

Overdoing Certain Spaces in the Home

Certain rooms in a home hold a lot of importance when it comes to its overall value, especially kitchens and bathrooms. Renovating and updating these spaces can boost property values, make them more attractive to potential buyers, and command more money come sale time. However, the increase in sale price will hit a cap.

While it’s important to ensure these important rooms are up-to-par, it’s also possible to over-improve them. A $500,000 home warrants a kitchen that reflects this value, just as a million dollar home deserves a kitchen that matches its value. A room that’s completely out of place in a home based on its value won’t do much at resale.

Be Careful With Additions

More square footage in a home tends to increase property value, but how you go about adding such space to your home is an important consideration. Reconfiguring the layout and space that you already have to make it more functional can increase the value. For instance, converting a 2-bedroom home into a 3-bedroom home by moving some walls can add value if the neighborhood calls for 3-bedroom homes. However, if you start making large additions to your home that sacrifice a lot of your yard space, this can have the opposite effect.

While the size of a house is a big factor for buyers, so is the useable size of the yard. It’s not such a good thing when the physical structure takes up far too much space, especially if it’s way off scale compared to other homes on the street.

The Bottom Line

Renovating and upgrading your home is a fantastic idea, especially if it’s starting to get dated and just isn’t working for you and your family. However, before you start taking hammer to nail, make sure you’ve given your project a lot of thought. Even though you have a vision in mind that you know will bring you enjoyment, make sure you’re realistic about the kind of return on investment you’ll get, and whether such improvements are just too much for the neighborhood you are in.

A woman checks the fire extinguisher expiration date at home

Emergency Tips Every Homeowner Needs to Know About

A woman checks the fire extinguisher expiration date at home

Owning and maintaining a home doesn’t come with an instruction manual, though it would be great if it did. After you’ve found the home you love and moved in, the real fun starts.

But sometimes the fun can be rudely interrupted by certain scenarios that can put the home – and even you and your family – at risk.

Here are a few things all homeowners should know about in order to avert an emergency in the house.

Know Where the Shut-Off Valve is

Whether the toilet is overflowing, or the pipes are frozen, the water supply to the house needs to be shut off immediately. You should probably shut the water off completely if you’re going on vacation for more than a couple of days.

You’ll need to know exactly where the shut-off valve is in order for you to cut off the water supply. While it may typically be in the basement, it can also be located in an underground utility box or outside wall in warmer climates.

Once you’ve located it, make sure that it works properly. It should be turned clockwise to stop the water flow into the house. A good idea would be to test it two or three times after you first move into the home to make sure it actually works.

In the case of a burst pipe either under a sink or beside the toilet, you should first shut the valve off directly at these sites to minimize damage in those immediate areas.

Know How to Stop an Overflowing Toilet

Aside from this being pretty nasty, an overflowing toilet can cause serious water damage to the immediate surroundings and the structures below. Usually these scenarios happen when the bowl is slow to drain and clean water from the tank rushes in too fast.

If the bowl is filling up, don’t run away. Instead, immediately lift the top of the tank, grab the black rubber float, and pull it up. This will close the valve that allow the clean water in the bowl, which should ideally give you enough time to shut the water source off.

Label Your Circuit Breakers

You’ll definitely need to fiddle with the breakers on occasion. As such, it’ll be a lot more helpful if you know exactly which breakers work specific outlets, light fixtures, electronics, and appliances.

First of all, you need to know exactly where your breaker box is. Once you’ve found it (usually in some sort of utility space like the laundry room or storage room), label the breakers accordingly. You’re probably going to need some help in this department, so make sure you’ve got your partner or a pal to help identify what fixtures each breaker controls.

Start by turning them all off, then test each one at a time. Once you’ve got this info, write it down directly beside each switch. Be sure to identify where the main switch is too, which shuts off the power to the entire house.

Know How to Operate a Fire Extinguisher

Many times a house fire can be stopped right in its tracks with the use of a fire extinguisher. Just make sure your home is equipped with one.

To effectively operate this life-saving piece of equipment, it might help to write down clear, simple instructions on the actual canister. The first thing you need to do is pull the pin for it to be ready. After you aim the nozzle at the fire, squeeze the trigger and spray the agent from side to side to extinguish the fire.

Remember that the average fire extinguisher only consists of approximately 8 seconds of fire-squelching agent in it, so use this tool wisely.

Keep an Emergency Kit Handy in the Home

Certain emergencies may force you to remain in your home for a long time – perhaps even days. And many times the conditions aren’t exactly comfortable or safe. Perhaps your area has been caught in a massive snowstorm that has blocked you in and knocked the power out. Or perhaps your home is the victim of destruction from a hurricane or earthquake.

Whatever the situation is, you should be prepared for anything and everything, and that means having a disaster kit readily available. Consider adding the following items to this kit:

  • Water (about one gallon of water per person per day for a week)
  • Food (non-perishable)
  • Radio
  • Flashlight
  • Batteries
  • First-aid kit
  • Blankets
  • Whistle to signal for help
  • Cell phone with power banks for charging

If it’s within your budget, you may even consider buying a generator that will be able to power up some of the more necessary appliances, like light fixtures, a stove, or space heaters.

You can never be over-prepared for an emergency. Taking the time and effort to prepare your home before disaster strikes can save both the home itself, and your family.

Close up of a mans hand with a pencil calculating with a small home model

Using Price-Per-Square-Foot Analysis to Price a Home

Close up of a mans hand with a pencil calculating with a small home model

Listing your home at the right price is critical. Pricing too high or too low can keep your home on the market a lot longer than you’d like, and can even leave thousands of dollars on the table.

Comparing what other similar homes in the neighborhood recently sold for is the more popular way of coming up with an accurate listing price in residential real estate; however, there are other ways to measure value.

One way that some sellers and their agents price homes for the market is by using a price-per-square-foot analysis of a subject property to compare to. While this shouldn’t be the sole method of pricing a listing, it can help somewhat. While many in the industry discard this method, it can still help narrow down an accurate listing price. In fact, professional appraisers and commercial brokers still continue to use these calculations, so there’s still got to be some merit to it.

The key to using a price-per-square-foot analysis is to follow specific guidelines.

How the Price Per Square Foot is Calculated

A home’s price per square foot is determined by dividing the subject property’s price by its square footage. For instance, a 1,500 square-foot-home that’s priced at $300,000 would have a price-per-square-foot calculation of $200 ($300,000 ÷ 1,500 s.f.). Calculating the price of a home can be done by multiplying the price per square foot by the home’s square footage.

Of course, this calculation on its own is very simplistic. Many issues can be raised by this simple calculation alone, as these numbers are subject to error. For instance, how accurate is the actual square footage of the home? How was this actually calculated? Was it even measured to ANSI standards, or was it done using old-school measuring tape?

No matter what method was used to calculate the subject home’s square footage, it needs to be very accurate. Not only that, it needs to be consistent with the method used to measure other comparable homes in the area. If not, one of the variables in the price-per-square-foot calculation could very well be highly inaccurate. Only after very precise numbers are obtained can the price-per-square-foot analysis work.

Follow the 10% Rule

A price-per-square-foot comparison method needs to stick to the 10% rule in order to be accurate. Basically, this rule involves ensuring that the improvements to the subject home along with the square footage of the land it sits on are within a 10% range of those of the subject property that is being evaluated. For instance, for a 1,500-square-foot home on a 5,000-square-foot lot, comparable sales should be based on homes within the 1,350 to 1,650-square-foot range (1,500 +/- 10%), and lot sizes must be within the 4,500 to 5,500-square-foot range range (5,000 +/- 10%).

Tread Lightly With Improvements

A home that’s been renovated from top to bottom in high-end materials is often assumed to be worth a lot more per square foot than a home that is in dire need of some TLC. While this is true to some degree, improvements might not necessarily have as much of an effect on the price-per-square-foot, depending on the buyer.

For instance, a home with brand new porcelain tiles might not be worth much to a buyer who has intentions of ripping it all out and replacing it with wide-plank oak hardwood flooring. In many circumstances, improvements do – and should – play a role in establishing an accurate price based on a price-per-square-foot analysis, but exceptions to the rule should be accounted for.

Any upgrades that have added useable square footage to a home will typically increase the value of the home. For instance, if a 2-bedroom, 1-bathroom house is converted into a 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom home, such improvements will usually increase the property’s value.

The Bottom Line

The price-per-square-foot analysis can certainly be helpful in coming up with a listing price for your home, but it should definitely not be the only method used. The key to accurate pricing is to use a comparative analysis of similar properties in the area that have sold no further back than two or three months. Actual sale prices are factual, and already involve all of the variables that need to be considered when coming up with an accurate listing price, including size, location, finishes, condition, and so forth.

There’s also something to be said about an in-depth knowledge of the local market, knowing what buyers in the area are looking for, and understanding buyer and seller motivation. The price-per-square-foot analysis only works with a solid understanding of the housing market of the area in question. Experienced real estate agents will be able to pair their knowledge of the market with comparables and a price-per-square-foot analysis to come up with the right price that will garner the most attention from interested buyers.

Interior designer discussing renovation ideas with happy couple at a meeting

8 Essential Items Your Home Renovation Contract Should Include

Interior designer discussing renovation ideas with happy couple at a meeting

It would be nice to be able to trust your contractor’s word when you’re having work done on your home, but a written contract really is the only way to go. Having everything in writing can ensure that every party involved fully and clearly understands what is expected of them. It keeps the job running smoothly and ensures that everyone agrees on what should be done and when.

A written contract with all pertinent details will also protect you should you ever have to seek compensation for a job that was not done as promised. Be sure that your contract includes all of the following elements before you sign on the dotted line.

1. Detailed Description of the Job

Before any contract becomes binding, make sure that it lists in detail all of the specific tasks involved in the project, the materials that will be required, and the associated costs with each.

The contract should also specify that the contractor will apply for and obtain all of the required building permits to legally and safely carry out all the tasks, and that all debris from the demolition will be disposed of appropriately. In addition, make sure the contract specifies that all workers involved are covered by liability and workman’s compensation insurance.

2. How Payments Will Be Made

Obviously, the contract should include the total price for the work involved. But it should also detail exactly when increment payments should be made, how much each payment should be, and how you should be paying the contractor. Usually, an initial deposit is required, which should not be any more than 10% of the entire cost of the project.

Then, further installments will be paid after each milestone has been reached, such as after the drywall has been installed, after the flooring has been laid, and after the kitchen cabinets have gone up. The last portion of the final payment should only be provided after the job has been fully completed to your discretion.

3. Start and End Dates of the Project

You’ll both want to know when the job will be started and roughly when it will be completed in order for you to fit it into your schedules. The end date shouldn’t exactly be written in stone to allow for certain unexpected circumstances; however, it shouldn’t be so far off the original completion date, either. Be sure that these dates are written into the contract.

4. How Changes to the Project Will Be Dealt With

It’s common for home renovation projects to encounter unforeseen situations that can warrant some changes to the original plan. It’s important to anticipate such scenarios, and have a plan in place on how to deal with them.

It should be noted that no changes should take place until the contractor has received written approval from you. Only then should a “change order” take place, which outlines what changes need to be made and any associated costs. 

5. Lien Waivers

Various workers who come onto your property to do work – including plumbers, electricians, drywall tapers, painters, etc – can claim that any work they did on your home was never paid for, even if your contractor did indeed receive payment for the work.

Having a “lien waiver” written into your contract for every installment payment made can protect you from these individuals placing a lien on your property. Every invoice for every payment made should include a signed statement proving that any payments you made to your contractor were in fact used to pay off all the workers involved.   

6. Written Notice of Your Right to Cancel Without Penalty

You may have entered a contract with a contractor to have certain work done on your home, but what if you change your mind at the last minute? What if something comes up that derails your plans for a home renovation?

Luckily, you can back out of your contract without any penalty within three business days of signing it. Having an “escape clause” included in the contact means you can cancel the deal within three days without losing your deposit.

7. Warranty

Having a warranty for all the work done in your home will provide you with reimbursement should something go wrong with the workmanship. Usually, these warranties are for no less than one year. Make sure the name and address of the person or company who will honor the warranty are included in the contract, along with the exact date that the warranty starts and ends. 

8. Signatures

This may sound obvious, but make sure both you and the contractor sign the contract. It won’t be legally binding without these signatures. 

The Bottom Line

Your contract is a crucial element to any home renovation job. It makes sure that each party holds up their ends of the bargain, and protects all parties involved, especially you. Make sure your contract includes all of these elements in order to protect you from any shady behavior from your contractor, and provide you with some recourse should you be defrauded in any way.

Halloween decorated front door with various size and shape pumpkins and skeletons

Unique Fall Decorating Ideas That Won’t Cost a Fortune

Halloween decorated front door with various size and shape pumpkins and skeletons

Once the kids are back in school and the long summer days began to grow shorter and shorter, homeowners begin thinking about fall. First comes the change in leaves that completely alters the landscape, followed soon after by Halloween. The next month brings Thanksgiving, which often involves visiting relatives. All of this activity usually inspires homeowners to invest in décor specific to the season.

However, redoing your house for one season can be expensive. You can add a few things, then store them the same way you store your Christmas decorations, but new welcome mats, centerpieces, and knickknacks can be expensive. Here are a few ideas that can add an autumnal touch to your home without stretching your budget to its limit.

Use Pumpkins

As fall begins, you’ll see stacks of pumpkins on sale everywhere. They’re available at the grocery store and local farmer’s markets, as well as at pumpkin patches on farms in rural areas. Traditionally, homeowners carved pumpkins for decorations but over time, people have come up with a variety of other creative ways to decorate with them. You can use them for your centerpieces, mantel decorations, or set them up on your front porch.

Go Grocery Shopping

Sometimes great decorations start with a visit to the produce section of your grocery store. Certain items have become synonymous with fall, making them ideal for jazzing up your home for parties and weekend visitors. You can get creative with apples or dried corncobs at minimal cost and create a unique look. You can also use squash, gourds, and red onions to create stunning displays.

Buy Hay Bales

You can stop by a local hardware store or farm supply for a couple of hay bales to spice up your outdoor décor. If you have farms nearby, you may even find hay bales for sale at a fraction of the price of what you’d pay at a hardware store. Check sites like Craigslist to see if someone in your area is offering hay bales for sale. There are a variety of ways you can decorate with hay bales, including stacking them and accenting them with other decorations or giving them a fun Halloween theme.

Decorate with Candy

Halloween has become known as a holiday that revolves around candy. You can go with that theme and use candy corn to spice up your centerpieces and other decorations. If you have kids around the house, they’ll likely have fun helping you with your DIY project, then feel a sense of accomplishment when the decorations are complete. Just make sure you buy extra candy corn to make up for the pieces you’ll consume while working on the project.

Bottom Line

One of the best things about these options is that they’re perishable, which means when the season is over, you’ll have nothing to store. With a little creativity, you can spice up your décor on a budget, impressing your friends and neighbors with your inventiveness. Best of all, you’ll have fun thinking of new ways to use everyday objects in your fall-themed decorating.

Image of a living area with a side table, rug, and no sofa

5 Reasons Why Not Staging Your Vacant Home is a Mistake

Image of a living area with a side table, rug, and no sofa

The goal of every seller is to sell their home quickly, and for top dollar. Nobody wants to have to pay carrying costs while waiting for the right buyer to come along. The home has to be presented in the most attractive light possible, which is why home staging can work wonders. But a vacant home will do little to showcase the house in a positive light. And the less interest it garners, the longer it will linger on the market.

Here are 5 reasons why leaving your home vacant without having it staged before it hits the market can be a costly mistake.

1. There is Zero Emotional Connection With the Home

An empty house seems cold and barren. It’s not welcoming and inviting in the way that fully furnished and decorated homes are. It echoes, and can even give off a creepy feeling, especially if all the walls are white.

People aren’t just looking for a house – they’re buying into a lifestyle. Buying real estate is most likely the biggest expense anyone will ever make in life. It’s a huge decision that people won’t just jump into right away without some careful thought and consideration. It’s got to feel right to them; they need to essentially fall in love with the house, which is precisely what the goal of home staging is.

It’s crucial for sellers to get the buyers to establish an emotional connection with the home to boost their motivation to buy. A vacant house just doesn’t do that. It’s lifeless and dull, and does nothing to tap into a buyer’s emotions.

2. The Imperfections of the Home Are Magnified 

Furniture and decor have an amazing way of covering up or distracting attention away from any flaws of a home. These decorative elements keep the buyer’s eyes too busy to catch any defects that might exist. When a home is furnished, buyers will able to focus on the positive features of the home and visualize how they can use the space. If all they’re able to look at is bare walls, floors and ceilings, any flaws will actually be magnified instead of camouflaged.

Any scuff marks on the wall, stains on the carpet, scratches on the hardwood floor, outdated light fixtures, gaps between floor tiles, and even ugly switch plates will be noticed. In addition, all the rooms in the house can appear smaller than they actually are without the presence of properly positioned furniture to show how to maximize the space.

3. Buyers Won’t Have a Clear Vision for the Space

Most buyers aren’t able to visualize how a space can be used without it being presented to them on a silver platter. Having a vacant home on the market leaves you with a lot of potential interest lost. If the home isn’t furnished to show exactly what each room’s purpose is, buyers will more likely go home and totally forget whether or not the house had all the specific rooms they need (a third bedroom, a den, a dining room, a home office, etc), or if the home had the necessary amount of space needed for all their furniture and belongings.

It can take a lot longer to sell a vacant home because buyers are often unsure if they can perform their regular routines and activities in the house. This problem is even further magnified if the house is small or has awkward layouts that make furnishing more challenging. Without furniture and decor, buyers will not be able to visualize how the space can work for them.

4. Buyers Can’t Judge the Room’s Size Without Furniture

Buyers will only be able to get a sense of the size of the space if the rooms are furnished. Otherwise, they’ll just be asking themselves a bunch of questions that should have already been answered for them through the home’s furniture arrangement.

Where will the TV go? Will our corner sofa fit in here? Where is the dining area? Is this a bedroom or an office? Buyers will be asking themselves these questions – and more – when they’re staring at vacant rooms. Instead, when the home is properly staged, these queries won’t have to be pondered.

5. The House Won’t Show Well in Photos

One of the most important factors that go into effectively marketing a home for sale is the appeal of the photos. After all, photos online or in print are often the first visual that buyers will get of your home, so you want to make a good first impression to get them to actually book a showing.

But a vacant home doesn’t show nearly as well in photos compared to homes that are staged. You have to make your home stand out and shine. You’ve got to give it a nice packaging to catch a buyer’s attention. Otherwise, you risk having your home linger on the market with minimal interest, while other homes in the area that are staged and furnished get snatched up.

Bottom Line

The longer your home sits on the market, the more carrying costs you’ll have to flip the bill for. And the longer it lingers, the more ‘stale’ the listing will get. If your home is vacant, do yourself a favor and speak with a realtor who can recommend a reputable and professional home stager who can temporarily furnish the place to make it look as visually appealing as possible, and thereby attract the masses.

Stats have proven that staged homes sell faster and for more money, so why wouldn’t you want to benefit from that yourself?

Woman hand holding credit cards and using smartphone for shopping online with payment on internet banking

No Credit? How to Build it From the Ground Up

Woman hand holding credit cards and using smartphone for shopping online with payment on internet banking

Having poor credit isn’t a good thing, but neither is having no credit at all. Getting approved for a mortgage – or any other type of loan, for that matter – is pretty much an impossible feat if the lender has nothing to go on. How will your lender know if you’ll be good for the money if you don’t have a history of responsible repayment? While you may be avoiding debt like the plague, you’re also failing to build up any sort of credit whatsoever.

If you currently have no credit, here are a few ways to build it up from scratch.

Apply For a Secured Credit Card

You may have been paying for everything in cash up to now, but it’s time to get some credit on the books, and you can easily start by applying for a secured credit card. These types of credit cards are backed by a cash deposit that you make upfront, which essentially acts as your credit limit. That means you must have money in your account equivalent to your credit line. If you want to spend $500 on your card, for example, you need $500 in your account to cover that amount.

Like a typical credit card, monthly payments are made, and interest is incurred if you don’t pay your balance off in full and on time. Every purchase you make with the card is deducted from your remaining balance. That initial $500 stays as is, and is used as collateral if you don’t make your payments.

Using a secured credit card will help you build up enough credit to be eligible for a traditional credit card.

Take Out a Loan With a Credible Co-Signer

You likely won’t be approved for a loan on your own without any credit, but you have a good chance of approval if you can get a co-signer on your loan application. The key is to make sure that the co-signer already has excellent credit. Basically, the co-signer agrees to cover the loan amount in the event that you don’t make your payments. That’s the guarantee that a lender would get with a co-signer.

By taking out a small loan in this manner, you’ll have an opportunity to prove your ability to make regular payments in full and on time. Just make sure you’ve got the income and the discipline necessary to comfortably make your loan payments, or you’ll be putting your co-signer in a very precarious position.

Add Yourself as an Authorized User on Another Person’s Credit Card

Ask a close friend or family member if they would be willing to allow you to be added as an authorized user on his or her credit card. This will allow you to use that person’s credit card without being legally responsible to pay for the charges, and you’ll be building credit at the same time. The other person really needs to have full trust in you, so make sure you’re up for the task before you ask and agree to put your name down as an authorized user.

Before you take this route, however, you should first make sure that the credit card company sends authorized user activity information to the credit bureaus. If it doesn’t, there’s no point continuing with this option.

Apply For a Credit Builder Loan

This type of loan is specifically designed to help people build credit, as all payment activity is reported to the credit bureaus. They are small loans made by some credit unions and community banks which basically act as a type of forced savings.

The money borrowed is deposited in a savings account by the lender, and can’t be accessed until you fully repay the loan. Once the loan term expires, you get the money, as well as a good credit score.

The Bottom Line

The key here is to make sure the credit you build is a good one. Be sure to make all payments on time and in full, and keep your credit card debt low. Don’t open too many accounts within a short period of time, and get a copy of your credit report once a year to see if there are any mistakes or discrepancies on there that could be bringing you credit score down. There’s no point in trying to build credit if you’re just going to be irresponsible with your efforts. A bad credit score is just as bad as no credit at all.

Kitchen in newly constructed luxury home

These Features Will Help Your Home Sell Faster

Kitchen in newly constructed luxury home

If you’re planning on selling your home and moving some time in the near future, you should think about the features in your house, and whether or not buyers want what you’ve got. Yet a lot of home buyers might be hesitant to blow money on upgrades if they don’t plan on taking advantage of them for long.

Think about it, the cost you incur to make these upgrades might be a lot less compared to the loss you’ll take upon the sale of your home if you don’t include certain features that buyers in your area desire. It really can mean the difference between getting the price you want, and letting the listing go stale.

Here are a few popular features that will most likely help you sell your home faster.

Gourmet Kitchen

The kitchen is always a huge selling point for homes. Buyers love it when they walk into a home and see a kitchen masterfully outfitted with updated features and appliances. Kitchen makeovers are always at the top of the list when it comes to the biggest ROI.

What exactly sets a typical kitchen update apart from a gourmet kitchen?

Three features are a part of this equation:

1) Cutting-edge appliances

2) Gorgeous surfaces

3) Tons of storage

You can’t call a kitchen ‘gourmet’ if it’s not equipped with a top-of-the-line gas range and deep refrigerator. Don’t forget the convection double oven, warming oven, and microwave drawer – gourmet cooks appreciate having these features in their kitchens. At the very least, consider installing stainless steel appliances, which are always sharp-looking and make a statement.

When it comes to the surface that cooks like to work on, consider stainless steel or stone counters. If these aren’t in the budget, you can mimic the look with a laminate. People who watch all those home improvement or cooking shows expect kitchen to look like the ones on TV.

Potential buyers will definitely be going through all the drawers and cabinets in the kitchen. Those with ample space will always score big points.

Energy Efficient Appliances, Windows and HVAC Systems

Buyers are savvy these days, and they are increasingly expecting homes to feature energy-efficient windows and appliances to help shave the cost off their monthly utility bills.

Energy Star windows come with an invisible glass coating, vacuum-sealed gaps with inert gaps, durable weather stripping, and high quality framing materials – all of which can help to cut down energy costs by as much as 15%.

‘Green’ HVAC systems can cut 20% off your annual utility bills, and can provide efficiency even in extreme hot or cold weather conditions. The cutting-edge technology used to adjust heating or cooling can manage the air temperature in the home for the ultimate in comfort, while using the least amount of energy possible.

Refrigerators, stoves, washers and dryers are all energy-suckers, which is why making the switch to energy-efficient models makes sense. You can save a few hundred bucks at the end of the year by opting for appliances that use less energy to complete the same tasks as their non-energy-efficient counterparts. And the government might even pitch in with incentives if you choose to make the switch.

Knowing that your home is easy on the environment and affordable to operate is a huge feature that buyers look for.

Backyard Deck

After checking out all the rooms in the home, buyers love ending off their tour by walking out to an expansive and well maintained deck in the backyard. Millennials in particular have come to expect this feature, so give them what they want and build one if you haven’t already got one.

Even if you’ve got a teeny tiny yard, that doesn’t mean you can’t install one. A deck that fits a couple of chairs and a little table is just enough to provide an outdoor living space. Aside from pressure-treated pine (which is a common material used in building home decks), there are other materials you can consider using, including concrete or composite materials that require less maintenance than wood.

Throw in a few built-in pot lights and you’ll thoroughly impress buyers.

Open Concept

Plenty of homeowners with a separate formal dining room rarely use the space. Actually, scratch that. It is used, but more often for storing junk than for actual sit-down dinners.

These days, millennials prefer an open floor plan with minimal walls that cut off the space. Instead of a separate dining room, living room and kitchen, consider knocking down a few walls to open up the space and bring in more light.

Not only is an open floor plan brighter and more functional, it’s also more conducive to interaction among everyone in the home. Parents can keep tabs on their kids better, and guests can socialize amongst each other regardless if one is in the kitchen and the other is in the living room.

Storage Space in the Garage

Garages aren’t just for storing vehicles – they’re also hugely depended on by homeowners to store things. This is especially true for young couples with growing families. In addition to the basement, the garage tends to be depended on to store all those big items, like strollers, bikes, patio chairs, boxes of old toys, and other things that you’d rather not lug up the stairs from the basement.

Additional storage in the garage allows homeowners to ensure that the inside of their homes is not cluttered and much more organized. After all, the less stuff you have in the house, the less organizing and tidying up is necessary.

Adding this extra storage is easy, and you don’t need a massive garage to make it happen either. All you need is some cabinetry, a peg wallboard to hang your tools, and some lighting to make finding your items a cinch.

Not only should you eliminate features in your home that are considered outdated and unattractive (popcorn ceilings and peeling vinyl floor tiles, that means you!), you should seriously consider incorporating some of the above features to attract the masses of buyers. In addition to these features, there are plenty others that can do the trick to bring in the offers. Consult with your real estate agent for more tips and ideas to get your home sold quickly.