If you intend to list your house in the weeks to come, you may want to complete a wide range of home improvements. That way, you can transform your ordinary house into an awe-inspiring residence, increasing the likelihood of a fast, profitable home sale.
Although you may have lofty expectations for your home improvement projects, it is important to note that performing myriad home repairs can be costly. And if you're not careful, you risk overspending to upgrade your residence.
Fortunately, it can be easy to establish a home improvement budget – here are three tips to help you develop an effective home improvement budget.
1. Determine Which Areas of Your House That You Want to Improve
When it comes to crafting a home improvement budget, it is important to differentiate between major and minor home repairs. By doing so, you'll be better equipped than ever before to budget for assorted home maintenance projects.
A kitchen overhaul or bathroom renovation may be considered a major home improvement. Conversely, updating the color of your bedroom may be a minor home improvement. If you assess the major and minor home improvements that you want to perform, you can put together an appropriate budget.
Of course, you should take an objective look at you house to decide which areas that you want to improve. With an objective view, you can identify various home issues, determine how much money will be required to fix these problems and budget accordingly.
2. Examine the Home Improvement Funds at Your Disposal
In all likelihood, you only have a finite amount of money at your disposal. Luckily, regardless of how much money you have, you should be able to establish an effective home improvement budget.
Oftentimes, it helps to get multiple quotes from home improvement professionals. If you receive a variety of quotes, you may find that you can save money on home repairs, as well as stick to a tight home improvement budget.
It also may be cost-effective to complete simple home improvement projects on your own. If you possess the skills and know-how to perform quick, easy home repairs, you may be able to enhance your house without putting a dent in your home improvement budget.
3. Set Home Improvement Priorities
Priorities are important, particularly if you need to put together a home improvement budget. It generally is a good idea to set priorities for different home improvement projects. Then, you can allocate the necessary time and resources to complete home improvement tasks in order of priority.
If you plan to list your house soon, home improvements may prove to be exceedingly valuable. Home upgrades can help you differentiate your residence from the competition and enable you to achieve the optimal home selling results.
Lastly, if you need extra help prior to listing your residence, it may be beneficial to collaborate with a real estate agent. This housing market professional can put you in touch with top-notch home improvement professionals, offer home improvement tips and insights and much more.
A multifamily home is defined as a building that has more than one unit. Each unit has its own separate kitchen, bathrooms, and utilities. These types of homes can be rented, owned, or be an investment property where a landlord collects rent.
A multi-family home is a more economical way of living. Because there is less privacy and tenants or owners are living in proximity to others, the cost is usually less. If you live in a multifamily home, you may not be responsible for things like exterior maintenance or landscaping and lawn care. The landlord may hire an outside company to take care of these tasks.
Multifamily Home Designs
Multifamily homes come in a variety of designs. You may pass by houses that more than one family lives in and don’t even realize. Types of multifamily dwellings include:
Duplex
Condominiums
Apartments
Townhouses
These designs could have anywhere from two families to hundreds of families living in them. Duplexes, condos, and townhomes tend to have owners rather than renters. Apartments are usually seen as a property type that is leased. Some properties are stand alone while others are part of a complex. Your choice of where to dwell or invest in a multifamily unit all depends on preference.
How Costly Are Multifamily Properties?
For those who don’t like to deal with yard work or maintenance, living in a multifamily unit could be a great choice. You may have to pay monthly HOA fees or other maintenance costs, but everything is taken care of for you. These fees may even cover maintenance inside of your unit.
If you are investing in a multifamily unit, the costs can get a bit more tricky. While you will know the cost of the mortgage and insurance, the monthly expenses to maintain the property are always unpredictable. These costs all depend on what in the property is under warranty and how old the property is. Older homes will need things like new furnaces and roof replacements. It can be tricky to know exactly how much to charge for rent to actually make a profit as a landlord.
Keep in mind that if people are renting from you, you’ll need to replace things like appliances, carpets, and flooring each time a tenant moves out, and a new one moves in. It can also be challenging to deal with tenant problems on a day-to-day basis. Be sure you know what you are getting yourself into if you decide to invest in a multifamily home.
Overall, multifamily homes can be a great housing option for many families because of the simplicity and cost-effectiveness.
If you’re hunting for a new home, it can be tempting to make an appointment to view as many as possible. However, it can be a better use of your time to narrow down the search beforehand and eliminate houses from your list based on some at-home research. That way you can use those extra hours for fine-tuning your home search and make sure you visit only the houses that will suit your every need.
In this article, we’ll teach you some ways to research a home, neighborhood and town before you take the time to visit.
So you’ve found a listing that looks nice. Your next step should be to find out as much as possible about the area the home is in to make sure it suits your needs.
A good first step is to head over to Google Maps to find out which amenities are in the area. Schools, banks, grocery stores, restaurants, hospitals, parks… the list goes on. This is also a good time to map out how long it will take you on average to drive to work from this house and to see if it will lead you through any high-traffic areas that might affect your daily schedule.
You can also research other homes in the area to see if the house is selling higher or lower than average. This will give you a question to ask the real estate agent if you choose to reach out for further information.
Another step to take on Google for this home is to look up statistics for things like neighborhood crime, ratings for the school district, and the state of local businesses.
Is the area up-and-coming with healthy businesses and low crime? If so, it could be worth pursuing further.
If you’re planning on having children or already do, the quality of the education could be of importance to you.
Finally, get an idea of the local tax rates so you know how much you’ll owe the government for your property and excise taxes.
If you’re comfortable with the town and neighborhood, there’s still some research you can do online before you schedule a showing.
See if you can find out if the house belongs to a homeowner’s association. Look up their rules and fees to see if they’re agreeable to you and your family’s lifestyle and plans for the future.
Look up the sale history for the home. If there are several recent sales, this could be a sign of problems with the home or neighborhood. Similarly, if the price has increased or decreased dramatically more than nearby houses, consider asking the real estate agent why this is.
Finally, see if you can view the number of days the home has been on on the market, commonly abbreviated as “DOM.” This will give you some insight as to how desirable the home and neighborhood are.
Once you have all of the information at your disposal, you’ll be in a position to decide whether or not to schedule an appointment to view the home.
